Vital Records

at Berkeley Lab

John Stoner, Archives and Records Office

Introduction

• Subject: Vital Records at Berkeley Lab.

• Purpose: To give you the information to assist your division/department in identifying their vital records and making arrangements for their protection.

Agenda

• Vital Records--What are they?

• Vital Records Program--What is it and why have one?

• Vital Records at Berkeley Lab

Vital Records--What Are They?

Vital Records Characteristics

• Contain information needed to establish or continue an organization in the event of an emergency or a disaster.

• Essential to recreating an organization's legal and financial position.

• Essential to preserving the rights of the organization, its employees, and the people and organizations it serves.

Records Protection Levels

• Vital - Top Protection Priority.

– Essential to mission-critical financial, legal, operational functions and interests of an organization, its employees, stakeholders.

– Irreplaceable.

• Important - Secondary Protection Priority.

– Essential to protect assets.

– Could be replaced or recreated.

• Useful - Lowest Protection Priority.

– Non-essential to normal operations.

– Inconvenient to lose.

Classes of Vital Records

• Emergency Operating Records.

– Essential to continued functioning or reconstitution of the Lab during and after an emergency.

– Examples:• Emergency plans and directives.• Orders of succession.• Delegations of authority.• Emergency staffing assignments.• Building plans and building systems operations

manuals for lab’s facilities.• Equipment inventories for lab’s facilities. • Indexes for records series and electronic information

systems at the lab.

Classes of Vital Records

• Vital records inventories. • Copies of agency program records needed to carry

out continuing, critical functions.• System documentation for any electronic information

systems designated as emergency operating records.

• Rights and Interests Records.

– Provide evidence of legal status, ownership, and financial status.

– Examples:• Accounts-receivable records.• Social security records. • Payroll records.

Classes of Vital Records

• Retirement records.• Insurance records. • Any records relating to contracts, entitlement, leases,

or obligations whose loss would pose a significant detriment to the legal and financial rights of the organization.

Vital Records Program--What is it and Why Have One?

Vital Records Program Planning

• Contingency Planning

– Determine mission-critical activities to be performed under other than normal operating conditions.

– Identify records required to support critical activities and reconstruction of normal operations.

– Identify records/information systems containing information needed to protect legal and financial rights of organization and people affected by organization.

– Make and store copies of above records.

• Risk Assessment

– Purpose is to protect essential information.

Vital Records Program Planning

– Assessment requires• Comparison of cost of protecting records to cost of

reconstructing records and direct monetary losses (revenue, assets, productivity).

• Assessment of levels of risk and appropriate type of protection/response.

• Consideration of potential disasters.– Their nature.– Their likelihood.– Their consequence to the organization.

Classification of Disasters

• Class 1

– Most severe conceivable; national in scope.– Example: Nuclear attack.

• Class 2

– Severe natural disaster affecting local area.– Example: Earthquake, fire, flood, tornado.

• Class 3

– Destruction of major building during working hours.– Example: Fire in Building 90 during working hours.

Classification of Disasters

• Class 4

– Destruction of major building during non-working hours.– Example: Fire in Building 90 during the weekend.

• Class 5

– One or two functions of an organization affected.– Example: Bomb thrown into tape library.

• Class 6

– Subfunction affected.– Example: Research notes of scientist lost.

Classification of Disasters

• Class 7

– Lost document– Example: Letter of recommendation lost

Vital Records Program

• Goals.

– Provide organization with information needed to:• Conduct business under other than normal operation

conditions.• Resume normal business after emergency/disaster.

– Identify and protect records dealing with the legal and financial rights of:• The organization.• Persons affected by the organization’s actions.

Vital Records Program

• Responsibilities.

– Records Office.• Guidance and assistance regarding:

– Identification of vital records.– Determination of protection procedures for vital

records.– Divisions.

• Determination of which of their records are vital.• Insure proper protection of their vital records.

• Vital Records Plan.

