M-23-7 Compliance: Transition from Physical to Electronic Records
On June 28, 2019, the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued M-19-21 Compliance: Transition from Physical to Electronic Records. It is a directive to modernize the way government records are managed.
Read this article to discover insights about this government-wide policy.
Table of the Content
- What is the M-23-7 Directive?
- When is the Deadline?
- Who does M-23-7 Impact?
- What is the Problem Agencies are Facing?
- Journey to Digital Conversion
- Key Factors Necessary to Achieve Compliance
- How do Federal Agencies Develop an Effective Plan?
- How can BODEX Support Agencies to Become M-23-7 Compliant?
- Outcome After Availing Our Services
- What’s Next?
- Need Electronic Records Management (ERM) for your Agency?
What is the M-23-7 Directive?
M-23-7 is a memorandum that was issued on June 28, 2019, by the Executive Office of the President, which consolidated and added requirements to the previous M-12-18 directive.
The purpose of this directive is to help the government transition to electronic records with the purpose of increasing efficiency, accuracy, and economical use of space.
When is the Deadline?
When is the Deadline?
The deadline for digitally managing all permanent records has already passed – meaning many agencies have already fallen behind.
Ultimately, this initiative is designed to transition agencies into managing government records, whether temporary or permanent, entirely within an electronic environment by 2022.
Who does M-23-7 Impact?
M-23-7 is a government-wide initiative that applies to all federal agencies.
What is the Problem Agencies are Facing?
Many federal and state agencies today are facing the challenge of converting years’ worth of physical paper artifacts into electronic records.
Especially now, to comply with the M-23-7 directive from the Executive Office of the President, these agencies need a solution to convert their records efficiently and securely with appropriate Electronic Records Management (ERM) including storage, formats, and metadata.
Journey to Digital Conversion
Meeting the requirements of M-23-7 provides an additional challenge to agencies that are constantly grappling with tight budgets as well as adhering to other initiatives.
Though the move to a fully electronic government is the ultimate goal, each agency will achieve this on its own unique timeline, likely employing multiple strategies.
The journey for each agency starts by understanding their own current environment and determining the appropriate options that fit their specific needs, budgets, and goals through self-assessment.
To determine the right path towards compliance, agencies need to think strategically. This includes exploring partnerships with commercial vendors, strategic consultation, physical storage, destruction, and digitization.
Key Factors Necessary to Achieve Compliance
While the full mandate can be accessed here, some key points of M-23-7 are:
ALL Federal Records (not only Permanent Electronic Records as stated in M-12-18, but also Temporary Records) must be created, managed, and maintained in electronic format by 2022.
Agencies need to close their own facilities and transfer any paper records to a Federal Records Center or a Commercial Storage Facility by 2022.
Agencies must designate a Senior Agency Official for Records Management and Agency Records Officer.
Agencies must maintain compliance with their records management, including personnel training, scheduling records, workflow scheduling, etc.
Add Your Heading THow do Federal Agencies Develop an Effective Plan?ext Here
With the deadline for full compliance looming, getting compliant is quickly becoming a priority for many federal agencies. According to NARA’s Criteria for Successfully Managing Permanent Electronic Records, there are four primary concerns when developing an effective Electronic Records Management (ERM) strategy:
How can BODEX Support Agencies to Become M-23-7 Compliant?
We at BODEX are experts in ERM and have years of experience relating to databases, asset management, and custom software development.
With our expertise in scanning paper artifacts, Adobe PDF, electronic records storage (database and electronic files), and metadata management, we know that we are in a great position to provide the perfect solution.
We have come up with a secure, confidential, efficient, and cost-effective process to seamlessly convert agency records with military-grade encryption to comply with the M-23-7 Memorandum.
Outcome After Availing Our Services
An agency that uses these services provided by BODEX sees the following benefits:
- M-23-7 Compliance
- A future-oriented platform for hosting electronic records
- Optimized spend of tax-payer dollars
- Electronic archival and search abilities of records
- Worry-free and secure document management
- A customized UI to search for and preview electronic records
- Optimization of physical storage
- One-Stop shop for ERM needs
- Virtual organization of electronic records using tagging
- Try before you buy
What’s Next?
We hope that you definitely got some insights about the government-wide M-23-7 compliance.
For many, the first step is identifying any permanent records that still haven’t been digitized in accordance with M-23-7 along with all other analog records that still need to be digitized. Once you have identified those records, have your agency’s Records Officer develop a plan to be compliant by December 31, 2022.
Thanks for reading the article.
