COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION

Transcription

1 EN

2 COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Brussels, C(2002) 99-1 COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION Simplification and modernisation of the management of the Commission s documents (Action 9 of the interim action plan on simplification) Memorandum from the PRESIDENT in agreement with Mr KINNOCK

3 1. INTRODUCTION Action 9 of the interim action plan for the simplification of procedures and working methods adopted by the Commission on 31 st October focuses on archiving of the Commission s documents. In view of the problems arising from the absence of a uniform archiving system throughout all Directorates-General, it concludes that the Commission must equip itself with a suitable modern system for archiving its documents. This communication sets out the general framework and main components of Action 9. In undertaking this project, the Commission has decided to address a complex problem. This is a long-term project with extensive ramifications, the solutions to which are linked not only to technological developments, but also to the harmonisation of working methods in the Commission and the systematic application of professional criteria to document management. The medium-term aim is to introduce, at Commission s level, a system of management and electronic archiving of documents based on a body of common rules and procedures applicable to all departments and supplemented, where necessary, by specific rules and procedures adapted to the activities of Directorates-General and equivalent departments. For that purpose effective document management systems should be put in place to enable any document connected with the Commission s official functions to be managed, kept and found, securely at all times, whatever form it is in (paper or electronic) or whatever the management system governing it. Beyond this principal objective, Action 9 intersects with a number of concerns and fits within the general framework of the Commission s administrative reform in several respects. The White Paper on Reform 2 stressed the importance of simplifying the Commission s working methods and procedures in order to improve the quality, effectiveness and transparency of its work and make staff more accountable at all levels. The process of modernising the Commission goes hand in hand with a staff mobility policy with the aim of matching political priorities and the human resources available. As part of this, making the procedures for registering and archiving documents more standardised should help make the departments more effective and ensure continuity in the work. Furthermore, control of document management now figures expressly among the minimum internal control standards adopted by the Commission under Action 78 of the White Paper Action Plan 3. In a world of rapid technological change, the Commission, like all other organisations, is going through a period of transformation. The paper culture is giving way to modern information and communication technologies. The White Paper is intended to effect the switch to the e-commission and the Commission recently adopted a work plan to this end 4. Greater use of modern communication technologies is profoundly influencing ways of working. It has a direct impact on document management and requires common rules to be SEC(2000) 1757/6. COM(2000) 200 final, Volumes I and II. On 13 December 2000 the Commission adopted a document establishing standards of internal control, point 13 of which lays down the requirements in terms of mail and document management: SEC(2000) 2203/5 and document 3 annexed to it on the standards for internal control within the Commission s departments. PV 1527, point 8, of 12 June

4 laid down to take account of the coexistence of various systems of document management, in whatever format. Particular attention must also be given to security aspects 5. Lastly, the Commission must not overlook its obligations regarding transparency, a principle enshrined in the Treaty on European Union. The improvement of document management will help bring about the conditions that must be met if the institution is to respect its obligations regarding public access to documents 6. To sum up, the creation of modern systems of document management under Action 9 meets a whole array of essential needs: acting as the institution s memory, improving the quality of its services, affording it the capacity to give an account of its activities to the institutions to which it is accountable 7, and transparency for its citizens. This necessitates the adoption of clear rules in the form of new provisions repealing the 1986 decision 8, which accompanies this Communication. It also requires the creation of structures, which will ensure the implementation of new provisions as well as the development and implementation of a multiannual action plan framing their gradual execution. 2. THE CURRENT SITUATION 2.1. The inadequacy of the legal, technical and organisational framework The management of the Commission s documents is currently governed by the Commission s decision of 1986 on document management 9. There are certain gaps in this decision s definition of principles and methods. The 1986 decision does not lay down the obligation to define common rules for document management in particular as regards the registration and establishment of a filing plan. It also lacks clear rules on the appraisal of files before they are transferred to the Historical Archives. Furthermore, the way it is implemented has not been developed uniformly within the Commission but has given rise to diverse practices. A more general finding is that the management of Commission documents is not adequately guided by the principles, methodologies and procedures of documentation and archive sciences. That weakens cohesive and efficient management and prevents the Commission from taking advantage of the solid achievements in this field It should be pointed out that the aspects of security relating to classified documents will not be addressed in this communication. They are covered by the Commission Decision N 2001/844/EC, ECSC, EURATOM of 29 November 2001 amending its internal Rules of Procedure in order to annex to it the Commission provisions on security. Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83; Commission decision N 359/83/ECSC; Commission Decision of 8 February 1994 on public access to Commission documents (94/90/ECSC, EC, Euratom), amended by Decision 96/567 (ECSC, EC, Euratom) of 19 September 1996; Regulation EC No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council; Commission Decision of 5 December 2001 amending its internal Rules of Procedure in order to annex to it the detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) N 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In its resolution A5 0113/2001 containing the observations concerning discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 1999 financial year, Parliament called on the Commission to introduce an electronic document archiving system. Commission Decision of 18 March 1986 on document management [SEC(86) 388]. See footnote 8. 3

