Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Local governments must maintain
up-to-date technical documentation for each electronic records system that
produces, uses, and stores data files. Documentation must:
(1) include a narrative description of the
system purpose and functionality;
(2) describe the physical and technical
characteristics of the records, including, but not limited to, each field
associated with a record; its name, size, starting or relative position; and
the form of the data;
(3) outline
steps to ensure the electronic records system remains usable for as long as the
system is maintained by the local government, including maintaining any
software, hardware, and documentation required to retrieve and read the
electronic records;
(4) describe
the required descriptive and technical metadata the electronic records system
must maintain for electronic records to have reliability, including metadata
necessary to adequately support the usability, authenticity, integrity, and
preservation of a record; and
(5)
incorporate instructions for carrying out disposition of records into
electronic records systems.
(b) Local governments must ensure electronic
records systems using electronic storage media to maintain the record copy, or
data used to generate the record copy, allow for:
(1) all authorized users of the system to
retrieve desired records, such as an indexing or text search system;
(2) security to ensure integrity of the
records;
(3) exchanging records
using an established standard format amongst the departments of the local
government using different software/operating systems; and
(4) disposition of the records.
(c) An electronic records system
must not create an impediment to access to public records.
(d) Local governments must ensure that
records created or maintained in electronic records systems can be:
(1) identified sufficiently to enable
authorized personnel to retrieve, protect, and carry out disposition of the
records in the system; and
(2)
associated with related records in other formats.
(e) A local government must prohibit smoking,
drinking, and eating in areas containing electronic records systems that
maintain the record copy.
