Ref: UN/CS/RAI/USAA/DB01/2004-00180
United
Nations Participating Ogranisations
Development
of a Strategic Plan for a
Digital
Archives Programme,
Digital
Assessment Survey
Part
1: Information Technology *
DRAFT completed by UN Secretariat/ DM/ITSD
* Information Technology Representatives, E-mail Administrators, Technology Coordinators, Information Architects, Application Owners
Digital Assessment Survey
This
Questionnaire is to be completed by Information Technology and Communications
professionals within each UNPO.
Part 1 - Information Technology
- General Information
- Technology and Information Systems
2.1 Technology Infrastructure
2.2 Technology Applications
2.3 Storage and Media
2.4 Data Integrity
2.5 Security and Access
2.6 Electronic Mail and Messaging Systems
- Additional comments
PART I: INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY QUESTIONNAIRE
This survey is
designed to collect information concerning the status and development of electronic records
programmes and related areas from IT Departments/Units. Where
a response is not received, we will assume that no efforts are being initiated
in that area.
Support Documentation:
Annex
1 – Organisational Units
Annex 2 -
Generic Functions/Subfunction Matrix
Annex 3 -
Record Series (to be used in RM questionaire Part II)
Annex 4 – List
of IT systems, applications and software
Annex 5 – List
of Policies and Procedures
1.0 General Information
UN Participating Organisations:
Organisation/Work
Unit Name:
Location:
Name and Title of Person Completing
Survey: Mary Sherwin
Phone: 917-367-2419
E-mail Address, sherwin@un.org
Contact Person (if different from above): Ozzeir Khan Phone #
917-367-5760
Contact Person’s (E-mail Address): khan119@un.org
Reference Number (for WGARM/DAP use
only)
Identify your role (check all appropriate boxes) within the IT environment:
__X_ Information Technology Representatives: Information Technology representatives form each of the UNPOs and/or other major subgroups within the UNPOs.
___ E-mail Administrators: Those individuals responsible for the development and implementation of the e-mail policies and procedures.
___ Technology Coordinators: Individuals within the UNPOs that are responsible for coordinating technology initiatives, usage, and standards across multiple business processes, groups, and/or technology applications.
___ Information Architects: Individuals within each of the UNPOs that are responsible for the functional composition of the business processes and their relationship to the high level function and information assets of the organization.
___ Application Owners: Personnel owning or responsible for the major Records, Document, and Transactional systems and applications within each of the UNPOs and/or other major subgroups within the UNPOs.
1.1 Departmental Background And Related Documentation
1.1.1 From
Annex 1, Identify which organisational unit(s) are covered by this survey. If the organisational unit(s) you represent
are not listed in Annex 1, please provide a separate list and attach to this
questionnaire.
Department of Management / Office
of Central Support Services/
Information Technology Services
Division (0116)
Annotated Annex Yes ___ No _x__
Additional List Yes___ No _x__
1.1.2 From
Annex 2, identify which functions and subfunctions are covered by this survey. If the functions and sub-functions you
represent are not listed in Annex 2, please provide a separate list and attach
to this questionnaire.
Information Assets Management (IAM)
Information Communications
Technology (ICT)
Annotated Annex Yes ___
No _X_
Additional List Yes___
No _X_
1.1.3
From Annex 4, validate list of IT
systems, applications and software (see 2.2.1).
If the systems, applications and software are not listed in Annex 4,
please provide a separate list and attach to this questionnaire.
Annotated Annex Yes __
No _X__
Additional List Yes_X__ No ___
1.1.4
From Annex 5 validate list of Policies
and Procedures (see 2.1.1). If the
Policies and Procedures are not listed in Annex 5, please provide a separate
list and attach to this questionnaire.
They are fine.
Annotated Annex Yes ___
No _X
Additional List Yes___ No _X_
2.0 Technology and Information Systems
2.1 Technology Infrastructure
2.1.1
Does your organisation maintain any Information Technology
Standards, Policies, Procedures or Practices?
Validate Annex 5 and indicate below and attach any relevant documents
that are not listed in the annex. Please
note if it is an undocumented practice and indicate if it is within the
specific organisational unit or across multiple organisational units.
Systems, Application data bases and
Software:
|
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Document
|
Description |
Reference |
Date
of issuance |
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Policy |
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Procedures |
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Standards |
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Security |
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Scheduling |
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Disposition |
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Training
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Electronic Records (structured or
unstructured):
|
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Document
|
Description |
Reference |
Date
of issuance |
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Policy |
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Procedures |
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Standards |
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Security |
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Scheduling |
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Disposition |
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Training
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Email (if separate from above):
|
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Document
|
Description |
Reference |
Date
of issuance |
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Policy |
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Procedures |
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Standards |
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Security |
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Scheduling |
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Disposition |
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Training
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2.1.2
Which of the following database technology applications is
your organisation using or considering? Please check all that apply.
