2002 Performance Plan
Annual Performance Plan
Revised Final, December 14, 2001
Table of Contents
Strategic Goal 1: Essential Evidence
Target 1.1: Targeted assistance
Target 1.2: Schedule new records
Target 1.3: Close out schedule items
Target 2.1: Customer service
Target 2.2: Online services
Target 2.3: Online catalog
Target 2.4: Classification
Target 2.5: Declassification
Target 2.6: Presidential records
Target 2.7: NHPRC grants
Strategic Goal 3: Space and Preservation
Target 3.1: Holdings in appropriate space
Target 3.2: Preservation of at-risk holdings
Target 3.3: Preservation of electronic records
Strategic Goal 4: Infrastructure
Target 4.1: Performance and development plans
Target 4.2: Equal employment opportunity
Target 4.3: Federal Register production
Target 4.4: Information Technology
The National Archives and Records Administration is a public trust on which our democracy depends. We enable people to inspect for themselves the record of what Government has done. We enable officials and agencies to review their actions and help citizens hold them accountable. We ensure continuing access to essential evidence that documents:
- the rights of American citizens,
- the actions of Federal officials,
- the national experience.
To ensure ready access to essential evidence, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) establishes policies and procedures for managing U.S. Government records. We assist and train Federal agencies in documenting their activities, administering records management programs, scheduling records, and retiring non-current records to regional records services facilities for cost-effective storage. We appraise, accession, arrange, describe, preserve, and make available to the public the historically valuable records of the three branches of Government. We manage a nationwide system of Presidential libraries, records centers, and regional archives. We administer the Information Security Oversight Office and make grants to non-Federal institutions to support historical documentation through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. We publish the Federal Register, Statutes at Large, Government regulations, and Presidential and other public documents.
We serve a broad spectrum of American society. Genealogists and family historians; veterans and their authorized representatives; academics, scholars, historians, and business and occupational researchers; publication and broadcast journalists; the Congress, the Courts, the White House, and other public officials; Federal Government agencies and the individuals they serve; state and local government personnel; professional organizations and their members; supporters' groups, foundations, and donors of historical materials; students and teachers; and the general public—all seek answers from the records we preserve.
To be effective, we must determine what evidence is essential for documentation, ensure that Government creates such evidence, and make it easy for users to access that evidence regardless of where it is, or where they are, for as long as needed. We also must find technologies, techniques, and partners worldwide that can help improve service and hold down costs, and we must help staff members continuously expand their capability to make the changes necessary to realize the vision.
Our Mission:
NARA ENSURES, FOR THE CITIZEN AND THE PUBLIC SERVANT, FOR THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS AND THE COURTS, READY ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL EVIDENCE.
Our Strategic Goals:
- One: Essential evidence will be created, identified, appropriately scheduled, and managed for as long as needed.
- Two: Essential evidence will be easy to access regardless of where it is or where users are for as long as needed.
- Three: All records will be preserved in an appropriate environment for use as long as needed.
- Four: NARA's capabilities for making the changes necessary to realize our vision will continuously expand.
These goals and the strategies to achieve them are detailed in Ready Access to Essential Evidence: The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1997-2007, updated and reissued September 2000. This annual performance plan is based on the goals, strategies, and long-range performance targets in our Strategic Plan, and builds on performance in FY 2001. It details the actions and outcomes that must occur in FY 2002 for us to move forward on meeting the goals and targets in our Strategic Plan. In addition to listing performance goals and measures for evaluating our performance, the plan describes the processes, skills, and technologies, and the human, capital, and informational resources needed to meet the year's performance goals. Also our budget is linked to the plan's performance goals. We received no aid from non-Federal parties in preparing this plan.
Following is a summary of the resources, by budget authority, we received to meet our FY 2002 objectives.
This is a high-level summary of our resource requirements. The numbers are linked to strategic goals in the pages that follow.
We continue using four mechanisms to measure actual performance: (1) periodic management reviews, (2) formal audits of operations, (3) expansion and refinement of our performance measurement system, and (4) systematic sampling of measurement system effectiveness. In FY 1999, we deployed our agency-wide Performance Measurement and Reporting System (PMRS). This system allows us to define and consistently measure data critical to the analysis of our performance objectives. Every year we integrate and expand the system further so that our strategic performance is measured using more of a balanced scorecard approach for tracking cycle times, quality, productivity, cost, and customer satisfaction for our products and services.
In our continuous effort to improve our performance measurement program, we are undertaking a two-year project to upgrade PMRS. We want to take advantage of web infrastructure to collect our performance data from the more than 70 organizational units that send data to PMRS from all over the country. We also want to use newer, more robust, and enterprise-level databases to store the data and extract reports, thereby minimizing the maintenance burden on desktop databases now used for data collection. This upgrade will enable us to collect our performance data more consistently and more efficiently, and will allow us to store much more data for use in analyzing trends.
We must succeed in reaching our goals because the National Archives and Records Administration is not an ordinary Federal agency. The records we preserve document the rights of American citizens, the actions of Federal officials, and the national experience. We serve not just today's citizens, but all who are yet to come. We must not only preserve past documents already in our care, but also prepare to manage tomorrow's records in new and challenging forms. This plan is our 2002 road map for making that a reality.
FY 1999 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $12,075,000; 127 FTE
FY 2000 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $14,690,000; 136 FTE
FY 2001 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $18,109,000; 156 FTE
FY 2002 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $18,591,000; 156 FTE
FY 2002 Budget Linkage: pages 11-14
Long Range Performance Target 1.1. By 2007, 100 percent of targeted assistance partnership agreements deliver the results promised.
Outcome Records are kept long enough to protect rights, assure accountability, and document the national experience; and records are destroyed when they are no longer needed and it is practical to do so.
Significance To ensure essential evidence is created, identified, appropriately scheduled, and managed for as long as needed, we must take the initiative with Federal agencies to ensure their recordkeeping practices are in accordance with our guidelines.
