The project
Since the beginning of digital record production by public administration, solutions for electronic records management in Romania were sought, notably without the involvement of the National Archives. Despite being the authority entrusted by law with the development, “in accordance with the provisions of this law, [of the] working rules and methodologies for the organisation and conduct of all archival activity”, the lack of vision of the past management of the National Archives and the insufficient training of the staff caused the institution’s involvement to be relatively shallow.
The IT industry has taken centre stage, promoting solutions that deliver certain technological answers, but do not offer a professional recordkeeping and long term preservation perspective. Such an imbalanced approach soon came to reveal its flaws and limitations. This was dubbed by a change of perspective at the top management of the National Archives that led to a push to amend the Archival law (Law no. 201/2024) with the purpose of clarifying that records management is one integrated function regardless of the carrier, and that it should be the task of the National Archives to handle the methodological framework for the management of electronic records, too.
The project Archiving by design – a way to defy electronic records management challenges was initiated by The National Archives of Norway in cooperation with the National Archives of Romania, and it was sponsored by the Fund for Bilateral Relations within the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021. It ran for 15 months, starting from 1 January 2024, and the budget was 210.406 euro, 100% of which were non-refundable funds.
The initiative had the following objectives:
- Establishing a strategic concept to strengthen the competence and position of Romanian National Archives on digital born archives.
- Developing guidelines on implementing the “archiving by design” approach (AbD) for public sector organisations.
- Mutual sharing of experiences.
“Archiving by design” (hereafter AbD) is a proactive approach whose goal is to facilitate the development and/or deployment of business systems that support the processes associated with records management in a more effective way, addressing the issue of long-term preservation and accessibility of electronic records. This publication is the outcome of the activities carried out and the experiences gained throughout this project concerning the above-mentioned approach. It aims to serve as a tool for identifying the electronic records requirements that should integrated into the business systems of public administration.
Update of the mindset – and tools
Aside from the general policy at the institutional level, the current work also aims to prompt an update of the mindset – and tools – of the National Archives’ staff. According to traditional considerations that stem from a paper-based mindset:
General rules: Records management principles should apply to all creators. This raises the issue of regulation vs. guidance — flexible, adaptable rules that are harder to monitor versus strict, detailed rules that are easier to enforce but less tailored to specific processes.
Preservation: Becomes relevant mainly in the intermediate archives stage — after records are created.
Appraisal and disposition procesess: Focus mostly on content and documentary value rather than the processes that produced the records.
Moment of Transfer: If rules are followed, the National Archives is mainly concerned with record details at the time of transfer — generally 30 years after creation.
Terminology: Uses traditional, physically oriented terms like document, folder, and inventory, overlooking modern conceptual approaches.
Challenging the traditional view (AbD approach):
Records management rules must be adapted to each creator’s business processes, especially when implemented in digital systems — highlighting the essential role of professional recordkeepers.
In the digital era, preservation must be planned before record creation; post-factum preservation is often costly or infeasible.
The business process should be central — understanding processes helps align rules and assess record value in context.
The National Archives should take a proactive role in supporting creators and ensuring digital preservation, rather than intervening decades later as in the analogue paradigm.
Modern concepts: Emphasize data and information over records, linkages and virtual aggregations over folders, and metadata sets instead of finding aids.