Meeting Summary
Bimonthly Records and Information Discussion Group (BRIDG)
October 7, 2003
Speakers: |
Kate Theimer, Lifecycle Coordination Staff |
| Larry Baume, Life Cycle Management Division |
Overview of Records Lifecycle Business Process Reengineering (BPR) To-Be Model
Ms. Theimer reviewed the BPR mission, scope, and structure, presented highlights of the to-be model and described next steps for the project.
The Records Lifecycle BPR mission is to support NARA's Records Management Initiative (RMI), support NARA's Electronic Records Archives (ERA) program, promote compliance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA), and increase efficiency and effectiveness of all records lifecycle processes. The BPR scope is very broad, covering temporary and permanent records in all media types for the entire lifecycle. It includes Federal, Presidential, and Supreme Court records, as well as donated personal papers and artifacts. Finally, the BPR may affect all NARA processes, nationwide. The BPR structure is made up of teams of NARA subject matter experts representing all parts of NARA. Deliverables include as-is and to-be IDEF models, benchmarking, and recommendations for follow-on activities.
The BPR to-be model will effect significant changes on NARA in:
- how information is collected and shared,
- how and when decisions are made,
- how resource allocations are made, and
- increased flexibility in processes.
Next steps for the BPR will entail further exploration of new activities in the BPR to-be model such as disposition standards and processing agreements to identify impacts and costs and benefits, more "drill-downs" in some areas, coordination with on-going RMI activities, alignment of ERA documents with the to-be model, and alignment of Enterprise Architecture documents with the to-be model and ERA documentation.
For more information on this topic, please visit the ERA web site at http://www.archives.gov/era/lifecycle_bpr.html or contact Ms. Theimer at kate.theimer@nara.gov.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Resource Allocation Project
Mr. Baume provided an overview of the Resource Allocation methodology and detailed how it was applied to the DHS request for assistance.
The Resource Allocation projects rely on the functional descriptions of all government work processes described in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Business Reference Model (BRM). A NARA prototype project in 2002 evaluated 15 BRM subfunctions across the government, and developed a methodology and rating criteria for records at risk, legal rights and accountability, and the significance and volume of permanent records that are formalized in an internal NARA handbook dated January 2003.
As in the prototype, three DHS project teams were formed: a core team representing headquarters and regional records management staff with assistance from NARA's Policy and Communication Staff; agency experts who have expertise working with the various agencies that were joined to form DHS, and subject experts who have expertise working with records in DHS subfunctions. The core team identified 16 BRM subfunctions performed by various DHS components.
An analysis of information gathered using standard questionnaires produced these findings:
- 4 subfunctions generally related to citizen and non-citizen services and investigation, inspection, and seizure activities were rated as high priority areas for FY 2004 NARA assistance,
- 5 subfunctions generally related to maritime safety, disaster preparedness and planning, and emergency response were rated as medium priority areas for FY 2004 NARA assistance,
- 3 subfunctions generally related to security services and education were rated as low priority for FY 2004 NARA assistance (these will be monitored periodically), and
- 4 subfunctions generally related to scientific research and development, intelligence operations, and infrastructure protections were rated as medium to low priority for FY 2004 NARA assistance.
NARA's DHS activities in FY 2004 will focus on nationwide advocacy for records management at DHS senior manager/executive levels and for high priority bureaus and offices, training and briefings in high priority agencies and offices, and ERM/ERK assistance at the Departmental Office level.
For more information on this topic, please consult NARA's Strategic Directions for Federal Records Management on the records management web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/initiatives/rm-redesign-project.html#directions or contact Mr. Baume at larry.baume@nara.gov.
Information about the Office of Management and Budget Business Reference Model is located at http://www.feapmo.gov.
Additional discussion items
One of the possible (future) deliverables from the Lifecycle BPR is an automated tool that could guide an agency records officer through the records scheduling process using a series of questions and answers. This tool is envisioned as having levels of complexity as one of several criteria for the NARA workflow assigned to the submitted schedule. Although this could decrease the time needed for NARA to approve schedules for temporary records, it will not give "provisional approval" for suggested dispositions.
NARA is reconciling comments to the Assurances white paper discussed at the July 30 BRIDG meeting. We will be working with the FIRM Council to see what is possible to meet the needs of most agencies while providing adequate levels of assurances to NARA. There will be another opportunity for agencies to comment on this topic.
Susan Cummings provided brief updates on the status of the ERM Initiative and the draft web guidance.
You can request copies of presentations from this meeting by e-mailing RM.Communications@nara.gov.