– Identify organization’s vital records by:

Vital Records Program

• Consulting with Emergency Manager.• Reviewing organization’s mission statements and

existing emergency plans.• Reviewing current files of offices responsible for

performing critical functions and/or preserving rights.• NOTE: Only 1 to 7 percent of an organization’s

records may be vital records.– Describe organization’s vital records:

• Name of responsible office for the records.• Title of each records series/information system

containing vital information.• Identification of records as emergency operating or

rights and interests records.• Records medium.

Vital Records Program

• Physical location for offsite storage of copies of records/system.

• Updating frequency.– Choose protection methods and storage sites.

• Protection methods.– Use existing duplicates of records identified as

vital.– Duplicate originals (duplicate to same medium).

• Storage of copies.– Facility should not be subject to same

emergency/disaster but still be accessible.– Facility should have proper environmental

conditions for storage of copies.

Vital Records Program

– Federal Records Center may be used.– Periodically cycle (update) vital records copies.

• Essential to insure currency of information to meet organization’s vital records needs.

• Depends on needs and medium on which vital records are maintained.

– Training.• Periodic briefings regarding status of program

records in relation to vital records program.• Periodic review to determine if organization’s vital

records are adequately protected, current, accessible.• Test program as part of emergency plans.

Vital Records Program

• Reasons for implementing a Vital Records Program.

– BBP (Best Business Practices)• Information as a corporate asset.• Vital records essential to the recovery and continuation of

an organization’s operations.– Regulations

• Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Chapter XII, Part 1236--Management of Vital Records--http://archiveseleanor.nara.gov/about_us/regulations/part_1236.html

• Berkeley Lab Regulations and Procedures Manual (RPM), Chapter 1.16, Part D.6--Vital Records--http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/RPM/R1.16.html#RTFToC12

Vital Records Program

• UC Business and Finance Bulletin RMP-4, Vital Records Protection--http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/bfb/rmp4.html

• DOE G 1324.5B (Redesignated DOE G 200.1-1), Chapter XIV, Vital Records Program, Pages XIV-8 through XIV-10--http://www.directives.doe.gov/pdfs/doe/doetext/oldord/1324/g13245b.pdf

Vital Records at Berkeley Lab

Vital Records at Berkeley Lab

• Management of vital records is part of Lab’s emergency and disaster preparedness planning.– Emergencies

• Situation of a serious nature.• Develops suddenly and unexpectedly.• Demands immediate action.• Short duration.

– Disasters• Unexpected occurrence.• Inflicts widespread destruction and distress.• Has long-term adverse effects on Lab operations.

– Emergency Preparedness• Valerie Quigley, EH&S.

Vital Records at Berkeley Lab

• August 14, 1998 Meeting of Lab Managers regarding resumption of Lab business after an earthquake– CFO, HR, Facilities articulated business

resumption requirements.– ISS and networking’s role in meeting those

requirements.– Conclusions.

• Two ISS data centers (Berkeley Lab Main site and 938) and system backup data stored in Hayward.

• Manual purchase order numbers, Procard, and last-month payroll to meet purchasing/payroll requirements.

Vital Records at Berkeley Lab

• Short-term failure of computing support (1-2 days) would not impede Lab’s business recovery.

• Other vital Lab records identified and backed up.

– Inactive employee service records (payroll jackets)--microfilmed.

– Engineering's Document Control Center’s engineering drawings--microfilmed.

– Facilities Architecture and engineering Project Management As-Built Drawing Files--microfilmed.

Vital Records at Berkeley Lab

• It is the responsibility of each Division to develop and maintain a vital records program.

• It is the responsibility of ARO to help the Divisions meet their responsibility by providing training and assistance on a formal basis.

• Offices need to identify and protect vital records deemed essential to:

– The continuity of Lab operations before, during and after emergencies.

– The recreation of the legal and/or financial status of the Lab after an emergency.

Vital Records

– The protection of the legal and financial rights of the Lab and individuals affected by Lab activities.