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What is this chapter about?
Key Points
Detail
Definitions
Creating Electronic Documents
Organising and Managing Electronic Documents
Record Keeping
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Shared Working Environments
When to Use Paper Documents
Agreement Between Participants
Legal Aspects of Using Electronic Documents
Who should I contact to find out more?
Are there any background documents?
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| What is this chapter about? |
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This chapter provides guidance on how to manage electronic documents,
and maintain business records, to support commercial relationships.
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| Key Points |
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| Detail
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| Definitions |
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The term “electronic document” covers any information
held in electronic form, typically these are office automation files
(e.g. a Microsoft Word document) and e-Mails, but they could include
many other types of information, for example database reports, video
and audio clips, images, discussion groups etc..
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| Creating Electronic Documents |
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The conduct of commercial business can generate large numbers of
electronic documents. Unless these documents are created, managed
and stored in a logical and consistent manner, there can be an adverse
effect on business, for example:-
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Organisations and project teams working across organisations
using electronic communications should establish standards for creating
and labelling electronic documents, in particular:-
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to satisfy the requirements of the various participants and users
of documents.
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| Many of these requirements are already well known,
so there should be a consolidated effort to adhere to these requirements
whilst at the same time ensuring a consistency of approach, both
within your own organisation and when exchanging documents and e-Mails
with other organisations.
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| Organising and Managing Electronic Documents |
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The majority of documents used in contractual relationships are
created electronically, and in many cases communicated in electronic
form via e-Mail (and attachments), or by transferring files on floppy
disks, CDs and other portable storage media. While the MOD, and
most other organisations, have traditionally had robust procedures
for managing paper documents, these have not always been translated
into the electronic environment. All organisations should therefore
consider reviewing their processes for managing electronic documents
to ensure they are effective, in particular:-
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§ Electronic documents and e-Mails must be kept in properly
organised and managed file stores. In particular e-Mails must
be stored with related electronic documents (i.e. those on the
same subject) and must not be left in “inboxes” or
“outboxes”.
§ Internal organisations (MOD and Industry) should use shared
file areas (where IT systems provide the necessary functionality),
rather than individual file stores.
§ All electronic documents and e-Mails that need to be kept
as formal records (as opposed to transitory working documents
and correspondence) must be identified and placed in a formal
record keeping system.
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| Record Keeping |
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Within MOD the current policy is that electronic records can only
be kept in an “accredited” EDRMS. Therefore if an EDRMS
is not available, any electronic document or e-Mail that needs to
be kept as a formal record must be printed out and placed in a registered
filing system. This does not rule out keeping electronic documents
and e-Mails for “working purposes” (for example to re-use
electronic document formats, to allow other members of a group to
share information, or to research what was done on previous projects
or contracts).
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| Shared Working Environments |
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The conduct of commercial and contractual relationships often involves
the generation, use and exchange of large amounts of electronic
information. In these cases, consideration should be given to establishing
and operating a Shared Working Environment (SWE) between the parties.
This would be used to store common information, and also provide
a range of collaborative working tools to help work more effectively
as a team. Further guidance on SWEs can be found in Chapter 7.
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| When to Use Paper Documents |
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Chapter 2 provides guidance on the legal aspects of electronic documents
and in general terms they can be used in the conduct of commercial
and contractual relationships. However, there are risks associated
with the use of electronic as compared to paper documents, for example:-
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Integrity. Electronic documents can be corrupted due to system
errors or amended by users, often in a way that is undetectable.
This can lead to the loss of important information. This can
also lead to disputes concerning the integrity of documents
(for example electronic documents presented in evidence);
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| These weaknesses should not be overstated. Providing
that electronic documents are managed properly, and excepting the
potential problems detailed above, they can be used in contractual
and commercial relationships. The use of digital signatures backed
by robust PKI solutions (see Chapter 4), and storage of documents
and records in EDRMS systems, can mitigate these risks.
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| In many cases the use of paper documents is driven
by custom and practice rather than genuine need. Use of paper documents
should be reviewed, and only continue where the risks of moving
to electronic documents make the retention of paper genuinely necessary.
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| Agreement Between Participants |
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Where electronic documents, especially e-Mails, are used in contractual
or other commercial arrangements, a framework should be drawn up
to regulate the terms, conditions, responsibilities and liabilities
of using electronic documents. For business conducted between the
MOD and its Industry partners there are a number of standard conditions
and model agreements which can be utilised – these are referred
to in Annex A.
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| Legal Aspects of Using Electronic Documents |
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Chapter 2 covers the main issues governing the conduct of e-Commerce.
There are a number of statutes and legal issues to bear in mind
when using electronic documents and e-Mails which, within the MOD,
are detailed in JSP700. The key issues are:-
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Deleting Documents. Deleting documents is not quite as straightforward
as destroying paper documents. On the Microsoft type operating
systems, selecting delete merely places the document in the
“delete bin”. Even emptying the “delete bin”
does not necessarily destroy the document. In many cases they
will be retained in backups, or may be recoverable from disks
and other storage. In certain circumstances, such as criminal
investigations or, legal action an organisation may be obliged
to search backups or other areas to recover “deleted”
documents. It is vital therefore to take care with the content
of electronic documents and ensure that the contents could be
defended if necessary;
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Freedom of Information Act. When the act comes fully into force
in 2005, it will establish a general and fully retrospective
right of access to any information held. This will include all
information in electronic documents and e-Mails, including those
containing information belonging to Industrial partners, unless
disclosure would give rise to an actionable breach of confidence
or is otherwise exempt;
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Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1998. This applies equally
to electronic documents, e-Mails and web sites as to conventional
documents. While copyright provisions are generally well understood,
the ease with which electronic material can be accessed, copied
and distributed means that it is very easy to breach copyright
provisions. It is therefore prudent that electronic documents
are properly labelled with the appropriate copyright and other
restrictions and legends, and all users take care to comply
with them when handling electronic documents and other material.
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Confidentiality Obligations. In general all useful and re-usable
information supplied between parties, whether orally or in writing
(which includes electronic documents) is subject to an express
or implied obligation on the recipient not to disclose the information
to others and not to use the information for purposes other
than for which it was supplied. Ease of copying this information
and distributing it by electronic communications raises questions
as to whether these are proper actions having regard to the
obligation of confidence
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| Who should I contact to find out more? |
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MOD and most of its Industrial partners have information management
authorities who should be contacted in the first instance.
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| Are there any background documents? |
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Within the MOD the Joint Services Publication (JSP) 700 series of
documents provide advice on improving the management of electronic
documents in general with further guidance on e-Mail standards,
the deployment and use of EDRMS systems, information held in a shared
file store and paper systems and legal aspects of using electronic
documents.
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| JSP441 contains further information on record keeping
policy.
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| Guidelines For Industry No. 9 contains suggestions
on agreeing a framework for using e-Mails in commercial relationships.
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| Guidelines For Industry No. 15 (Issue 2) covers
the commercial considerations of using SWEs.
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| Guidelines 9 and 15 can both be found under “GFI”
of web site :-
http://www.ams.mod.uk/ams/content/docs/toolkit/ams/admin/navigation/frames.htm
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| Sustainable electronic records: strategies for the
maintenance and preservation of electronic records and documents
in the transition to 2004, Public Record Office, viewable at:
www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/eros/preservation_toolkit.pdf |
