4/26/2004
National Archives and Records Administration
7
About NARA
 Our Solution
The Archivist’s Directive:
ERA is NARA’s Strategic Response
The Electronic Records Archives (ERA) is a comprehensive, systematic, and dynamic means of preserving and providing continuing access to authentic electronic records over time.
The goal of ERA is to enable NARA to preserve and provide access to any type of electronic record created anywhere in the Federal Government.
ERA’s Vision Statement
"ERA will authentically preserve and provide access to any kind of electronic record, free from dependency on any specific hardware or software, enabling NARA to carry out its mission into the future."
John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States
•ERA is NARA’s Strategic response to the challenges posed by electronic records.  It is a comprehensive, systematic and dynamic means of preserving and providing continuing access to authentic electronic records over time.  The key phrase is any type of electronic record created anywhere in the Federal Government.  This is a major departure from current practices.

•From this directive, ERA’s Vision Statement was created which states that ERA will authentically preserve and provide access to any kind of electronic record, free from dependency on any specific hardware or software, enabling NARA to carry outs its mission into the future.

•If you would like more information about the ERA program you should check out out web site and look at three documents that deal more with the archival issues

•Point to ERA resources on Archives.Gov
-Concept of Operations (ConOps)
-Introduction to Preservation and Access Levels (PAL)
-Introduction to Policies, Templates, and Requirements Concepts (TEMP)