Means and Strategies In the past we provided general outreach and technical assistance, promulgated policy, and evaluated agency records management programs to compel Federal agencies to comply with our guidance. This resulted in a list of records management problems that agencies had to resolve on their own and reached very few agencies. Through targeted assistance we now emphasize partnerships, not compliance.
In contrast to audits, which were often perceived negatively by agencies, targeted assistance means we work together with agencies to resolve long-standing or significant records management issues by:
- increasing direct contact with agencies and really understanding what they need from us
- increasing agency awareness of records management responsibilities through tailored training and outreach
- extending outreach initiatives beyond records officers to program managers
- resolving specific records management problems for records in all media, especially electronic records
- emphasizing problem resolution and customer service
- expediting disposition requests that result from partnerships
- developing new measures to verify that agency records management programs are being carried out effectively.
With the help of senior records analysts hired during FY 1999-2001, we have established partnership agreements with more than 175 agency headquarters and field components. As we make targeted assistance the basis of the way we do records management, we expect to see significant improvements in the way Federal agencies manage their records.
Key external factors Federal agencies must implement their part of the partnership agreements.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Long Range Performance Target 1.2. By 2007, 60 percent of approved new records schedule items cover records created within the last 2 years.
Outcome Records are kept long enough to protect rights, assure accountability, and document the national experience; and records are destroyed when they are no longer needed and it is practical to do so.
Significance We must protect records from the time of their very creation to ensure their accessibility for as long as they are needed to meet the needs of Government agencies and the public. In particular, if we are to ensure that essential evidence is created, identified, appropriately scheduled, and managed, we must address realistically a future in which most government recordkeeping will be electronic and develop practical solutions for dealing with electronic records. Otherwise, records needed to document citizens' rights, actions for which Federal officials are responsible, and the historical experience of our nation will be at risk of loss, deterioration, or destruction.
Means and Strategies Approving the disposition of records is the most critical statutory responsibility of the Archivist of the United States because it determines how long records must be kept to protect individual rights, provide accountability in government, and document the national experience. When Federal agencies create new functions (and hence, new kinds of records), we must determine the disposition of those records as soon as possible.
This work is especially important for electronic records, the bulk of the records being created today. In the past two decades, there has been an explosion in the quantities and types of electronic records generated by the Federal Government as agencies have turned increasingly to information technology to improve and extend Government services. Both electronic mail and the Internet have come into widespread use. And while agencies are creating, using, and storing records electronically, they are not necessarily managing them in electronic recordkeeping systems because developments in technology for creating records have not been matched by technological developments for managing them.
As one of the Administration's e-government projects announced in October 2001, NARA will lead an initiative that will establish government-wide procedures and tools for assessing, establishing and implementing an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based approach to electronic records management (ERM). Over the next two years, the initiative will prototype the establishment of an XML artifact registry/repository which will receive the business process-related schemas of three other e-government initiatives. The registry will enable agencies with common business needs to share information on organizing the records that are instrumental in meeting those needs. This initiative is also part of the progressive deployment of NARA's Electronic Records Archives addressing the critical component of front end records lifecycle control necessary for both records management and archival preservation (see also Target 3.3).
Carrying out a records management application (RMA) pilot project and a business process improvement study of our own recordkeeping processes also will contribute findings toward the development of long-term electronic recordkeeping solutions. We will examine all aspects of our own records management-how we create and maintain our records, and how we create records schedules and implement them. We will make recommendations as to how we can improve our records management functions, including the appropriateness of implementing an electronic recordkeeping system. In addition to improving our records management program, we will be creating products that can be used by other agencies for improving their records management programs. The study will give us the experience necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of our regulations and guidance to the Federal Government to ensure the proper management of essential evidence.
Key external factors We are dependent on partners for funding and technological expertise, and in need of available partners willing to conduct pilots to test the feasibility of draft requirements.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Records schedule: a document, having legally binding authority when approved by NARA, that provides mandatory instructions (i.e., disposition authority) for what to do with records no longer needed for current business; Schedule item: records subject to a specific disposition authority that appear on a records schedule.
Long Range Performance Target 1.3. By 2007, the median time to process records schedule items is 120 calendar days or less.
Outcome Records are kept long enough to protect rights, assure accountability, and document the national experience; and records are destroyed when they are no longer needed and it is practical to do so.
Significance We must make the records scheduling process more effective and efficient, and decrease the time it takes to get schedules approved. Taking a long time to process schedules delays action on the disposition of records and discourages agencies from submitting schedules, potentially putting essential evidence at risk.
Means and Strategies Our planned redesign of the scheduling and appraisal process will result in dramatic improvements in the timeliness and quality of the process. We will identify and eliminate unnecessary steps in the scheduling process and make as many steps as possible concurrent rather than sequential.
We must undertake this redesign in large part because the scheduling and appraisal policies, standards, and procedures developed by the Federal Government during the 20th century were primarily for recordkeeping systems of paper records. Now, however, most records are created electronically and may be maintained in a variety of media. Other changes in the office environment also may be having a significant impact on agency recordkeeping. Traditionally, filing and other records management responsibilities were handled centrally by professional records management staff. In today's office environment, individual employees who carry out the programs of their agency also bear a large responsibility for managing the documentation they create. In addition, outsourcing of agency program functions may be significantly affecting agency recordkeeping.
The evolution of the modern Federal office and the transformation of work brought about by the spread of computer technology require that we rethink how we conduct the management and disposition of Federal records. To do this, we began this redesign project by developing a better understanding of the current Federal recordkeeping and records use environment.
In FY 2000, as the first phase in completely rethinking the processes by which NARA approves the disposition of Federal records, we devised a two-part information collection to better understand the current Federal recordkeeping and records use environment. During FY 2001, with contractor support, we identified the views and perceptions of Federal staff on the creation, maintenance, use, and disposition of records in their agencies. We also analyzed Federal agency business processes and the records they generate. Our contractor is analyzing the results of both efforts. Based on the data and the analysis, we plan to begin reviewing and revising, as necessary, our records scheduling and appraisal policies during FY 2002.