|
Applications
Programmed in a Commercial Database |
Currently Using |
Considering Use |
Used in the Past |
Have Defined Need |
Current Project |
|
Microsoft SQL |
X |
|
|
|
|
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Oracle |
X |
|
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Sybase |
X |
|
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dbase, Foxbase, etc. |
X |
|
X |
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Microsoft Access |
X |
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Other (Please specify): DB2 |
X |
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Additional Details:
|
|
2.1.3
Which of the following application development tools is your
organisation using or considering? Please check all that apply.
|
Custom
Developed Applications |
Currently Using |
Considering Use |
Used in the Past |
Have Defined Need |
Current Project |
|
Java |
X |
|
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|
HTML |
X |
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.NET |
X |
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Visual Basic |
X |
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Pascal |
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C++ |
X |
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Other (Please specify): ASP, JSP |
X |
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Additional Details:
|
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2.2 Technology Applications
2.2.1
Does your organisation maintain an inventory or list of
automated applications (i.e., word processing, office automation, custom
applications, document repositories, databases, spreadsheets, etc.) used or
supported within your organisation? Validate
Annex 4 and indicate below and attach any relevant documents that are not
listed in the annex.
Response/Details:
|
Yes
– the sytem is called eAssets and can be found at the following URL: http://extranet.unsystem.org/eassets/home.jsp |
2.2.2
Which of the following technologies and software
applications is your Department/Group currently using or considering? Please
identify all that apply and also provide appropriate details below. Please enter the appropriate system names
from question 2.2.1 above.
|
Technology Application |
Use Currently |
Considering Use |
Used in the Past |
Have
Defined Need |
Current Project |
|
Records Management |
X |
|
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|
Document Management
Systems |
X |
X |
|
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Content Management |
X |
X |
|
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Artificial
Intelligence, Searching, Indexing |
X |
X |
|
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Data Mining |
|
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Taxonomy,
Intelligent Classification (e.g., Verity) |
X |
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COLD Storage |
X |
|
X |
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Optical Character
Recognition |
X |
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Collaboration
Systems (e.g., Lotus Notes, etc.) |
X |
|
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Digital Imaging
(Kofax, etc.) |
X |
|
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Enterprise
Resource & Planning (e.g., SAP, PeopleSoft) (IMIS) |
X |
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Artificial
Intelligence (AI) |
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Workflow, Business
Process Automation |
X |
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Electronic Mail
(Email) |
X |
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Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) |
X |
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Intranet/Internal
Web Postings |
X |
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Internet |
X |
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Other (
Describe): _____________ |
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2.3 Storage and Media
2.3.1
Describe what media/storage devices are used by your
Department/Group to retain records and documents in electronic format. Please
identify all that apply and also provide appropriate details.
|
Storage Technology |
Use Currently |
Considering Use |
Used in the Past |
|
Computer Tapes |
X |
|
|
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Storage Area Network |
X |
|
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EMC Centera |
X |
|
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CD-ROM/DVD |
X |
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Worm Disks |
|
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X |
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Magneto Optical Disks |
X |
|
X |
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Other |
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Additional Details:
|
|
2.3.2
Does your organisation have agreements for off-site data
hosting? If so, are these reflected in
your standards, policies, and procedures?
Do these agreeements cover storage and information security issues?
Please provide appropriate detail.
q
Yes.
q
No.
q
Don’t Know
Additional Details:
|
We
have many agreements for off-site data hosting. |
2.3.3
Does your organisation have a Digital Archives? If so, when did you organisation begin its
digital archive? Please briefly
describe the associated record types and identify the file format (eg., .doc,
.pdf, .xml, etc.). Use separate sheet as
necessary.
q
Created in the
1960’s.
q
Created in the
1970’s.
q
Created between
1980 and 1985.
q
Created between
1985 and 1995.
q
Created after 1995.
q
Do not have a
digital archive.
Additional Details:
|
Yes,
the Archives and Records Management
Section (ARMS) can answer this question more completely. |
2.3.4
Does your organisation have one or more defined document archival
file format standards. Please explain
and identify the file format (eg., .tiff, .pdf, .xml, etc.). Use separate sheet as necessary.
Additional Details:
|
Yes,
the Archives and Records Management
Section (ARMS) can answer this question more completely. |
2.3.5
Does your organisation have one or more defined data
archival standards. Please identify if
listed in question 2.1.1 above. Use
separate sheet as necessary.
Additional Details:
|
Yes,
the Archives and Records Management
Section (ARMS) can answer this question more completely. |
2.3.6
Do you use any retention and/or destruction methods for
electronic records? Please explain.
