Who should participate?

The Handbook encourages collaboration among a variety of people with diverse sets of skills and expertise. They are valuable assets in reaching your goal of information system trustworthiness.

Ideally, teams of agency personnel with a range of skills and knowledge will work together in this process. Your team should include people who have:

• Knowledge of agency and local government business, policy, and procedures. They know which laws and policies apply to your agency’s information. Agency attorneys and auditors are valuable in this area.

• Knowledge of information access, retention and data practices. They know who can access the information and for what reasons, and how long information needs to remain accessible. Agency records managers, the State Records Administrator and the State Archives can help in the process.
• Skills in computing, information technology, and information systems design. They can provide advice and propose options on what technologies and methodologies would work to accomplish business needs. Your information systems and technology staff, and even selected vendors, should be able to provide answers to questions.

The team should first be educated and made aware of the importance of information system trustworthiness and why the evaluation process is necessary. The team also needs to know the value of documenting their decisions, and they should be kept appraised of progress while system development is underway.

With a diverse and knowledgeable team assembled, you are on the right track for establishing information system trustworthiness.

Why are metadata and documentation important?