Until any recommendations from the redesign are implemented, we will not be able to make improvements in the scheduling and appraisal process. Recommendations resulting from the redesign may be difficult and time-consuming to implement. They also may result in significant changes to this target and target 1.2.
Key external factors If changes in statute or legislation are recommended as part of the redesign of the scheduling and appraisal process, delays in implementation could result.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Records schedule: a document, having legally binding authority when approved by NARA, that provides mandatory instructions (i.e., disposition authority) for what to do with records no longer needed for current business; Schedule item: records subject to a specific disposition authority that appear on a records schedule; Close out: schedule items have been approved by the Archivist of the United States or withdrawn by the agency submitting the schedule; Life cycle of records: the stages in the existence of records, from creation to final disposition. Stages include creation or receipt, maintenance, scheduling and appraisal, transfer to a records center or archives, destruction or archival processing, preservation, and continuing use.
FY 1999 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $130,873,000; 1,988 FTE
FY 2000 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $120,058,000; 2,028 FTE
FY 2001 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $120,326,000; 2,207 FTE
FY 2002 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $134,355,000; 2,277 FTE
FY 2002 Budget Linkage: pages 15-18
Long Range Performance Target 2.1. By 2007, access to records and services and customer satisfaction levels meet or exceed NARA's published standards.
Outcome Our customers are satisfied.
Significance Our customers deserve the best service we can deliver. Through the measurement of performance against customer service standards, development of customer service teams and customer service training, and process redesign efforts in areas that traditionally had high backlogs, we are coordinating our efforts to ensure that our customer service meets our customers' needs.
Means and Strategies To better serve our customers nationwide, we are focusing on two critical areas:
- reducing the response time for requests for veterans' records
- improving our research room services.
One of our biggest challenges is to reduce the response time for requests for veterans' records. At the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis we are in the midst of a multi-year business process re-engineering project to bring the average response time on requests for modern military service records from several weeks to six days. While we are seeing an improvement in response time, until more training, practice, and technology is applied, the progress will be slow. Two technological changes that will enhance our production capabilities are bar-coding the tracking of cases and the introduction of a web request portal during FY 2002. We also have implemented a new order fulfillment and accounting system, which will help improve service on 18th- and 19th-century military service records at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
We also are improving access to records that are difficult to use. Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) from the Reconstruction era contain a great deal of information about the African-American family experience, but the information is difficult to extract and the records are fragile and only available in one NARA location. We are undertaking a project to microfilm these records and distribute the microfilm to our regional archives and microfilm rental program. We also plan to form partnerships with non-profit organizations and educational institutions to develop automated name indexes to the records to make them easier to use.
We continue to make process improvements in our research rooms, train staff in customer service principles, employ customer service teams, modernize and upgrade research room equipment, and add research room staff and adjust hours of service to make it easier for more people to use our services. Many of these improvements are critical for us to be able to meet customer service expectations for the opening of the 1930 census in April 2002. We release a decennial census every 10 years--72 years after the original census was completed. This requires at least four years of preparation so that all microfilm rolls, available indexes, and adequate equipment and staff are available on opening day and during the years of increased research activity that typically follow. By distributing the rolls of microfilm and procuring the necessary equipment by the end of FY 2001, we ensure that we will be prepared for the April 2002 opening.
Key external factors Unexpected increases in records holdings or public interest in groups of records can significantly increase workloads, response times, and wear and tear on public use equipment. Construction at the National Archives Building may result in a temporary decrease in the number of public programs and services offered there. FOIA response time is affected by the additional time needed to process FOIAs for classified and/or security sensitive records, and the fact that NARA cannot control the response time for FOIAs that must be referred to other agencies.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Written requests: requests for services that arrive in the form of letters, faxes, emails, and telephone calls that have been transcribed. Excludes Freedom of Information Act requests, personnel information requests at the National Personnel Records Center, Federal agency requests for information, fulfillment of requests for copies of records, requests for museum shop products, subpoenas, and special access requests; Federal agency reference request: a request by a Federal agency to a records center activity requesting the retrieval of agency records. Excludes personnel information requests at the National Personnel Records Center.
Long Range Performance Target 2.2. By 2007, 70 percent of NARA services are available online.
Outcome More people have access to our services.
Significance For citizens and the Government to take full advantage of the resources we have to offer, we must make those services available regardless of the user's physical location. With the advent of the Internet and other electronic forms of communication, we now have the means to offer services remotely. Visiting or writing one of our facilities is no longer the only way for people to get ready access to essential evidence. By broadening the availability of our services, we ensure that citizens everywhere have access to their National Archives.
Means and Strategies Our web site is the most widely available means of electronic access to our services and information, including directions on how to contact us and do research at our facilities; descriptions of our holdings in an online catalog; digital copies of selected archival documents; electronic mailboxes for customer questions, comments, and complaints; an automated index to the John F. Kennedy assassination records collection; electronic versions of Federal Register publications; online exhibits, and classroom resources for students and teachers. We are expanding the kinds and amount of services and information available on our web site and evaluating and redesigning the site to make it easier to use.
In accordance with the Administration's Government-wide initiative to expand electronic government and our Strategic Plan, NARA has aggressively looked for opportunities to make more of our services, for both Federal agencies and the public, available electronically. To meet this challenge and the requirements of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA), however, we must dramatically improve our information technology infrastructure to support a wide variety of complex electronic transactions.
In FY 2001 we improved the quality and consistency of our web content, contracted with designers to improve the navigation and appeal of our site, and purchased the servers and basic software necessary to operate the site and ensure it is accessible under the new Government standards. In FY 2002 we will establish a technical team that will begin to address our web infrastructure needs in support of e-government initiatives and GPEA. This team will include professionals who are experienced in web applications, software engineering, and security and have experience in a standards-based approach to information technology architecture and development. Because we anticipate that almost all of these activities will be contracted out, the team also will have experience in acquisition management.