5 Moreover, the development of new information and communication technologies and the explosion of and Web technology use have enabled the Commission s departments to develop and install electronic document management systems to cope with the increase in their workload and meet the requirements of specific procedures in their field of competence. However, the systems that have been set up to respond to specific needs have not been given a common framework and are now facing a number of serious problems: the absence of a common reference system for the registration of documents, the absence of an interface for dialogue between the different existing electronic systems, multiple encoding, the lack of harmonised rules on data content and storage and transfer to the Historical Archives. Lastly, document management in the Commission lacks specialist professional skills; a determined effort is required to supply these skills. These gaps and weaknesses in the legal, technical and organisational framework and the speed of technological development make it essential to undertake large-scale modernisation and improvement of document management in the Commission in order to: remedy the design faults in the current document management systems, make the progress of documentation and archive sciences and the results of international research in that field available to the Commission document management system, raise the level of technical competence of staff involved in document management, cope with using both paper and electronic documents during the period of transition to the e-commission, take into account various document management systems that are already in place and identify what needs to be done to ensure the interoperability of these systems. The adoption of new provisions to be annexed to the rules of procedure of the Commission is the first step towards modernisation and improvement of document management. These provisions will make it possible to: strengthen the current framework of rules, set clear rules for registering and filing documents with the result that in time coherent and harmonised document management systems will be put in place, bridge certain organisational gaps, give Directorates-General and equivalent departments greater responsibility for document management, 4

6 establish the necessary mechanisms for working out, adopting and updating the common rules and implementing arrangements for all Directorates-General and equivalent departments of the Commission Examples of good practice Many examples illustrate the efforts that have already been made to rationalise document management, within the Commission, in other Community institutions, in national administrations and at international level. While not exhaustive, the following examples are worth mentioning as good practice and are useful contributions to discussions on the implementation of Action Within the Commission What has been done so far relates mainly to mail management, filing, systems of access to documents and the management of certain procedures. Mail Almost all Directorates-General now use Adonis, which was installed in the 1990s, for mail management. Furthermore, most of them have installed the software Adonis Image for registering incoming and outgoing mail, viewing registered mail, monitoring and storing it electronically. Filing plan Certain Directorates-General have developed or are ready to develop a DG-wide filing plan. DG REGIO, for example, has created a filing plan based on the use of the IRMS activity codes linked to ADONIS. DG EMPL is likewise preparing a filing plan which is based on activity codes and which deals with the issue of documents minimum retention periods, on the one hand, and of archiving electronic documents, on the other hand. Document access systems EUROSTAT provides a good example of file and mail management with a Web interface: the central filing plan is accessible to staff via the Intranet. Financial Control (FC) uses an enhanced version of Adonis Image: it not only stores the documents in PDF, but has added a search engine allowing the reader to find any text from any word chosen at random as well as a chronological file directly accessible via its intranet. The Internal Audit Service (IAS) uses the same system, but so far without the search engine. A register of the President s correspondence has been created and is accessible to the public on Europa. As regards the Historical Archives, the database ARCHISplus provides an inventory of all the files open to the public under the 1983 Regulation See footnote 6. 5

