Sec. 185.8. Retention and preservation of electronic records

(a) A local government shall ensure that records retention requirements are incorporated into any plan and process for design, redesign, or substantial enhancement of an information system that stores electronic records.

(b) A local government shall ensure that electronic records are not rendered unusable because of changing technology before their retention and preservation requirements are met. In the case of archival electronic records, a local government, in consultation with the State Archives, must determine that the records will remain usable and accessible by ensuring that the records are retained in currently available file formats and by creating adequate documentation of the records and their systems as defined in subdivision (c) of this section.

(c) A local government shall develop and maintain up-to-date documentation about all permanent or archival electronic records sufficient to:

(1) specify all technical characteristics necessary for reading and processing the records;

(2) identify all defined inputs and outputs from the system;

(3) define the contents of the files and records;

(4) determine restrictions on access and use;

(5) understand the purposes and functions of the system;

(6) describe update cycles and/or conditions and rules for adding information to the system, changing information in the system, or deleting information; and

(7) ensure the ongoing retention of records by the local government.

(d) A local government shall prepare and store in a secure off-site facility copies of archival electronic records in order to safeguard against loss.

(e) For electronic media that contain permanent or archival electronic records, a local government shall institute maintenance procedures to;

(1) verify that the media are free of permanent potentially damaging errors;

(2) rewind under constant tension all tapes at least every two years;

(3) annually test a three percent statistical sample of all units of media to identify any loss of data and to discover and correct the causes of data loss;

(4) copy immediately onto new media any permanent or archival electronic records stored on media containing a significant number of errors or showing signs of physical degradation;

(5) copy all permanent or archival electronic records onto new media before the media are expected to fail and always before the media are 10 years old; and

(6) prepare external labels to identify each media unit, the name of the organizational unit responsible for the records, and the records title.