Once we have developed the technology infrastructure and tested the products necessary for creating a reliable and scalable e-government environment, we will procure, implement, and deploy the software applications required for e-government in an operational setting. We will launch pilots for all of the high-volume transactions identified in our GPEA plan that are deemed to be cost-effective.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 data are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Long Range Performance Target 2.3. By 2007, 95 percent of NARA archival holdings are described at the series or collection level in an online catalog.
Outcome Researchers will find the descriptive information they need about our archival holdings in one convenient location.
Significance The Archival Research Catalog-an online card catalog of all our holdings nationwide-will allow the public, for the first time, to use computers to search our vast holdings, including those in the regional archives and Presidential libraries. Moreover, anyone can perform these searches through the Internet rather than having to travel to one of our facilities.
Means and Strategies When completed, ARC will be a comprehensive, self-service, online "card catalog" of descriptions of our nationwide holdings. Currently, to locate records you want to see or copy, you must search through various published and unpublished catalogs, indexes, and lists, many of which are out of date, out of print, or available in one location only. ARC will ensure that anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection can browse descriptions of all of our holdings, including electronic records, in our Washington, DC, area archives, regional archives, and Presidential libraries. We will roll out ARC in FY 2002 with records from our current prototype system, the National Archival Information Locator (NAIL).
In developing ARC, we are really building two systems: an operational system in which archivists will enter and edit records descriptions and a read-only web version of the system for use by staff and the public. ARC development is nearly complete, and early in FY 2002 we will debut the read-only catalog, populated with the descriptions in NAIL, on our web site. This will be followed by a beta test of the operational system with a small group of archivists. Once this system has been thoroughly tested and debugged, we will begin a phased rollout to all archival units nationwide. We are installing public access terminals in all our research rooms nationwide to enable the public to use ARC onsite.
One of our description and access challenges is the high-volume and high-demand electronic records from the Department of State, the Executive Office of the President, and other agencies that we soon will be accessioning. We will describe these records in ARC, but we need to develop the capability to make these electronic records accessible to researchers online. In FY 2001 we completed the prototype of the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) system, as well as the requirements documents for the pilot and production systems. During FY 2002, we will complete the pilot and production versions of the system, the latter of which will be accessible to the public through ARC.
Verification and Validation
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions NAIL: NARA Archival Information Locator, prototype for ARC; ARC: Archival Research Catalog, future NARA-wide online catalog; AAD: Access to Archival Databases, an access tool that will permit public online access to selected archival databases.
Long Range Performance Target 2.4. By 2003, ISOO will develop a uniform sampling system for collecting information about classification activity within the executive branch.
Outcome More reliable and credible data are available about classification decisions.
Significance The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which is administered within NARA, annually reports to the President on the status of the Government-wide security classification program. ISOO collects data from executive branch agencies that create or handle classified national security information to assess the state of the Government's overall security classification program as well as individual agency programs. Credible data are essential to making these assessments.
Means and Strategies One element that has been particularly troublesome for the larger classifying agencies is the number of classification decisions made by classifiers in a fiscal year. Three agencies use sampling methods to determine this number. These agencies represent more than 90 percent of all classification activity in the executive branch. The results from their sampling methods tend to vary significantly from year to year because the methods lack uniformity in content and application. Consequently, the reliability and credibility of the data are questioned. Another factor complicating these methods is the reporting of security classification program data related to information contained in electronic systems. Some agencies can conduct actual counts of security classification decisions made in a particular year. In other agencies, the electronic systems in use do not provide a means to distinguish the types of documents they count, e.g., final work products versus draft work products; or record versus non-record items. The data collected by these agencies includes information that does not fall within the parameters set for the data. Consequently, while a uniform sampling method would result in more reliable and credible data, such a method would require that it set parameters for information contained in electronic systems. If the electronic systems can discriminate among the types of classification decision/documents, a sampling method may not be necessary. This effort will help make that determination.
Key external factors Agencies who sample their number of classification decisions must cooperate in the development of the uniform methodology.
Verification and Validation
Data source Quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Classified document review: a review by ISOO of an executive branch agency to identify inconsistencies in the application of classification and marking requirements of Executive Order 12958. The results of the review along with any appropriate recommendations for improvement are reported to the agency senior official for the program or the agency head. Program review: an evaluation of selected aspects of an executive branch agency's security classification program to determine whether an agency has met the requirements of Executive Order 12958. The review may include security education and training, self-inspections, declassification, safeguarding, and classification activity. The results of a review, along with any appropriate recommendations for improvement are reported to the agency senior official or agency head.
Long Range Performance Target 2.5. By 2004, NARA will review and declassify 100 percent of archival holdings more than 25 years old for which NARA has been granted declassification authority and responsibility for their review by the originating agency.
Outcome More records are declassified and made available to the public.
Significance Executive Order 12958 requires the declassification of material 25 years old unless specifically exempt. The Government protects millions of classified documents at great expense, including more than 455 million pages in our Washington, DC, area facilities and 24 million pages in Presidential libraries. The majority of these documents more than 25 years old no longer requires classified protection and can and should be accessible to citizens.
Means and Strategies NARA staff focus on records which are not already being reviewed by the originating agencies. These agencies are ones that receive but do not generate much classified information. We must review these records to identify the equities of other agencies that may still have concerns about information in the records. To handle the reviews required by Executive Order 12958, and the extra work required by the Kyl and Lott Amendments, we hired experienced contract personnel to survey, review, and prepare records for release. These contractors worked primarily on Presidential materials from the Eisenhower through Carter Administrations.
We improved our internal ability to track information about our classified and declassified records by installing a new database management system for tracking withdrawn items with scanning and storage capabilities. This allows us to electronically scan requested documents, input data about the documents, redact documents, and provide redacted copies of scanned documents to researchers. Ultimately, other agencies may be able to use the system to enter the results of their own declassification review, check for their equities in other agency records, and view image files of the documents in question to check for their own equities. We expect to enhance the system to include the ability to review electronic records online.