7 Horizontal procedure-management systems Horizontal document-management systems, such as CIS-Net, QP/BASIL, CIRCA, GREFFE2000, POETRY and SINCOM, have been put in place right across the Commission. These systems create, process and store documents while addressing the specific needs of the procedure that they support (interdepartmental consultation, parliamentary questions, committee work, decision-making process, translation requests and financial procedures). In future, these systems must be adjusted gradually in order to enable users to easily keep track of the flow of documents and procedures relating to the activities they support. Specific management systems The Commission s departments have developed a number of computerised management systems specific to their own activities. Some of these systems cover the processing of the active life of a document, including its registration in the system, and contain all the documents and information relating to the activity they support Developments in the other institutions The Commission is not the only institution that is modernising its systems for registering and archiving documents. Everywhere, the advance of electronic technologies has profoundly changed the way in which administrations work. The widespread use of computer technology for information and document management in the public sector means that technical solutions need to be found to the problems of short-, medium- and long-term storage of electronic documents and access to electronic information. The European Parliament has launched the idea of a standardised approach for its document management. This work has already led to a proposal describing the minimum set of information to accompany each official document. For its part, the Council Secretariat has put in place a register of its official documents, including accompanying information. In the interest of efficient electronic exchanges between institutions, there is a need for increased harmonisation. There are already a number of agreements between institutions which will make it possible to structure electronic transmissions as a data sheet containing a description of the document transmitted (e.g. the Greffe2000 transmission sheet). A more flexible harmonised version of this data sheet is currently being produced on the initiative of the Secretariat-General of the Commission Developments at the international level In the broader framework of the e-government initiatives on electronic archiving rules, interesting initiatives taken within individual departments or ministries may be a source of inspiration. For example, German and British legislation sets out the basic concepts of appropriate management of documents in the public sector. Moreover, certain international standards are worth taking into consideration, because they provide received terminology, proven organisation principles and could ensure that the Commission would not be cut off from well-established practices. An example here would be the new international "records management" standard adopted by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in conjunction with 9 countries of the European 6

8 Union 11. Among the international encoding standards, special reference should be made to the example of the Dublin Core with regard to metadata. Lastly, Unesco has a Web portal, which gives an overview of the initiatives and texts relating to archives ACTION 9: MODERNISATION OF THE MANAGEMENT OF COMMISSION DOCUMENTS The modernisation of the management of Commission documents is a complex, ambitious project because of the great variety of subjects and procedures that the Commission manages and the range of documents that exist in different forms. It will only be possible to achieve it in stages, as part of a regularly updated action plan assessing progress achieved and technological developments. This process rests on the definition and compliance with clear principles and on the standardisation of procedures. It must take account of the existing systems of management and of the Commission's organisational structure. It requires the departments to be made more accountable and appropriate instruments for control and monitoring to be put in place. Lastly, it requires the commitment and co-ordination of all Commission staff, and the active support of management. There are six major areas around which the work on realising Action 9 is structured: 1. definition of the horizontal principles applicable to all Commission departments, 2. introduction of the necessary organisational structure, 3. definition of the horizontal rules and implementing arrangements, 4. definition, by each Directorate-General or equivalent department, of the rules and procedures specific to its fields of activity, 5. introduction of shared and specific IT tools, 6. ancillary measures, training and support Definition of the horizontal principles The new system is based on the replacement of the 1986 decision by new provisions, as annexed to this Communication and submitted for approval by the Commission. These provisions remedy the shortcomings of the 1986 decision and set new minimum standards for internal control of mail and document management 13. The new provisions define the common horizontal principles and the rules necessary for a modern and effective management of documents, in whatever form they take. These rules specify the conditions for registering the documents drawn up or received by the Commission s departments. They provide for registers to be drawn up and contain the principle of a filing plan within Directorates-General based on the institution s activities. They specify obligations with regard to the preservation, appraisal and transfer of documents ISO standard :2001 & ISO/TR :2001, adopted in October See footnote 3. 7

