Further work on the Indiana University Electronic Records Project has demonstrated the value of systems analysis in identifying the functions, subfunctions, and individual inputs and outputs that need to be documented. In addition to this new methodology, the project has also found its new strategy of aligning the Archives with Internal Audit to be an effective way to participate in information systems review and to provide a forum to present archival considerations and concerns regarding electronic recordkeeping. S trategies and methodologies are meant to be revised and refined as theory is translated into practice. So it is with the electronic records strategy at Indiana University. Since writing "Developing a Strategy for Managing Electronic Records-The Findings of the Indiana University Electronic Records Project," which appeared in the fall 1998 issue of the American Archivist, 1 several significant changes have been made in the methodology and in the implementation strategy. This article outlines and explains these revisions.Within the IU methodology and the Pittsburgh recordkeeping requirements from which the IU model evolved, a basic underlying principle guiding all other activities is that records are products of business activities and can only be truly understood and appraised in the context of business processes. The IU electronic records management team recognized early that information on how to gain this knowledge of the business could be found in writings on systems analysis. Why did team members regard systems analysis methodology to be pertinent to archivists' needs? To answer this question, one must first understand the objectives of this form of analysis. Systems analysis has been defined 1
From June 1995 through December 1997, staff from the Indiana University Archives and University Information Technology Services undertook and completed an electronic records project partially funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, designed to implement and test the "Functional Requirements for Evidence in Recordkeeping" model developed at the University of Pittsburgh. In this article, the findings of the IU project are reviewed in the context of several questions project personnel addressed during the project, including 1) Does the Pitt model ask the right questions? 2) What set of activities are required to use and implement the model? 3) What are the costs associated with implementing the model? and 4) What types of skills are required to apply the methodology.
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