For classified materials in the Presidential library system for which we have no delegated declassification authority, we have established a partnership with the Central Intelligence Agency to prepare and scan classified materials for distribution to agencies with equities in the documents. With additional FY 2001 funding, NARA funded travel and per diem for scanning teams and hired temporary security-cleared workers to assist in processing documents for opening when returned to the libraries following equity review. CIA is funding all of the technological development, hardware, and software for the project. The Department of State is not a participant in the scanning project and will need to work with NARA to find other means to provide for its equity review of materials in the libraries for which they have not provided guidelines.
Key external factors The Administration has begun a process that will lead to amending or rewriting Executive Order 12958. Changes in the order could have a significant effect on NARA's workload, work processes, and performance targets.
The Kyl and Lott Amendments require the re-review, page-by-page, of all declassified records except those determined to be highly unlikely to contain Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data. We continue to devote resources to assist the Department of Energy in surveying and auditing records to ensure that no Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data is inadvertently released.
Special declassification projects also reduce the amount of declassification that can be accomplished with existing resources. Instead of examining entire records series for declassification, many of our declassification staff are required to examine individual withdrawn classified documents to determine their relevance and coordinate their declassification with the appropriate agencies.
We have partnered with several agencies that are providing declassification support. The CIA must continue to provide technical support to enable the review of documents by other agencies. The State Department and other agencies must take prompt action on reviewing and declassifying documents in Presidential libraries.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Equity-holding agency: the agency that may have classified information in a document, whether or not it created the document. Without declassification guidelines, only the equity-holding agency can declassify information in the document.
Long Range Performance Target 2.6. By 2007, 10 percent of records of a two-term President or 15 percent of records of a one-term President are open and available for research at the end of the 5-year post-Presidential period specified in the Presidential Records Act.
Outcome We improve ready access to Presidential records.
Significance The Presidential Records Act (PRA) requires Presidential records to be available for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests five years after the President leaves office. Five years after the last two Presidents left office, well under 10 percent of their records had been opened, largely because of the absence, on the Presidents' departures, of NARA staff trained to accomplish the exacting reviews required under the PRA and FOIA. We must ensure that Presidential records are available in accordance with the Act in a more timely fashion. Also, the inventory of Presidential and Vice Presidential records will provide basic intellectual control and facilitate access to the records in the immediate post-Presidential period and enable the transfer of the records from the White House to a NARA-operated storage facility.
Means and Strategies To ensure the preservation of Clinton Administration records and artifacts for informational, historical, evidentiary and administrative purposes and to prepare for the transfer of Presidential and Vice Presidential records to our custody, we will work with White House and Vice Presidential staff to account for Presidential records in all media held in Presidential, First Lady, and Vice Presidential staff offices and other file locations. With the approval of Presidential and Vice Presidential representatives, we will prepare some inventories, define requirements and facilitate preparation of other inventories by White House staff, and gather inventories prepared throughout the Administration by White House staff. We also will continue to provide archival guidance and advice to the Presidential and Vice Presidential staffs on the recordkeeping and disposition requirements of the PRA. With assistance from the Department of Defense we will complete the transfer of Presidential and Vice Presidential records to NARA-operated sites in FY 2001. We have established and are staffing a Clinton Presidential Materials Project. The staff we have hired and trained in the requirements of the PRA and FOIA will begin processing Clinton Administration records and artifacts as part of this Project.
Key external factors Progress in processing and inventorying the records may be hindered by an unusually large number of special access requests or subpoenas.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Inventory: a listing of the volume, scope, and complexity of an organization's records.
Long Range Performance Target 2.7. By 2007, 90 percent of all NHPRC-assisted projects produce results promised in grant applications approved by the Commission.
Outcome The public gains wider access to the entire range of records on which the understanding of American history depends.
Significance National Historical Publications and Records Commission grants help archivists, editors, and historians nationwide broaden public access to non-Federal records, thus complimenting NARA's own mission. Toward this end, the NHPRC works to ensure completion of documentary projects on America's founding era, strengthens the nation's archival infrastructure through collaboration with the states, and funds research and development on preserving and making accessible important documentary sources in electronic form.
Means and Strategies The Commission achieves its goals largely through a competitive grants program open to non-profit organizations, state, local, and tribal governments, and (in a limited number of cases) individuals. Grant proposals are submitted and supported by applicant institutions and organizations that provide a significant portion of the total project costs (usually 50 percent or higher). Each grant application includes general goals and specific objectives, a detailed budget, a work plan with project schedule, and a list of products that will be produced. Depending upon the type of project and the amount requested, proposals may be evaluated by peer reviewers and/or state historical advisory boards, as well as by staff and the Commission, and are awarded usually on an annual competitive basis. Each grant recipient must submit regular narrative and financial reports and a final report with copies of products generated by the project. Commission staff monitor the projects through this regular reporting as well as through individual contact. Commission staff also monitor relevant professional reviews of the products of its grants as found in professional journals and reports to professional meetings. Projects also are evaluated at the close of the grant period to determine if they have submitted evidence of the satisfactory completion of the project along with the necessary copies of products. Because some of the projects are experimental, they may not produce expected results. In these cases, however, finding out what does not work may be just as valuable as finding out what does work.
The Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 requires that we examine our efforts to simplify parts of our grant-making process, particularly by providing electronic options. We plan to streamline the regulations for our grant-making process and ensure that information is easily accessible to our grantees via our web site. In addition, grant application forms and other necessary forms will be made available on the web site. We also will simplify the grant process for our grantees by accepting alternate means, such as fax, for the transmission of interim reports and requests. Finally, we will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of automating our grants application process.
Key external factors The NHPRC rigorously evaluates grant applications on the basis of the relevance of projects to the NHPRC's strategic objectives and the ability of applicants to produce promised results. Nonetheless, results ultimately depend on the grantees rather than on the NHPRC.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
FY 1999 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $82,950,000; 307 FTE
FY 2000 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $91,419,000; 305 FTE
FY 2001 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $172,224,000; 351 FTE
FY 2002 Resources Available to Meet This Goal: $130,268,000; 361 FTE
FY 2002 Budget Linkage: pages 11-14, 18-19
Long Range Performance Target 3.1. By 2007, 90 percent of NARA holdings are in appropriate space.