9 to the Historical Archives. Finally these rules identify the responsibilities of the different departments and organise the structures for implementation control and monitoring. The new provisions to be annexed to the Commission's rules of procedure cover this first area New organisational structure If document management and archiving is to be successfully modernised, a strengthened organisational structure is needed. The structure proposed in the attached draft decision is organised at several levels: (1) at individual Directorate-General or equivalent department level: (a) (b) designation of a document management officer; putting in place or maintaining one or more document management centres; (2) at interdepartmental level: co-ordination by the Secretariat-General and creation of an interdepartmental group of document management officers; (3) at Commission level: creation of a Document Management Steering Committee. In view of the importance of the organisational component for the simplification and modernisation of the Commission s archiving systems, Section 4 of this Communication is devoted entirely to this matter Common horizontal implementing rules In order to ensure the uniform application of the common principles and rules defined in the new provisions, these provisions will be supplemented by implementing rules. Initially, these implementing rules should mainly focus on: identifying the documents to be registered, defining how should be processed, the minimum set of information to accompany each document to be registered (document data sheet or metadata for electronic documents), common rules for drawing up filing plans to be applied in the Commission s departments, instructions for the constitution of files (paper/electronic) and how they are to be linked to the filing plan. Subsequently, the following will also gradually need to be spelled out: the criteria which document registers will have to meet, the general rules stating how departments can supplement the data sheet for each document with specific information linked to each activity, the criteria for keeping documents and the minimum retention period for administrative, legal or historical purposes, 8

10 the conditions for transferring paper and electronic documents and files to the Historical Archives. These implementing rules will take into account the development of standards applicable to document management, the development of rules concerning the use of electronic signatures and the improvements to be made to the general system of security protection. Following proposals from the interdepartmental group of document management officers, these implementing rules will be adopted and regularly updated by the Secretary-General, in agreement with the Director-General for Personnel and Administration Rules and implementing arrangements specific to each Directorate-General or equivalent department To supplement the common rules, each Directorate-General or equivalent department will analyse its activities in order to identify its specific needs in terms of document management and to set out specific rules. This analysis will enable each Directorate-General or equivalent department: to set out its filing plan in accordance with the common rules, to determine responsibilities for management and archiving within the Directorate-General or equivalent department to identify the additional information to accompany each document, beyond the minimum set of information applicable to the whole institution IT aspects When adopting its e-commission Work Plan, the Commission stressed the importance of ensuring the modernisation of the administration by greater use of information technology. Generally speaking the field of document management can derive particular benefit from new technologies. This requires very close co-operation between all the actors concerned, not only the IRMs and document management officers but also between the IT Directorate in its capacity as a central service and the IT units in the various Directorates-General acting as decentralised services. Co-operation between those responsible for document management in the Directorates-General and the IT community is indispensable to ensure, from a technical angle, the necessary cohesion of the proposed solutions for electronic document management. With regard to computerised tools, the mail management system Adonis Image should in the first place be promoted and generalised by encouraging all Directorates-General and equivalent departments to switch to the same release of the software. The computerised mail management system used by the Commission will then quickly have to make way for an electronic document management tool adapted not only to the needs of departments as identified by the interdepartmental group of document management officers, but also to the need for interoperability with electronic mail, Directorates-General and equivalent departments documentary systems, Web interfaces and management programmes such as the IRMS (Integrated Resource Management System). At the same time efforts will be made to gradually standardise encoding rules, an indispensable pre-requisite to sharing data between departments, and to introduce harmonised criteria and search instruments at Commission level. 9

