Metrofile is playing a key role in creating a new standard for preservation of electronic records through the International Standards Organisation (ISO).
Paul Mullon, Metrofile`s divisional director of marketing, is project-leading the initiative, which entails bringing together two other, separate ISO initiatives, one which encompasses document management applications and a second that deals with records management.
"The fact that ISO has a South African project leading the creation of a new standard is a reflection on South Africa and Metrofile as being comparable with the rest of the world in terms of best practices," says Mullon.
The process involves gathering suggestions and experience from various bodies and experts including national archives from around the world, in addition to South Africa.
One of the biggest challenges facing organisations today from a compliance and record management point of view is the management and preservation of electronic records.
"Much has been said in the media about some of the challenges which arise as a result of technology obsolescence and the difficulties associated with keeping information for extended periods, which stem from legislative requirements based on authenticity," says Mullon.
He adds that while a number of vendor organisations and public and private bodies, including various national archives, have invested much effort in this, there is still uncertainty as to what to do and how to achieve it.
Much of ISO`s current project will take historical individual organisational efforts into account and place these into a standards-based compliance and best-practice guideline framework.
"I have a joint working group within the existing records management and document management technical committees. The new standard will link into existing and work-in-progress documents including the ISO 15489 records management standard, which was introduced as SANS 15489 in South Africa, the ISO 15801 document imaging standard, introduced as SANS 15801 in South Africa, and a host of related standards and technical reports," says Mullon.
The initial project team consists of representatives from South Africa, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan, Canada, the US, and the Netherlands. The ultimate team will be broader and will also require comment and participation from other specialists around the world such as IBM, HP, Kodak, EMC and similar vendors. Other technology vendors will be Adobe with its work on PDF/A, an archive product which ISO is incorporating into a new standard.
"We need vendor participation to ensure the technology aspect is compatible with the best-practice goals of the standard," says Mullon.
The result will be a guideline to assist organisations in implementing policies and strategies to preserve electronic records over long periods of time. Mullon says part of the standard will be defining the expression "long-term".
"Traditional definitions cover the paper world and may not be adequate for electronic documents concerning the acquisition, capturing and indexing of metadata. For example, information to be captured must include the type of technology and versions of hardware and software used to capture records and any other components such as fonts, logos, letterhead information and others that may form an integral part of record preservation as a whole," says Mullon. "This means that people will know what components must be retained to store and retrieve a document for 50 years or longer."
There is a lengthy development period associated with the creation of standards to ensure that every possible angle is dealt with and that all meaningful parties contribute to the success of the project.
"We are hoping for an ISO internal draft by November and it does take time after that. South African organisations can follow the evolution of the standard by getting in touch with us to ensure they incorporate it into their long-term policies so they don`t have to retrofit those," says Mullon.
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