When a new year rolls over, we think it’s a great time to take in a deep breath, put on a pair of evaluative goggles, and resolve to do things better in the months ahead. What kind of things? Well, if you work in a County government department (or Parishes like we have here in Louisiana), that thing could be how you manage your records. That may sound like a gigantic barrel of misery but, as paper-to-digital conversion enthusiasts (artists!), the RDS family finds it exciting. There’s something invigorating about preserving the pen strokes of time in a format that makes finding information fast and clickable. It’s about conservation. It’s about convenience. It’s about streamlining day-to-day transactions in a way that pairs history with modern technology. That’s the butter on our bread here at RDS, because...

Finding a record isn’t supposed to feel like an archaeological dig. 

Sure, excavating artifacts sounds like an adventure movie, but the reality is a tidge less glamorous; you shuffle down the hall to the basement and walk through old rooms laden with heavy-bound books that are slowly suffering the dusty decay imposed by Father Time. Or maybe you have electronic versions of those records but they live inside a monstrous spreadsheet that tumbles for miles down your screen, devoid of search tags that would help you pluck the right row from the mire. Hundreds of years of bound books or thousands of unindexed rows and columns—no matter how carefully curated according to antiquation’s warm admiration—will not stave the look of horror on the face of a new employee tasked with locating a document from 1886. Those goggles should be sparking. 

This is not the Ark of the Covenant. This is citizen Joe trying to determine if that sneaky neighbor built a fence that encroaches on his back forty by more footage than his nerves are likely to bear with civility much longer. 

Poor Joe! He’s standing there with his kind face and his going-out coat on, asking you for something far outside his wheelhouse, hoping you’ll bring clarity to a property issue. You may be forced to tell Joe to come back tomorrow if your indexing system still lives in the 20th century. But imagine if you were able to listen to Joe’s woes with concern and tell him not to worry, citizen friend, because a search field will retrieve that record in a few seconds thanks to 2022 customer service tools.

You need a modern strategy to index all those records, Indiana Jones. One that makes record retrieval a found-in-a-few-seconds sort of deal, not a “come back tomorrow” affair. Below, we’ve outlined some of the best document management practices for your county department this year. 

Digitize Your Records

If you haven’t already, 2022 is a fine year to digitize your documents. Scanning county records is about more than reducing your annual papercut bandage budget or winning the best boss award for replacing filing cabinets with empty space. It’s an important stepping stone on the road to maximum efficiency; it’s a smart decision according to records management best practices; it makes finding records easier; it makes information management faster (especially if you have document indexing to categorize and access similar records). Together, these improvements

• replace physical storage with Cloud storage, a huge monthly cost savings

• reduce the risk of losing records in a flood, fire, or other disasters

• better integrate with other county systems

With a digital records system, evidentiary information is a click away. It starts with on-site document scanning services that capture records in any condition. Indexing is then applied the way your deputies would expect. Strict user access is granted with secure authentication from anywhere using any device. At-location filing cabinets, banker boxes, CD/DVD towers, and towering stacks of paper are replaced with a digital interface that takes up the same space as a single book. Records management services give counties public and other county officials the power to:

• preserve historical records in perpetuity

• redact sensitive records to keep your office in compliance with county regulations

• track business activities and transactions

• capture forms and maintain evidence

• streamline processes for capture and disposition of records, including:

  • Mortgage and conveyance records

  • Marriage records

  • Case files and criminal files

  • Support/non-support records

  • Plats

  • Newspapers

  • Microfilm, fiche and aperture cards

  • Traffic tickets

  • Wills

  • Military discharge records

  • Large format documents like maps and plats

  • Index books

  • Financial records

  • Agendas and minutes

  • Photostat documents

Focus on Security

If your documents are paper-based, know this: there’s a fire or a flood or a tornado—or a thief—waiting to ravage your county records. It’s a game of odds. The longer you go, the higher the odds of a natural or manmade mishap to wipe out your beautiful backlog. If your documents have been digitized (scanned), the average cost of a data breach is $3.92 million according to the Ponemon Institute’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report. Chances are, there isn’t a spare $4 million laying around in the county government clerk’s office. If there is, that’s taxpayer money, and taxpayers would rather not see their contributions used retroactively. So think proactively; implement security protocols to protect your physical and electronic records. 

What makes for a secure records management system?