11 Several areas of activity will need support in order to work towards a harmonised approach to electronic archiving. In the first phase this will involve: establishing reference tools common to the whole of the Commission in order to facilitate the encoding of the minimum set of information accompanying each document, identifying systems of electronic management of documents among the many existing databases and management systems, drawing up an inventory of them, examining their compatibility with the applicable principles and rules, ensuring that every new system developed within the framework of the departments activities satisfies these requirements, identifying exchange formats making it possible to construct interfaces and ensuring the interoperability of the different systems, improved access and electronic document storage, putting in place and generalising the use of registers. The second phase should encourage, for use by all Commission departments: - the development of portals, - the creation of documentary and index resources equipped with powerful search engines, - the implementation of an electronic repository system for the Historical Archives. The generalised, harmonised creation of portals will facilitate internal users access to different information systems. The first initiatives in this area already exist (SGVista, GINA, IRMS, SINCOM, etc.). Similar work targeted at the public is also under way (Publications Office s EUR-Lex portal, IDA projects for a European portal of public sector information, Public Register of Commission documents). With regard to the storage of electronic documents, the creation of documentary and index resources, fed by document management and registration systems and equipped with powerful search engines, will make it possible to store and find large quantities of documents, regardless of where they are from. Systems such as SGVista, EUR-Lex and SdTVista are the forerunners of this type of function. In order to resolve the important matter of the transfer of electronic documents and files to the Historical Archives, an electronic repository is indispensable. The long-term storage of these electronic documents of historical value is a major challenge, which must be given special attention. 10

12 These measures will enable document management to be modernised under Action 9 and will allow a better exploitation of the potential offered by new technologies. They are at the core of the e-commission Work Plan Support and training measures The implementation of the new provisions and the anticipated progress in modernising the management systems will lead to greater efficiency in document management. However, this cannot be achieved without all staff participating and taking responsibility. Appropriate awareness raising, information and training are vital to ensure the successful implementation of Action 9. Awareness-raising and information campaigns will take different forms such as meetings, articles, brochures, discussion forums, Web sites etc. Training activities will receive sustained attention. They will be integrated into training programmes and will be adjusted to the needs of the staff involved in the successive stages of document management. Depending on the professional profile of those involved, training will be more general or more specifically targeted. Staff working in the sector of document management will receive continuous training in the form of recycling or ongoing training courses. Particular attention will be given to upgrading the tasks of secretariats and archives. In order to assist Directorates-General and equivalent departments to create an efficient document management culture among their staff, support in technological and organisational matters will be provided at central level, in particular, in the form of a help desk which will give advice and assistance on request. A specialised competition for archivists/record managers is also planned to take place in the course of 2002 with the aim of subsequently recruiting specialists to cover the requirements of modernising the archiving systems. 4. MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION Action 9 is a project that is closely linked to the general administrative reform. It requires a whole series of coherent organisational and technical measures or initiatives to be taken. As mentioned in paragraph 3.2 above, it is important to put in place an organisational and management structure making it possible to ensure that the project is managed dynamically, is properly monitored and receives the necessary resources. The main structures and procedures proposed are described below Document Management Steering Committee A Document Management Steering Committee will be charged with supervising the implementation of Action 9. It will report to the Vice-President for Administrative Reform. The Director-General of a user Directorate-General will chair it, while the Secretariat-General will provide the secretariat. The basic composition of the Steering Committee will be the 14 SEC(2001)924, Annexes 1 and 2. 11

