Archives face digital avalanche

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is not only responsible for managing the nation's historical records, but it must catalog and maintain overwhelming numbers of public documents. But with so much of the government business and documents online, the National Archives needs to become the premier federal electronic record keeper, and do so in a way that the ensures the stored documents are searchable and retrievable.

The agency's solution is the $550 million Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system that is supposed to be fully operational in 2012. Federal Computer Week reports, though, that audits suggest problems ahead even as electronic records continue to pile up.

In its most recent semiannual report to Congress, NARA's Office of Inspector General listed the ERA program at the top of the management challenges that the agency faces. The Government Accountability Office recently reported that NARA's spending plan for the system didn't have enough detail, and the agency didn't have a contingency plan for the system, or a fully functional backup and restoration process.

Martha Morphy, NARA's chief information officer, maintains that the system will be able to ingest records, keep them safe and secure, and provide access.

She said the goal is to have as much information online as possible by 2012 when ERA's full operating capability is expected to be reached. But NARA hasn't yet determined how much material will be online at that point, in large part because of the volume and budgetary issues.

The project also must confront some thorny security issues, and has experienced on-going changes in software and hardware.

For all the details on the giant archival system:
- see this Federal Computer Week article 

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