Management System Description:

Records Management

Issue Date:  05/29/2012
SCMS Revision:  2.6

1.0 Purpose

The Office of Science (SC) Records Management System establishes a cost‑effective, efficient solution to the management of documents. The system, or program, maintains accurate evidence of Agency activities and guarantees the creation, maintenance, and proper disposition of valuable records. At the operational level, records management is critical to the successful mission of SC and provides evidence of unit activities, organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and operations. Sound records management principles protect the legal and financial rights of the government and individuals, preserve historical legacy information, and facilitate the effective retrieval of essential information. The Records Management System also confirms compliance with additional record‑keeping requirements in all mission‑related functions.

2.0 Responsibilities

The Oak Ridge Records Officer is the Point of Contact (POC) for the Records Management System.

The table below represents roles and responsibilities specific to this Management System. For a detailed description of SCMS roles and responsibilities, please see the SCMS R2A2.

Roles	Responsibilities
Department of Energy (DOE) Chief Information Officer	Establishes the records management program.
Departmental Records Officer (DRO)	Manages the Departmental Records Management Program. Develops and implements Departmental policy and procedures.
SC Deputy Director for Field Operations	Appoints an SC Lead for Records Management.
Records Management Program Officer	Responsible for all records management activities of the SC complex, including Site Offices and tenant organizations. Interprets and implements records policy for SC. Serves as the liaison between the DRO and the Field organizations.
Records Liaison Officer (RLO)	Coordinates records management activity at the local site. Acts as the POC for issues, concerns, and questions regarding records management activities at the local site.
Records Custodian	Controls, maintains, protects, and ensures proper disposition of records. Ensures records are legible and reproducible.

3.0 Management System Operation

3.1 Overview

Records management at SC is a life‑cycle application of systematic controls to manage the creation, distribution, use, maintenance, retention, disposition, storage, and archival preservation of records required to support statutory, regulatory, fiscal, operational, and historical activities within our organizations. The SC records management solution is capable of handling multiple media and fluctuations in volume and has stringent procedures for ensuring accuracy, speed, and appropriate security of data applications.

Creating a records management solution is the responsibility of the Site Records Officer, and the focus is knowing what data are important to collect, how the data can be preserved efficiently, how the data will be used, and how the data should be indexed to facilitate retrieval. The records management solution applies management principles and efficiency through an understanding of each site's needs. SC has the facilities, quality processes, security procedures, and technologies to handle various types of information and adjust to varying volumes with accuracy, speed, and economy. Our records management life‑cycle expertise partnered with our expertise in health, energy, education, legal and justice, gives SC the strategic support needed to determine how best to manage our data resources.

3.2 Key Functions/Services and Processes

Heads of Federal agencies are required by statute to create adequate and proper documentation of their programs, policies, and procedures in the form of Federal records to effectively manage these records and to carry out their appropriate disposition. In addition, agency records are a primary means by which the public can monitor and assess agency activities. Therefore, appropriate records management becomes a clear and effective mechanism for identification, access control, and storage of records necessary to ensure that DOE and stakeholder needs are met.

The process through which records are created, tracked, stored, and dispositioned is known as the records life cycle. Key functions within the records life cycle include:

• Records Creation – Records creation is the process of producing or reproducing information, either on paper or electronically. Records are made or received by the agency or in connection with the transaction of agency business and they are preserved as evidence of an organization's activities or because of the value they contain.

• Inventorying/Scheduling/Disposition – A successful records program is founded on knowing what information is available and where it is located. Once records are inventoried, decisions can be made on the information's value and on how the records should be managed. An effective inventory covers all media and includes records, non‑record materials, active and inactive records. The appropriate disposition ensures that the records will be available and accessible to meet agency needs.

• Storage – Agency records must be kept in adequate storage facilities or in appropriate media to prevent their loss, destruction, or contamination. Federal standards exist to address the proper maintenance of records.

• Electronic Records – Electronic records are generated by a number of electronic devices and stored on many types of storage media other than the traditional paper or microfilm. These records require both hardware and software to read or access.

The Roadmap to the Year 2000 is a Tactical Plan that is utilized as a structural document for DOE's Records Management program. The Roadmap reflects the Department's commitment to manage its recorded information in an efficient and effective manner in support of mission accomplishment and accountability. The Records Management program consists of the following Program and Technical Elements:

• Program Elements
  
  
  • Recordkeeping Requirements – Recordkeeping requirements are statements in statutes, regulations, agency directives, and other authoritative issuances providing general and specific information on particular records to be created and maintained by the agency. Each agency is legally obligated to create and maintain adequate and proper documentation of its organization, functions, and activities.
    
    
  • Creation – A successful records management program begins with having good information management practices at the creation of the information and utilizing those practices throughout the life cycle of the information. The manner in which the records are created and information collected impacts upon records maintenance, use, and disposition.
    
    
  • Inventory Process – A successful records management program is founded on know what information is available and where it is located. Once records are inventoried, decisions can be made on the value of the information and on how the records should be managed. An effective inventory covers all media and includes records, non‑record materials, active, and inactive records.
    
    
  • Scheduling and Disposition Processes – A key part of any successful records management program is having a schedule indicating how long a record is kept before it is transferred to inactive storage facilities, Federal Records Centers, other Federal agencies, NARA, or destroyed. For consistency of application, the schedules must be current, clear, specific, and verified periodically.
    
    
  • Information Access – A successful records management program contains access controls to protect information and records against loss, destruction, or alteration; and to ensure security requirements are met. Access controls both limit the people who may obtain the information or record, and ensures that the people who have rights to such information are allowed access.
    
