Records Management: What's the Value of 5015.2 Compliance?

5015.2-STD, Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications, is a DoD standard for specifying records management (RM) guidelines within the Department of Defense.  The standard was first released in 1997 and, after revision, version 2 was released in June 2002.  Version 2 was then endorsed by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as a standard for use by all federal agencies.

Version 3 of 5015.2 was made available for comment last Summer.  It added baseline requirements for records management systems interoperability and details of how to transfer records to NARA for archival.  It also introduces a ‘net-centric’ concept for sharing documents.

Many in private industry are adopting in part or in whole the 5015.2 standard.  But complying with the standard is different from getting certified.  The certification process for 5015.2 is lengthy and tedious.  Certification involves testing by the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC).  Getting scheduled for testing can take months and the certification issued will be valid for a specific software version and configuration.  Software rarely stands still — by the time a company can be certified, they may already be a release or two past the version that was certified.  RM certification is also complicated by the fact that RM capabilities are often not a stand-alone product.  RM is frequently sold now as an add-on component to an ECM system.

Federal government agencies don’t have much choice.  They need to use 5015.2 certified products.  Private industry doesn’t have that mandate.  But if a product has at some point in the not too distant past achieved certification, it can be considered as a sign that the software has met the criteria for supplying base-level RM functionality.

In the private sector, companies may also look towards the European MoReq standard.  MoReq is the European Commission’s Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records (May 2001).  MoReq details requirements and guidelines for Electronic and Paper Records Management Systems.  The specification addresses not only best practice record keeping policies, but also addresses functions like Workflow, e-mail and electronic signatures.  Unlike 5015.2, there is no certification involved.  A MoReq2 standard is now being developed.

Even though MoReq is coming from the EU, its scope targets a wider usage profile and may actually be of more value to private industry customers than 5015.2.