Outcome We greatly increase the chances of records being available for use by Federal officials and the public for as long as needed. In addition, for the first time in America's history, all the Charters of Freedom are fully accessible to the public and their continued preservation is ensured.
Significance Providing appropriate physical and environmental storage conditions is the most cost-effective means to ensure records preservation.
Means and Strategies While our state-of-the-art facility in College Park, MD, provides appropriate storage conditions for the archival headquarters records of most Federal agencies as well as modern records of national interest, several of our regional facilities have severe quality problems, including backlogs of needed repairs and renovations, and existing Presidential libraries need upgrades in environmental conditions. We are taking a multi-pronged approach to ensuring our holdings are in appropriate space. Based in part on our experience with our College Park facility, we are developing storage standards for all NARA archival records holdings. We published new standards to safeguard Federal records in records centers and other records storage facilities. These standards will ensure Federal records are protected whether they are stored by NARA, another Federal agency, or the private sector.
On January 20, 2001, we took custody of the records of the Clinton Administration. We leased and equipped a temporary facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, to house all the Presidential materials, and we are beginning to process the records, and prepare for the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library. For this and future Presidential libraries, we are developing new facility standards to ensure Presidential records and artifacts are appropriately housed. In addition, many older libraries are undergoing renovations and upgrades.
In our regions we are focusing first on facilities with the worst storage conditions (Atlanta, St. Louis) for archival records and on those that are out of space (Atlanta, Anchorage).
And in Washington, DC, we are renovating the grand, old National Archives Building and re-encasing America's Charters of Freedom. We are legally entrusted with the care and preservation of this country's founding documents the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. Having been encased nearly fifty years ago, the technology that was used then is now out of step with modern conservation practices. Our conservators and outside experts have concluded that the deteriorating encasements must be replaced to ensure the continued preservation of the documents for the American people.
We have partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and our Advisory Committee on Preservation to design the most technologically advanced and safest encasements for the Charters of Freedom. The design addresses issues of security, strength of the encasement, temperature, humidity, light, air pressure, and flexibility for incorporating new protective measures in the future. The plan to re-encase the Charters of Freedom offers us the opportunity to evaluate the condition of the current encasements, to perform any necessary document conservation measures, and to fully document the condition of the Charters. A sample of the interior gas will be extracted before the old encasements are opened and the old encasement components will be retained for further analysis. Before re-encasement, each page will be examined to ensure its stability for long-term exhibit. Finally, each page will be photographed to facilitate the preparation of facsimiles and publications, and to add to the permanent conservation files. The prototype encasement was developed and tested in FY 1999 and fabrication of encasements was completed in FY 2001.
The Charters of Freedom cannot be displayed in their new encasements, however, unless we renovate the National Archives Building. The renovation of the National Archives Building is essential to the preservation and protection of the Charters of Freedom and the other holdings in the building. The current HVAC system requires upgrading to meet archival standards for the preservation of the textual holdings in the building. The renovation also will modernize the mechanical, electrical, and fire safety systems so that they meet current regulations and standards. It will retrofit the Rotunda area so that the Charters of Freedom can be displayed in their new encasements. Renovation will bring the building and the document displays into full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, enabling all Americans to view the Charters of Freedom and use the research rooms. Adding chemical filtration of the air and tighter temperature and humidity controls will upgrade the records storage areas to meet archival standards for textual records. Finally, renovation will add sufficient exhibit and public use space to accommodate the increasing number of visitors to the building.
Key external factors Public, Administration, and congressional support for our space planning activities is vital to develop and implement proposed plans.
Verification and Validation
* See FY 1999 and FY 2000 Annual Performance Report for details.
Data source Quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Appropriate space: storage areas that meet physical and environmental standards for the type of materials stored there.
Long Range Performance Target 3.2. By 2007, 50 percent of NARA's at-risk archival holdings are appropriately treated or are housed so as to retard further deterioration.
Outcome The most at-risk materials are appropriately preserved according to degree of risk, value, and use for current and future generations of researchers.
Significance Providing public access to records for as long as needed requires that we assess the preservation needs of the records, provide storage that retards deterioration, and treat or duplicate and reformat records at high risk for deterioration. The records currently identified as being most in need of preservation attention are textual records documenting military service of 20th-century veterans, as well as those that provide a broad audiovisual history of the United States from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Means and Strategies We must preserve paper records and motion pictures, audio recordings, videotapes, still photography, aerial photography, microfilm and other microforms, and maps and charts in a variety of formats in our holdings. We implemented a risk assessment program to identify at-risk records among new accessions and among previously accessioned textual (paper) holdings. We also will retard further deterioration of the large quantities of acetate-based motion pictures, still photos, aerial films, and microfilms in the Washington, DC, area by housing them in cold storage. In addition to putting acetate-based records in cold storage, we are identifying other nontextual records at risk outside the Washington, DC, area and developing a long-term, nationwide plan for their preservation.
At our National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis the records of the service of our 20th-century military veterans require immediate preservation attention. Because these records have such great value to current veterans now trying to document their rights and to future researchers documenting the military history of the 20th century, NARA will accession the majority of these records. To ensure both short-term and continuing access to these records, we are establishing a comprehensive preservation program for these records with a professional staff. The staff initially will focus on preparing the preservation duplication of Air Force flight records from 1911-1974. In addition, they will begin the preparation of Final Pay Vouchers and Payrolls for a reformatting contract. These are just the first of thousands of feet of microform and paper records that will receive preservation treatment over the next several years.
Key external factors Unusually large increases in new at-risk records, increases in cost of leasing cold storage space, and growing or shifting public demands for the use of at-risk records could delay achievement of performance objectives. Limitations on the availability of appropriate cold storage facilities and commercial treatment labs will affect the Presidential libraries' ability to address audiovisual holdings' requirements.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions At-risk: records that have a media base near or at the point of deterioration to such an extent that the image or information in the physical media of the record is being or soon will be lost, or records that are stored on media accessible only through obsolete technology; Accession: archival materials whose legal custody is transferred to NARA.