    
  • Adequate Storage Capability and Facility Standards – DOE records must be kept in adequate storage facilities to prevent their loss, destruction, or contamination. Standards should address the special requirements, encountered by DOE (quality assurance records, contaminated records, x‑rays, and records accumulating due to moratoriums).
    
    
  • Personal Papers and the Prevention of Removal and Destruction of Records – The rules for disposition of Federal records are stated in 36 Code of Federal Regulations 1228, "Disposition of Federal Records." No records can be destroyed without the approval of the Archivist of the United States. Records may not be removed from Federal custody or destroyed, without regard to the provisions of these schedules. The unauthorized destruction, removal, or mutilation of records is punishable by fines and imprisonment as specified in 18 United States Code, Chapter 101, Part 2071.
    
    
  • Disaster Prevention and Recovery Program/Vital Records – Policies, plans, and procedures to protect and to reconstruct records in the event of an emergency must be in place.
    
    
  • Document Control Program – A successful information management program ensures work‑governing documents are current, accurate, readily available, and document changes are properly reviewed, approved, and disseminated.
    
    
• Technical Elements
  
  
  • Declassification Initiative – Declassification is the process that certifies the safe disclosure of information previously withheld for national security reasons.
    
    
  • Epidemiology Records – Epidemiology records are documents that contain industrial hygiene; worker identification and laboratory test results; and site organization configuration and operation information.
    
    
  • Contaminated Records – Contaminated records are those records containing external impurities that render the media on which the records are stored unsafe for human handling without special precautions.
    
    
  • Contract Language and Government Ownership – All DOE contracts, regardless of type, should clearly establish the ownership of information created and used by contractors while performing work for the government.
    
    
  • Records Management for Non‑Nuclear Reconfiguration – Non‑nuclear reconfiguration is an effort to realign weapons design and manufacturing into a smaller, less costly operation.
    
    
  • Plant Closure/Commercialization/Stewardship – A plan, which includes (1) the DOE site, (2) program project, (3) management and operating contractor, and (4) subcontractor, that has been designated for reduction, termination, privatization, or relocation. The plan should be developed jointly by the Records Managers involved and the Records Management Program Coordinator responsible for oversight of the program.
    
    
  • Environmental Administrative Records – An administrative record is the complete body of documents used to justify the selection of an environmental site cleanup remedy.
    
    
  • Working Papers – Working papers are rough notes, calculations, or drafts from which other documents are analyzed or prepared that may be record material if they are circulated for official purposes, used to communicate with agency staff about agency business, or if they contain information unique to the agency's formulation and execution of basic policies, decisions, actions, or responsibilities. Working papers can exist in any type of media (e.g., paper, electronic, or other).
    
    
  • Privacy Act, Freedom of Information, and Proprietary Issues – The Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are laws that prescribe special policies, principles, standards, and techniques for the maintenance, use, and access to certain Federal records. The Privacy Act specifically addresses managing records that are searchable and retrievable by a person's name or a unique identifier. FOIA addresses public access to existing Federal records, except those records that are exempt from FOIA. Proprietary issues address the management of Federal records containing a business entity's proprietary information that, if known to competitors or others would likely cause harm to the business entity.

4.0 Requirements

4.1 Primary Responsibility

This Management System has primary responsibility for ("owns") the following requirements:

Document	Title	Requirement Decision Record
DOE O 243.1A	Records Management Program	Completed
DOE O 243.2	Vital Records	Completed
18 U.S.C., Section 2071	Concealment, Removal, Or Mutilation Generally (Of Federal Records)	Completed
40 U.S.C., Section 1401	Clinger-Cohen Act Of 1996	Completed

4.2 Parsed Responsibility

This Management System is not responsible for any parsed requirements.

5.0 Subject Areas, Program Descriptions, and Guidance Documents

The following Subject Areas are maintained by this Management System:

• Records Management
  • Procedure 1. Creating and Identifying Federal Records
  • Procedure 2. Ensuring the Adequacy of Documentation
  • Procedure 3. Conducting a Records Inventory
  • Procedure 4. Developing New Records Disposition Schedules
  • Procedure 5. Maintaining Records Efficiently
  • Procedure 6. Using Records
  • Procedure 7. Transferring and Destroying Records
  • Procedure 8. Managing Vital Records
  • Procedure 9. Coordinating Disaster Planning and Recovery

6.0 References

• 5 U.S.C. 552, Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings (popularly known as the "Freedom of Information Act")

• 5 U.S.C. 552a, Records Maintained on Individuals (popularly known as the "Privacy Act")

• 18 U.S.C. 2071, Removal or Destruction of Federal Records

• 44 U.S.C. 101, E‑Government Act of 2002

• 44 U.S.C. Chapters 29‑35, Records Management

• 10 CFR 1008, Records Maintained on Individuals (Privacy Act)

• 36 CFR Chapter XII – Subchapter B, Records Management

• DOE GUIDANCE, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Programs

• DOE G 1324.5B, Implementation Guide for Use With 36 CFR Chapter XII - Subchapter B, "Records Management"

• NARA Guide, NARA Agency Recordkeeping Requirements: A Management Guide

7.0  Delegations

There are no delegations currently affecting this Management System.

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Last Annual Review: No Previous Review
Annual Review Period: Fourth Quarter

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Filename: /OrbitSearch/MSD/RMS/RMS_MS.cfm
Last Major SCMS Revision: 03/13/2008