AC 23.2016

April 13, 2016

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS:  Criteria for Managing Email Records

We are pleased to announce the publication of the Criteria for Managing Email Records.

NARA has defined successful email management as having policies and systems in place to ensure that email records can be used, accessed, and have the appropriate disposition applied. NARA has been working with Federal agencies, Congress, and other parties to update existing statutory, regulatory and NARA guidance requirements for managing email. The criteria synthesizes the email records management requirements from the Federal Records Act, Code of Federal Regulations and existing NARA guidance.

Agencies should use this guidance internally to evaluate their progress towards meeting Managing Government Records Directive Goal 1.2 to manage all email in an accessible electronic format. NARA recognizes that agencies may be stronger in some aspects of email management than others. Organizational complexity, schedule development, budgetary or procurement constraints may affect each agency’s ability to meet specific criteria. NARA also recognizes that managing email records effectively does not end on the goal’s deadline of December 31, 2016. For many agencies, full implementation of the success criteria for email management is an ongoing process that continues beyond this calendar year.

A briefing on this guidance will be delivered at the June 14 BRIDG meeting.

Please contact PRMD@nara.gov with any additional questions

LAURENCE BREWER
Acting Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government