Summary: Document management is one of the basic tasks of state agencies in order to ensure the effectiveness of administrative reform, demonstrate transparency and accountability for activities by means of written information. Under the influence of science and technology, electronic documents were born with different features and characteristics besides traditional documents. Therefore, it is necessary to study and clarify the concept and characteristics of electronic documents and some requirements of electronic document management to help supplement theory and improve management efficiency of documents in the context of building and operating e-government and digital government today.
Keywords: Electronic documents, Electronic document management, Electronic document management solution.
- Electronic documents and characteristics of electronic documents
- a) General concept of electronic documents
In the context of applying information technology to manage documents in the activities of State agencies and organizations, the use of electronic documents is necessary. Electronic documents play an important role, helping to solve the limitations of conventional paper document management.
According to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg dated July 12, 2018 about the sending and receiving of electronic documents between agencies in the State administrative system, the definition “An electronic document is a document in the form of a data message, in a format and format prescribed by a competent state agency, created or digitized from a paper document. Then, the concept of electronic documents was reaffirmed in Circular No. 01/2019/TT-BNV dated January 24, 2019 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, it is the process of exchanging, storing and handling electronic documents in clerical work, the basic functions of the Electronic Document Management System in the process of handling the work of agencies and organizations and Decree No. 30/2020/ND-CP dated March 5, 2020 of the Government on clerical work, specifically as follows: “An electronic document is a document in the form of a data message created or digitized from a paper document and presented in the correct format, technique and rescribed format”. This current electronic document concept is officially used in the system of state agencies and in textbooks and lectures at training institutions of clerical and archival in Viet Nam.
In clerical and archival work of the legal documents and professional guidelines system, there is still no official definition of “electronic documents”. Therefore, based on the concept of “document” and “electronic document”, we can make the following views about electronic documents: “An electronic document is a document in the form of a data message created in an electronic format or digitized from a document containing another information carrier”. From the above concept, electronic documents of agencies include electronic documents and other documents, formed during the operation of those agencies. Accordingly, it is understandable that electronic documents are more broad and comprehensive than the concept of electronic documents. An electronic document is not only presented in the same format, technique, and format as an electronic document but also it has a richer and more diverse content and scope than an electronic document. In other words, electronic documents are a typical and popular type of electronic documents.
Currently, in the archival field in Viet Nam, the state management agency in charge of archiving has also issued documents regulating electronic archives and management of electronic archives. Specifically, in Article 13 of the Law on Archives, it states: Electronic documents are formed in two ways: (1) “the form of data messages are formed during the agency’s operation, selected organizations and individuals for archiving”; (2) “digitized from documents stored on other media”. Regulations on the origin and form of electronic archives also initially help agencies have a basis to identify objects and distinguish electronic archives from other documents to take management measures and implementation
1.2. Characteristics of electronic documents
In the legal documents of countries around the world, although there are differences in the definition of “Electronic documents”, most of them confirm the objective existence of electronic documents and recognize electronic documents. Electronic documents are a special type of document. The speciality of electronic documents is reflected in the fact that their information can only be expressed through digital technology and electronic technology. Therefore, getting information in the document can only practiced through technical means and corresponding software programs. However, electronic documents still perform the same functions and values as traditional documents.
Therefore, in the legal documents on archival work of some developed countries, people do not emphasize on the form of electronic documents but on their functions and characteristics[1].
Electronic documents are formed in databases and document management systems to serve the use of individuals, agencies, organizations and society and depend on factors such as: regulation; originated from agencies, organizations and individuals; work processes, administrative procedures; characteristics of the document, technology and carriers. The characteristics of a created electronic document must ensure a definite form, accurate and reliable content, and be stored and preserved in an authentic form for a certain period or for a long time. However, in general, electronic documents have the following main characteristics:
- Reliability, accuracy: This feature indicates the reliability of Electronic Documents in terms of form and content. That is, electronic documents must be in their complete form and unaltered; whose content cannot be changed; clear link to other documents inside or outside the numbering system through classification according to taxonomies.
- Authenticity: This characteristic indicates the likelihood or reality of a document that it can be used as evidence of a fact or activity. The document must reflect the administrative context; with author, address and creator; There is an incident where electronic documentation is procedurally relevant or supportive or part of the decision-making process. Authentication characteristics of Electronic Documents include two factors: identity and integrity:
+ About the identity: These are the attributes that make the document unique and distinguish it from other documents, including: Name of the agency, organization, or individual that formed the document (names of those who have involved in the process of creating the document: author, recipient, drafter); time and place of document formation and communication; the form of the document, the meaning and symbolism of the issue or event or event in which the document participates; representation of the document’s relationship to other documents; symbols for accompanying documents…
+ About integrity: A complete document means that it is kept intact and unaltered in terms of the transfered content. Integrity can be expressed in political and historical contexts, in the appearance of comprehensive and integrated documents, in the information system and functionality of the document. The relative or complete integrity of the Electronic Document exists. An existed document has a degree of complete or absolute integrity.
If the document has undergone some changes, it cannot be assumed that it exists as it was originally created, so it has a relative degree of integrity or specified tolerances for errors (which are errors for allowed according to the percentage of the corresponding accuracy between the original created document and the actual existing document) during creation.
