What’s in it for you?

Good news! The Trustworthy Information Systems Handbook can help information systems developers, policy makers, and current and future system users to be confident that information systems can ensure accountability to elected officials and citizens by creating reliable, authentic and accessible information and records.

The Handbook provides tools so you can:

• Understand why trustworthy information systems are important
• Apply statutory and legal mandates and policies to information management
• Evaluate the level of government accountability that your records and information embody.
• Determine the importance of your government agency records and information
• Establish how much documentation or evidence in record keeping is adequate
• Use the trustworthy information systems criteria effectively

Records and information in government are important for the following reasons:

• They facilitate government business
• They demonstrate government accountability
• They serve as evidence of government activity for current and future users of government information

In the face of the rapid growth of information technology, government information systems must demonstrate accountability through sound information management practices that provide documentation of government activity.

For these reasons, records in government need to be reliable and authentic. With electronic records and information in digital formats, we cannot demonstrate reliability and authenticity as easily as we can with paper records. We cannot see, touch, or examine electronic records in any intelligible way without the assistance of hardware and software. The Handbook provides the next best thing—the tools needed to examine government information systems for trustworthiness.

Keep reading to find out the best way to achieve information system trustworthiness for your government agency.

How do you use this Handbook?