13 Directors-General of DG ADMIN DI, DG Budget, two or three user Directorates-General or equivalent departments and the Deputy Secretary-General for Simplification. In order to ensure that departments are represented and to achieve the flexibility required for the topics treated, the Steering Committee will adopt a system of rotation and variable geometry in order to appoint the user Directorates-General or equivalent departments. The task of this Steering Committee will be to approve the strategy for the implementation of Action 9, define priorities, monitor progress and clarify, if necessary, the responsibilities of each party in carrying out the steps proposed. Each year, before the annual policy strategy (APS) and budgetary procedures are launched, it will adopt a report indicating what the priorities of Action 9 are on the basis of proposals put forward by the interdepartmental group of document management officers, co-ordinated by the Secretariat-General. This report will be submitted to the Directorates-General and equivalent departments so that they can take account of it in their annual budget proposals Co-ordination by the Secretariat-General and by the interdepartmental group of document management officers The Secretariat-General will co-ordinate the action plan for Action 9 and ensure its implementation. It will rely on the interdepartmental group of document management officers established by the new provisions, representing users and closely associated with the various work areas. It will work in close collaboration with the information resource managers (IRMs) of the Directorates-General and equivalent departments, the CTI (comité technique informatique) and the Informatics Directorate. The Secretariat-General will co-ordinate the integration of the various projects in the multi-annual action plan and will keep it up to date. In a decentralised administration system, the various departments will be directly responsible for the implementation of measures planned in the fields for which they have responsibility as well as for putting in place the necessary procedural changes. The need to rethink a number of procedures and local practices will mean strengthening the role of the IRMs and document management officers. The latter will take horizontal responsibility for implementing the new provisions within their Directorate-General or equivalent department, notably by drawing up a filing plan and monitoring the application of rules and procedures. The IRMs will take responsibility for making the necessary technical resources available. Without prejudice to the other expertise required, the interdepartmental group will be asked to collaborate on drawing up and updating the multi-annual action plan as part of the implementation of Action 9. Lastly, active co-operation with the Protocol and Security Service (SPS) will be necessary to ensure that security aspects are taken into account. The rules on data protection will be respected, in co-ordination with the Commission s Data Protection Officer Document management centres The new provisions confirm the setting up or maintaining, in each Directorate-General or equivalent department, of one or more document management centre(s) The document management centre is the equivalent of the document management unit mentioned in Article 11 of the Commission s decision of 18 March 1986 (SEC (86)388). 12

14 The task of the document management centres is to ensure that the documents produced or received within their Directorate-General or equivalent department are managed in accordance with the rules. The new organisational structures specified in the provisions must be set up rapidly by the Directorates-General and equivalent departments so that the various components of Action 9 can be implemented. 5. HUMAN AND MATERIAL RESOURCES Document management is one of the horizontal support activities, which must be provided, regardless of how political priorities evolve. The development of Action 9 will lead, in the medium term, to improvements in productivity. As far as document management is concerned, the Commission departments are not starting out from the same level of development. However, since these are fundamental activities for the administration, the requirements should be met as far as possible as a matter of priority by internal redeployment and training activities. A thorough analysis of requirements in human resources, training measures, specialised equipment and storage space will, moreover, be carried out within each Directorate-General or equivalent department in order to identify additional document management needs. The budget impact of the IT component will be covered under the recently adopted e-commission Plan RECOMMENDATIONS The Commission is requested to: approve the approach set out in this Communication, approve the draft Commission decision amending its rules of procedure with a view to annexing the new provisions on document management as attached, authorise the publication of the draft Commission decision in the Official Journal, approve the organisation, management and training proposals with a view to implementing Action 9, approve the creation, mandate and composition of the Document Management Steering Committee, give a mandate to the Secretary-General to adopt and regularly update the implementing rules for the new provisions in agreement with the Director-General for Personnel and Administration, following proposals from the interdepartmental group of document management officers, give a mandate to the Document Management Steering Committee to draw up a multi-annual action plan following proposals by the group of document management 16 See footnotes 4 and

15 officers and ensure that it is regularly updated in order to provide a framework for the implementation of Action 9, confirm the responsibility of each Directorate-General or equivalent department for implementing the new provisions and insist that management provides the necessary support to ensure the success of this important component of modernising the administration. 14