Electronic Records, Information Systems, and Data Governance
Electronic Records and Systems
This domain tests how electronic records are captured, described, retained, and governed in business systems. It focuses on recordkeeping requirements, metadata, validation, migration, and data governance rather than file formats alone.
Core rules and concepts
- Electronic records must remain authentic, reliable, integral, and usable. Capture at the point of transaction with metadata: creator, date and time, context, access rights, retention code, and disposition status.
- Recordkeeping systems should meet ISO 15489-1 and functional standards such as DoD 5015.02-STD or MoReq2010; test classification, retention, holds, audit trails, and disposition.
- Data governance assigns ownership, stewardship, quality rules, and classification. A taxonomy and retention labels make scheduling operational.
- Backups are not a retention or disposition system; they restore systems, not manage records. Exclude backup copies from routine disposition only under documented policy.
- Migration requires inventory, mapping, format validation, checksums, sample review, and rollback. Plan for format obsolescence, for example PDF/A for archival documents.
- Cloud and collaboration platforms need tenant configuration, retention labels, eDiscovery holds, audit logging, and exit or return clauses.
Worked example
A shared drive is replaced by Microsoft 365. Map folders to record series, apply retention labels with event-based triggers, configure disposition review, preserve legal hold, test eDiscovery, and audit label coverage. Validate that labels survive migration and that audit logs capture deletions. The reasoning: the system must enforce the schedule, not rely on user memory.
Traps
Treating backup as records management; deleting metadata; relying on personal folders; assuming provider retention equals organizational retention; no migration testing; ignoring chat and collaboration apps.