Response:
|
Yes,
the Archives and Records Management
Section (ARMS) can answer this question more completely. |
2.4 Data Integrity and Access
2.4.1
Has your Organisation ever converted data from one hardware
environment to a new hardware environment?
q
Yes
q
No
q
Do Not Know
Additional Detail on the most recent (3-4 years):
|
We
convert data from one hardware environment to another on a continual basis as
technology evolves. One of the more
recent projects was the Optical Disk System (now called Official Documents
System), which moved from Optical Disk technology to a SQL Server / Lotus
Notes/ Internet technology platform. |
2.4.1.1 If yes, Please describe
the project, your level of success and the hardware and data you used, provide
appropriate details below or on a separate sheet:
|
|
Project Name/Description |
|
Very Successful |
ODS ,
Internet server migrations. |
|
Average |
|
|
Not Successful |
|
Additional Detail:
|
|
2.4.2
Has your Organisation ever converted data from one software
environment to a new software environment?
q
Yes
q
No
q
Do Not Know
Additional Detail:
|
We
have had many projects where the data must be converted from one software
environment to another. Recent examples include the migration from
Lotus Notes 4.0 to Lotus Notes 5.0 and the Board of Auditors (BOA)
project. The BOA application was created to centralize
the storage and retrieval of audit documents. Previously these documents were
stored in individual PCs or CDs and were not shared. The population of the
database consisted of manually submitting the existing documents into the
database by providing the corresponding metadata and attaching the document. Audit
documents might come in MS Word, Excel or PDF format. Some documents are
generated by the audited offices and their electronic version is not
available. In these cases, documents had to be scanned as a PDF. The
application was created using Java and SQL server using Lucene search engine. |
2.4.2.1 If yes, Please describe
the project, your level of success and the software and data you used, provide
appropriate details below or on a separate sheet:
|
|
Project Name/Description |
|
Very Successful |
Migration
from Lotus Notes version 4 to version 5, including converting Lotus Notes
mail files to current version without loss of emails. Board of
Auditors Project: External auditors are able to store and retrieve their
documents. |
|
Average |
|
|
Not Successful |
|
Additional Detail:
|
|
2.4.2.2
Was there a loss of data associated with one or more of the
projects identified above, if so explain:
|
|
Project Name/Description |
|
More than Expected |
|
|
Less than expected |
|
|
No Data Loss |
Lotus Notes Migration , Board of Auditors
project. |
Additional Detail:
|
|
2.4.3
How often does your agency perform regular backups and in
what medium and location are the backups stored?
2.4.3.1
Frequency: Please
check all that apply.
|
Back-up/Recovery |
Daily |
Weekly |
Monthly |
Never |
|
Mainframes |
X |
|
|
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Minicomputers |
X |
|
|
|
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LAN Servers |
X |
|
|
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Personal Computers |
|
|
|
|
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Laptops |
|
|
|
|
Additional Detail:
|
PCs
and Laptop backups are the responsibility of the users. |
2.4.3.2
Storage Medium: Please
check all that apply.
|
Back-up/Recovery |
Disk |
Magnetic Tape |
Optical Disk |
|
Mainframes |
|
X |
|
|
Minicomputers |
|
X |
|
|
LAN Servers |
|
X |
|
|
Personal Computers |
|
|
|
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Laptops |
|
|
|
Additional Detail:
|
|
2.4.3.3
Location: Please
check all that apply.
|
Back-up/Recovery |
On-Site |
Off-Site |
|
Mainframes |
X |
X |
|
Minicomputers |
X |
X |
|
LAN Servers |
X |
X |
|
Personal Computers |
|
|
|
Laptops |
|
|
Additional Detail:
|
Rotation
offsite occurs weekly |
2.4.4
Does your organisation utilize any digital signature
technologies? If so, does the organisation have standards, policies, and
procedures for digital signatures?
Response:
|
Yes
, we use Lotus Notes electronic signatures. |
2.4.5
Please describe the verification and authentication process
for digital records within your organisation.
Response:
|
|
2.4.6
Does your organisation have any specific Policy, Procedure
or standards governing remote access of UNPO systems, applications or data?
Identify and reference as appropriate.
Response:
|
NO |
2.4.7
Does your organisation have any plans to increase remote
access of UNPO systems, applications or data to traveling staff, external
partners or governments, NGOs or related groups?
Response:
|
NO |
2.4.8
How does your organisation address concerns of systems and
data security with the increasing need for remote access by users?
Response:
|
On
an individual basis outside of the office.
We have implemented secure remote access via VPN. Between other offices and head office, site
to site VPN and WAN access is provided |
2.5 Electronic Mail and Messaging
Systems
2.5.1
Do you have an email policy, how do you capture and maintain
emails as business records?
Response:
|
Yes. We backup mail daily and keep for 3 years. |
2.5.2
What system is used for e-mail and how do you manage your
e-mail?
Response:
|
Lotus
Notes |
2.5.3
Do you use any retention and/or destruction methods for
e-mail records? If so, please explain.
Response:
|
No
- tapes are either destroyed, or reused. |
3. Additional Comments:
Thank You for Your
Participation in this Survey
For clarification or further
information, please contact the
UNPO
Dhurjati Mueller,