Long Range Performance Target 3.3. By 2007, 97 percent of NARA's electronic holdings are preserved and accessible, regardless of their original format.
Outcome More electronic records are preserved for future generations of researchers.
Significance We have accessioned and are preserving more electronic records than any other government archives in the world. All citizens count on us to ensure that our heritage in electronic form is preserved for as long as needed. But even as the world leader we still lack the capacity to accommodate our current backlog of files and the exploding volume of electronic data files that Federal agencies transfer to us. We must expand the capacity of our current preservation system, research options with public and private sector partners to establish a more robust system, and accommodate an increasing number of routine electronic accessions in a variety of media and in a number of file formats.
Means and Strategies To deal with the complex challenges we face in preserving and managing electronic records we are taking a short- and long-term approach. In the short-term, we must extend and expand our existing systems that handle electronic records processing because that is the only means we have currently of controlling these records. For the future, however, we have research and development partnerships with the National Science Foundation, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and others to discover new ways to look at preserving and providing access to electronic records within a comprehensive and stable architecture that will be infrastructure independent, scalable, modular, and extensible. More research and development must occur, but we believe we can develop and build an Electronic Records Archives that will preserve any kind of electronic record in a format that frees it from the computer system that created it and will allow us to respond to reference requests in ways that meet customer needs. In FY 2002, we will initiate the Concept Phase of the Electronic Records Archives System development lifecycle, and establish the infrastructure-program management and control, resource planning, acquisition planning, risk management-necessary to manage a program of this complexity. Once the Electronic Records Archives is operational, we will assess the need for continuation of our existing electronic records preservation systems.
The day it opens, the Clinton Presidential Library will be responsible for a collection of electronic records that is thousands of times larger than everything the National Archives and all other Presidential libraries have received in electronic form. Federal agency web sites have become an integral and important part of government, and are used to provide information and to conduct business. We asked all Federal agencies to submit a "snapshot" of their web sites to us in FY 2001 so that we could preserve and make them available to the public in the future. We received about 3 terabytes of information (a terabyte is a million million bytes), although this is only a portion of what Federal agencies have online. Due to the huge influx of electronic records expected in FY 2001 and FY 2002, we have adjusted our performance targets lower to reflect our project performance against a rapidly expanding universe of records.
Key external factors The results of existing and future research and development into electronic records preservation may change the requirements for an electronic records preservation system.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source The Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Preserved: (1) the physical file containing one or more logical data records has been identified and its location, format, and internal structure(s) specified; (2) logical data records within the file are physically readable and retrievable; (3) the media, the physical files written on them, and the logical data records they contain are managed to ensure continuing accessibility; and (4) an audit trail is maintained to document record integrity; Logical data record: a set of data processed as a unit by a computer system or application independently of its physical environment. Examples: a word processing document; a spreadsheet; an email message; each row in each table of a relational database or each row in an independent logical file database. Accessible: NARA is technically able to make a copy of the electronic holdings available.
Resources Required to Meet This Goal: Goal 4 supports goals 1 through 3. Resources required are included in the totals for those goals.
Long Range Performance Target 4.1. By 2003, 100 percent of employee performance plans and 100 percent of staff development plans are linked to strategic outcomes.
Outcome We are motivated and given the skills to successfully implement our Strategic Plan.
Significance A new agency performance appraisal system that links employees' individual performance with our performance as an agency will demonstrate to staff their importance to the success of our Strategic Plan. To achieve that success, however, we also must give our staff the tools, training, and development necessary to meet these expectations.
Means and Strategies To ensure that our employees are prepared to carry out the responsibilities in their performance plans, we must help them learn new skills, refresh old skills, and make use of emerging technologies. We will develop, test, refine, and implement career development programs focusing on instruction in supervisory, universal, supplemental, and job-specific competencies that are linked to accomplishment of our strategic goals. Supervisors and managers will be trained in developing new performance plans and staff development plans for their employees. All staff must be actively engaged in fulfilling their new plans or our workforce will stagnate, and we will not be able to take advantage of new ideas and opportunities to achieve our strategic vision.
Verification and Validation
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Staff development plan: a plan to provide and enhance an employee's knowledge, skills, and abilities, and to improve performance in his/her current job and of duties outside his/her current job in response to organizational needs and human resource plans.
Long Range Performance Target 4.2. By 2007, the percentages of NARA employees in underrepresented groups match their respective availability levels in the Civilian Labor Force.
Outcome Our workforce will reflect the diversity of American society as a whole.
Significance A diverse workforce enhances our agency by ensuring that we can draw on the widest possible variety of viewpoints and experiences to improve the planning and actions we undertake to achieve our mission and goals. By promoting and valuing workforce diversity, we create a work setting where these varied experiences contribute to a more efficient and dynamic organization and employees can develop to their full potential.
Means and Strategies Training in diversity is a critical step for creating an understanding of the value of diversity and ensuring its integration into our organization. Our method for delivering diversity training has not been effective to date. We have modified our approach and will resume diversity training in FY 2002, with the expectation to complete training for the entire workforce in FY 2003. We also are focusing on improving our performance in hiring and promoting people in underrepresented groups by continuing our efforts to expand recruiting techniques, collecting and analyzing pertinent personnel management data, and implementing staff development programs. By developing a new applicant background survey and improving our processes for capturing applicant background data, we have more effective tools for measuring the results of our recruitment efforts.
Key external factors Achievement of this target depends on qualified people in underrepresented groups applying for positions at NARA.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and semi-annual reports to the Archivist.
Definitions Applicant: job applicants who have reached a point in the hiring process where NARA has found them to meet the basic qualifications for the position; Underrepresented groups: groups of people tracked by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Ethnic groups (African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics); Women; People with targeted disabilities; Protected classes: women, minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives), and disabled individuals. PATCOB categories are Professional, Administrative, Technical, Clerical, Other, and Blue Collar occupations used to categorize the Civilian Labor Force data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Long Range Performance Target 4.3. By 2007, NARA will accept 100 percent of the legal documents submitted electronically for publication in the Federal Register.