• Access Control: Who can see your documents? In a data breach at First American Financial Corp, 885 million records were exposed because no authentication was required to view the documents. That’s a sizeable whoopsy! Any device that is used to capture, send, view, or print records should have authentication and user controls in place. This includes printers, scanners, PCs, laptops, tablets, phones, and other mobile devices used to access documents on your network. Additionally, these permissions should be user-specific so that only those who need access to specific documents can get in to view them.

• Encryption: It would take 500 billion years for hackers to crack standard 128-bit, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit encryption, which is what the U.S. government declared acceptable for classified data. Sensitive records should be encrypted when at rest on the network, in transit across the network, and when stored either locally or in the Cloud. In other words, records should have a giant cybersecurity lock on them whether they are open or closed.

• Archiving and Governance: Many county government files sit for years without movement; they’re inactive. Those files must meet long-term retention requirements and other compliance regulations. They should be archived in Cloud storage to make it harder for unwanted visitors to access them. Digital records should be stored according to the ISO 15489 international records management standard. There are also state and local government regulations that stipulate how to properly archive records, for how long, and how they should be destroyed once expired.

• Backups: Skydivers fling themselves from planes. But not without a backup parachute strapped to their backs. That spare chute is there in case the first one fails. In the same way, hundreds of years of records should have failsafes, too. Any secure document indexing system should have regular, daily backups as part of a disaster recovery plan. When you create backups separate from your operating environment, it gives you an extra line of defense against attacks or failures. By having multiple backups and multiple recovery points, you’re protected in the event of malware or ransomware. There are a few backup parachute options out there. Ask us!

• Get Your Whole Team On Board: Mistakes happen. Human error is the root cause of 24 percent of all breaches. One full quarter of all successful hacker attempts can be pinned on someone unintentionally leaving a digital door wide open. Fixing those accidents requires training. Every staff member should brush up on security best practices. Whether you’re a sheriff’s department, a county executive, or you’re the Clerk of Court everyone on your team should learn how to recognize a phishing attack—a ne'er do well wolf in sheep's clothing. Staff should understand and follow authentication, encryption, and records governance policies. 

Destroying It: Handling County Government Data Correctly at Disposition

Storage space isn’t infinite. Much like Marie Kondo’s television series where professional organizers toss out everything that doesn’t “spark joy,” your agency is charged with proper record disposal, both digital and physical. While some records must be kept forever, most have a shelf life. After records have served their purpose for a defined length, it’s time to destroy them—the right way. 

County record disposal is an important—and sometimes challenging—task subject to state and local regulations. Each type of record may have its own disposal requirement and its own timeline subject to different compliance laws. 

According to the National Archives (NARA), long-term records management is required of all federal agencies, and state and local departments should be no different:

“The NARA Records Schedule provides mandatory instructions (“disposition instructions”) to all NARA staff regarding how to maintain the agency’s operational records and what to do with them when they are no longer needed for current business. The disposition instructions state whether individual series of records are “permanent” or “temporary,” as well as how long to retain the records. Records with historical value, identified as “permanent,” are transferred to the National Archives of the United States at the end of their retention period. All other records are identified as “temporary” and are eventually destroyed in accordance with the NARA Records Schedule or the General Records Schedule.”

So there’s some fuss to contend with. 

As you destroy records, you must do so in a way that doesn’t leave your administration, agency, or community vulnerable. Check your county’s retention schedule and adhere closely to the timeline provided. Feel the fog is too thick? Call Revolution Data Systems to add some sunshine. We are overly-versed in compliance and know all about the various degrees of disposal at all levels of government. We don’t want you to endure hours of stress winding through the labyrinth of law-laden discovery or feel like a giant boulder is chasing you down a narrowing corridor. Call us for clarity! We’re your Harrison Ford.

You Have Records Management Best Practices Questions. RDS has Answers.

In 2022 and beyond, records management best practices begin with digitizing and indexing your records and finish with secure, searchable record management software. At Revolution Data Systems, we have solutions tailor-made for County government departments that struggle to keep track of it all. We help you preserve the integrity of official county or parish records, extending their life until expiry. From scanning land records to redacting sensitive information like social security numbers and dates of birth, hundreds of clerks have trusted RDS in their transition to digital. We walk you through how to begin and guide you through the records management process—just like we did for the Tishomingo County Chancery Clerk. 

With tried-and-true solutions for Clerk of Court offices, police, planning and development, government facilities management, human resources departments, and more, we can help you, too. At Revolution Data Systems, we’d love to learn more about your current records management needs—no matter how high those stacks of records are—so we can get you on the road to more efficient management practices. Contact us today to get started. It’s time to make the switch from archaeologist to digital custodian.