EID Principal, Robert Blatt and US District Courts, Steve Levenson were presenters at the annual conference for the County Recorders’ Association of California and California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. The seminar participants learned the best strategies to meet the goal for managing and storing of electronic records. One strategy is to implement standard practices across the organization and to be sure policies and procedures are in place to govern official records through a trustworthy system.
In a second separate seminar at this conference, both Robert and Steve shared insights on the current best practices for file formats. Many organizations follow the old TIFF file format specification still, but this is a proprietary format and is not standardized. Whereas the industry direction is to use the PDF standard because the preservation of records must include format, rendering software, and media. TIFF software readers are not consistent so if you have TIFF records going forward then you may not have a compatible software reader in the future. Since the PDF standard is adopted nationally and internationally, PDF viewers and readers will be compatible with your records for years to come.
Key takeaways for the day included completing a detailed assessment for trustworthiness and identifying any risks. Next develop a strategy to mitigate identified issues and that aligns to laws and industry standards. One “Must-do” during the strategic planning and implementation process is to keep internal resources from throughout the organization involved for the duration of the project. Another key to success for a project is “to plan and plan again” plus find resources and subject matter experts to help you with the project rather than trying to learn as you proceed with the project