Outcome We improve ready access to Federal Register publications.
Significance We publish the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and related publications, which contain information essential to the life, health, safety, and defense of the citizens of the United States and of our businesses, legal system, and Government. Informing citizens of their rights and legal responsibilities is one of our critical ongoing responsibilities.
Means and Strategies Technological developments in the publishing world have expanded publication options available for Federal Register materials, while developments in consumer technology have increased the number and the availability of public access points to published materials. Meanwhile, Federal agencies have rapidly increased their ability to operate in an electronic information environment. The resulting possibilities for enormously increased access and for significantly improved operational efficiencies demand that taxpayer-financed publishing systems, like the Federal Register system, incorporate the new technologies. As online Federal Register publications assume primacy among available formats, surveys show that users are demanding that we employ the capabilities of new technologies to provide more frequent revisions of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and better reference tools for using the publications. Federal agencies that submit documents for publication also want us to permit the much less expensive electronic submission of documents. And the Government Paperwork Elimination Act requires agencies to develop the capacity for electronic commerce by 2003.
In FY 2001 we conducted a process improvement study of office operations that will examine the following elements: electronic submission of documents from Federal agencies; electronic review, editing, and scheduling of those documents for printing; enhanced electronic formatting of materials for printing, distribution, dissemination, and archiving in electronic formats; use of automation to create more user-friendly search and retrieval tools for publications in electronic and printed formats; and more timely electronic codification of CFR amendments published in the daily Federal Register. From this study we will define requirements for an electronic system covering all phases of preparing Federal Register publications for issuance, which we will begin to implement in FY 2002. In addition, we must continue our successful partnership with the Government Printing Office (GPO) and involve GPO officials in planning. We also must partner with the private sector where the knowledge of technological advances and of the field of document management is greatest, to ensure that we install new processes and technologies that will keep pace with the ever-increasing speed of change in information management.
Key external factors We do not control the volume of work for which we are responsible or the timing of submissions. We do not print or distribute our publications and we depend on GPO to provide common hardware and software for publishing. GPO also controls the process by which our publications are put online on GPO Access. Significant additional resources would be required were this support from GPO decreased or withdrawn. Successful government-wide electronic commerce remains dependent upon the resolution of issues surrounding government-wide digital signature standards and an electronic public key infrastructure.
Verification and Validation
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System and quarterly reports to the Archivist.
Long Range Performance Target 4.4. By 2007, NARA will have a 95-percent-effective computer and communications infrastructure.
Outcome NARA information and services are accessible to customers 24 hours a day in a manner that meets customer service expectations.
Significance Our information technology backbone is NARANET, a wide-area-network that connects the entire agency internally and connects us to public and Government customers via the Internet. Reliable performance of NARANET is essential to ensuring that customer expectations for access to our information and services can be met.
Means and Strategies Our Strategic Plan commits us to "implement policies and standards that facilitate development of an integrated, agency-wide information infrastructure" to manage comprehensively all the data we use in our daily operations. We plan to do this by creating a mature data administration program focused on improving data quality and reliability, increasing data sharing, and controlling data redundancy for all of NARA's information systems. In FY 2002 we will begin creating an agency-wide data model and developing requirements for a data repository for our agency-wide data. In FY 2003 we will procure the software and contractor support to install and implement the data repository.
The authenticity and reliability of our electronic records and information technology systems are only as good as our information technology (IT) security infrastructure. We must ensure the security of our data and our systems or we risk undermining our agency's credibility and ability to carry out our mission and the Government's ability to document the results of and accountability for its programs. IT security becomes even more critical as we increase our visibility through the implementation of electronic government initiatives that expand online services to the public. The more we increase electronic access to our services and records, the more vulnerable we potentially are to intrusions, viruses, privacy violations, fraud, and other abuses of our systems.
In FY 2001 we improved our IT security infrastructure. We will, in FY 2002, increase site inspections; deploy additional anti-virus programs; enhance security training for computer users; create a computer incident response team; and begin to implement system identification, certification, and accreditation. We also will begin planning and analysis in preparation for deployment of a more robust IT security infrastructure for the future.
By 2007 we expect our NARANET computer infrastructure to be 95-percent-effective. This means the network is available to users 99.7 percent of the time; user services are delivered within established parameters 95 percent of the time; and services to the desktop are delivered within established timeframes 90 percent of the time.
Key external factors Because of technology changes in both hardware and software, NARANET components either rapidly become obsolete or cannot be maintained efficiently. Generally this means that 20 to 30 percent of the components must be replaced or upgraded each year. To achieve the necessary level of performance, we must acquire new hardware and software to support a 15-percent annual growth as well as cyclically maintain the minimum levels on existing systems.
Verification and Validation
* FY 2002-2003 numbers are projections.
Data source Performance Measurement and Reporting System. We use our network management system and problem incident reports to produce data regarding network availability and reliability. The current Help desk management system and customer surveys collect user support data. In addition, information technology staff conducts periodic system/network tests on service delivery to individual workstations. We have expanded and enhanced the capabilities of the network management system, providing additional detailed performance and availability data, especially for networks outside the Washington, DC, area. Also, NARA have replaced the current Help Desk management system and we will implement additional features, which will allow us to gather additional and more accurate information about our user support services.
Definitions NARANET: a collection of local area networks installed in 34 NARA facilities that are connected to a wide area network at Archives II, using frame relay telecommunications, and then to the Internet. NARANET includes personal computers with a standardized suite of software. NARANET was designed to be modular and scalable using standard hardware and software components; User Support Services: help desk services which include problem resolution, answering questions regarding hardware and software, providing technical support, and updating users' access to the system; Service Delivery to the Desktop: delivery of information to the users' personal computer, especially concerning email and NARA's intranet.