Trustworthy Records and Data: the Foundation for Transparency and Accountability in the Digital

Environment

Anne Thurston

Significance of Records

Trustworthy, accurate and accessible public records are the basis for transparency, accountability and successful e-Government; they are the foundation for openness.

Too often we assume that reliable records are available as the evidence base for governance, but often they are not. Without reliable records, citizens’ rights and government efficiency and accountability are at risk.

Significance of Records

Records (paper or electronic) should provide evidence of government decisions, actions and transactions, for instance records of healthcare delivery, court decisions or expenditure.

Most government data is extracted from records, for instance, agriculture statistics from records of land use, educational statistics from school enrolment records. The quality of the data depends on the quality of the records.

Risks of Weak Records

Inaccurate or incomplete records and data can lead to misunderstandings, cover-up of fraud, skewed findings and statistics, misguided policy recommendations and misplaced funding, all with serious consequences for citizens.

Risks for Digital Records and Data Digital records and data are fragile; their integrity is at risk from a quickly changing array of hardware and software. They become difficult to retrieve or do not survive long if they are not managed and protected.

Many development planners and government stakeholders are not aware of the preservation and access issues, the costs of the failure to address these issues or the solutions required.

Framework of Requirements and Controls

It is essential to have a strong framework of requirements and controls to protect digital records and data. These include requirements for system functionality (covering capture, maintenance, retrieval and disposition); requirements for freezing metadata and records so they cannot be altered; rules for identifying and authorising system users; and audit trail requirements.

The Most Fundamental Controls

In many countries, adequate controls are not in place, particularly in the digital environment. The two most fundamental controls are missing in many cases: • systematic metadata capture • trusted digital repositories.

Metadata

Metadata (data recording who created the record or the data, when, why, where and how) provides evidence that the record or data can be trusted, for instance for economic forecasting, policy development or demonstrating accountability.

Without metadata, the information can in effect be lost in a data swamp, unconnected to the context of its creation and without the essential information needed to locate and interpret it.

Trusted Digital Repositories

Trusted digital repositories (TDRs) are an internationally accepted means of ensuring long-term access to digital records and datasets and protecting their integrity, completeness, trustworthiness and traceability.

TDRs make it possible to capture and provide access to metadata, data and digital records; link active and inactive datasets to hard copy or digital records; interpret, interrelate and restructure data; and support migration to new software and hardware.

Assessing Records Controls

The strength of the framework of records controls can be examined at three levels of achievement: • initial steps • more substantial steps • most ambitious steps

Initial Steps Goal

To ensure that evidence of government decisions, actions and transactions is created, captured and managed in fixed and accessible form as reliable and authentic records that provide a basis for transparency and accountability of government programmes and services, and underpin Open Data/ Freedom of Information (FOI).

Initial Steps

Institutional/ Regulatory Framework

1 A national records authority, normally the National Archives, is empowered to advise on policy, set standards and define quality controls for managing official records.

2 The government encourages a culture of data accuracy and citizens’ right to information based on reliable and complete records; it recognises the relationship between records management, Open Data and FOI.

Initial Steps Institutional/ Regulatory Framework

3 A government-wide records management policy assigns accountability for managing official records.

3 The records authority regularly inspects records management in public bodies and is able to enforce compliance with records management policies and standards.

Initial Steps Capacity

1 The records authority provides public sector-wide training and awareness-raising for all staff involved in creating and managing public sector records and data.

1 Each public body has a dedicated records and data management unit capable of advising on managing records in any format.

More Substantial Steps

Goal To ensure that records management requirements are addressed in relation to Open Data/ FOI requirements and e-Government initiatives, and that these requirements are integrated in the design of government business systems.

More Substantial Steps

Institutional/ Regulatory Framework

1 Planning for new or modified information systems incorporates functionalities for managing records from creation to disposition.

1 Integrated records management and business system solutions are in place. Information input into or created by the systems is used to generate national and local datasets.

More Substantial Steps

Capacity

1 Dedicated records management units in public bodies have direct involvement in e-Government and Open Data/ FOI initiatives.

2 FOI, Open Data, e-Government and records management training programmes are integrated, so that training in each area includes content about the others.

Most Ambitious Steps

Goal The Government recognises the close relationship between records, data and openness and routinely creates and uses trustworthy records as basis for efficiency, accountability and transparency. Metadata schemas are standardised across all government bodies, and Trusted Digital Repositories are used government-wide to manage official digital records and data.

Most Ambitious Steps

Institutional/ Regulatory Framework

1 Business systems, alone or integrated with systems for managing digital records, comply with records management requirements. They are capable of providing reliable and verifiable information that can be trusted as a basis for management efficiency, transparency and accountability.

Most Ambitious Steps Institutional/ Regulatory Framework

2 Key categories of public records (health care, financial, land management, courts, police, immigration) are routinely used to generate datasets and other information to accountability and openness. The data and information can be trusted because they are derived from trustworthy records held in secure repositories.

Most Ambitious Steps

Institutional/ Regulatory Framework

3 Trusted Digital Repositories are used to protect and preserve digital assets, manage their integrity and accessibility through time, and make them available to a wide range of audiences. The TDRs are audited regularly.

Most Ambitious Steps Capacity

1 Government officials at all levels accept and meet their responsibilities for creating, managing and using records to support Open Data and FOI requirements.

1 Records authority staff work closely with Open Data/ FOI and eGovernment experts to develop new ways of increasing the value of the information in records for citizens.