4/26/2004
National Archives and Records Administration
15
Design and Deployment Goals
•NARA must own and control at least one set of all holdings of electronic records entrusted to it
•The ERA system is one of NARA’s contributions to the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)
•NARA must produce a highly reliable system design
•NARA must take a long term view for the system’s operation and its required scalability, reliability and cost effective operations
–Support outsourcing of potential processing, hosting services, and value added processing
–While ensuring NARA’s stewardship of the records entrusted to it
•There are certain assumptions and drivers that inform the deployment approach for ERA.  The goals include:
•NARA must own and control at least one set of all holdings of electronic records entrusted to it.  This is required for protection of the records and fulfillment of NARA’s mission to ensure long term preservation and access to the government’s records
•The ERA system is one of NARA’s contributions to the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) and fulfills a critical role in the development and deployment of NARA’s own Enterprise Architecture
•Produce a highly reliable system design:  characteristics should include avoidance of single point/site of failure; graceful performance degradation of the system when failures occur, and maintenance of system operations in face of remedial maintenance, preventative maintenance, and planned upgrades/changes
•The design and deployment vision for ERA must allow for the contracting out of record processing and access support, if NARA chooses to exercise that option in the future.  The contracting out of record services must be done within the context of NARA’s mission and ultimate responsibility for the integrity of the records.
•Minimize government ownership of equipment and facilities, while balancing NARA’s stewardship of the records and commitment to FEA support
•Allow industry and academia to provide value added services on record holdings