- Electronic document management and requirements of electronic document management
An electronic document is a type of document. According to ISO 15489:2001, “Document management is the area of management responsible for effective and systematic control over the creation, acquisition, maintenance, use and organization of document science., including the process of capturing and storing documented evidence and information about activities and transactions”[2].
Accordingly, document management includes many jobs related to the creation, capture, control, maintenance, scientific organization and organization of the use of documents, that means, from the time the documents are created by the executor, handle the work until it is edited, completed, released at the clerical department and, after settlement, is prepared by the managers and professional staff in the functional units. into electronic records for submission to institutional archives, historical archives or destruction[3]. Electronic documents also need to be managed for long-term exploitation and use for professional work, as well as for socio-economic development, defense and security purposes. In this understanding, document management in general, electronic document management also fully complies with management processes, procedures and content, and it is understood as the operation of document management principles for with electronic documents recorded on tape, disk or in magnetic and optical forms (different only in media).
Although there are many different approaches to electronic document management, we agree to understand the concept of “Electronic document management” as follows:
“Electronic document management is the introduction and application of management measures to control the process of creating, circulating, handling and documenting electronic documents and documents formed in the operation of the enterprise. an agency or organization to ensure the integrity, authenticity and safety of documents to serve management and administration activities.”
Originating from the basic characteristics of electronic documents in terms of format, environment, and magnetic and optical information carriers, electronic documents have certain limitations. Therefore, the management of electronic documents also poses specificallycertain specific requirements as follows:
- Firstly, the creation and capture of documents should ensure the integrity and naming of records at the same time, such as:
+ About ensuring the integrity of documents: The integrity of an electronic document depends on the method of creation and the format of the record. At the same time, it must be created with software with structurally tight connections to ensure that once a record is approved, just one click of a save command will be maintained for a long time in special conditions and content integrity is guaranteed in the software’s system. On the other hand, the integrity of an electronic record can be ensured by choosing a format when saving.
+ About naming records scientifically: The name of a record is the first format of that record. In the world, software is generated from electronic documents, record names provide metadata about a document’s location among other documents, its catalog, and its permanent preservation schedule.
Uniform record naming encourages cooperation based on mutual understanding of record naming and usage (including database names). Consistent record naming helps to meet the legal requirements of the document. To ensure legitimacy, documents must be authentic, comprehensive, accessible, and legally admissible in court. The records are named uniformly and logically, making it easy to manage and look up.
- Secondly, the transfer of documents needs to ensure the requirements of integrity, safety and confidentiality of information, specifically:
+ About ensuring the integrity of documents in the transfer process: it is a requirement setting for electronic documents. To do this, it is required that after completion of the creation process, electronic documents must be maintained in a fixed, irreparable format and require a secure code in the form of an electronic signature.
+ About ensuring the security when receiving documents: The use of electronic document systems in information exchange must ensure compliance with the Law on Protection of State Secrets and the security policies of agencies and units. For an electronic document management system, it is necessary to take into account the level of confidentiality of electronic documents to ensure the distribution of access rights for each type of document.
+ About ensuring the safety level when receiving documents: In transferring and receiving documents in an electronic document management system, factors related to sending and receiving documents need to be automatically saved in the system.
- Thirdly, the requirement for the scientific organization of electronic documents is to build a scientific information classification framework, accompanied by the preservation period of each record and document in order to serve as a basis for the organization of electronic documents. basis for the establishment of electronic document management software in agencies and organizations in a uniform manner throughout the country.
- Fourthly, in the process of storing electronic documents, it is necessary to comply with a series of specific requirements as follows:
+ Storing metadata needs to have elements such as: creation unit, management rights, title, subject, language, description, scope, function, format….
+ Document format conversion: The format conversion must ensure the long-term preservation of electronic documents when there is a change in science – technology.
+ Data backup: The backup of data must ensure the integrity requirements of document content, information safety and security, document copyright.
+ Select appropriate storage equipment and tools: Agencies and organizations need to base themselves on the actual volume of electronic documents, their information technology infrastructure and requirements. government requirements to choose the right storage device.
+ The content of the document is accessible and usable for reference as needed. The preservation of data needs to ensure availability to serve the legitimate needs of society when referencing archival documents.
- Fifthly, for the safe preservation of documents:
The safe preservation of electronic documents is also a big problem for the archival industry of countries around the world. The development of science and technology has made it possible to choose the form and device of data preservation to ensure the safety of documents over time. However, the electronic data storage must also ensure the prevention of risks such as computer crime, virus attack, etc. For paper documents, it is possible to independently perform the business stages together according to a process, complete one stage and then move on to the other. In the absence of scientific regulations, improper implementation of the process… will lead to accumulation of documents, damage, and loss of documents. However, for electronic documents, the stages are more closely linked together and are integrated and implemented by the support of information technology by electronic document and record management systems[4].
Electronic documents are one of the typical archival documents representing the electronic administration. This is also a national heritage, which needs to be managed uniformly and effectively to serve the management activities of the State, agencies, organizations and the needs of society. Electronic documents are a new type of document, with different features and characteristics compared to traditional archives. Therefore, the scientific and legal basis for managing electronic documents has now far exceeded the limits of the theoretical system of managing traditional types of archives. Therefore, the study of general theoretical issues about electronic documents and compliance with the requirements for electronic document management is of great significance in orienting the completion of the legal basis, creating favorable conditions for the management of electronic documents. the scientific and effective management of electronic documents in state administrative agencies in Viet Nam in the context of building and perfecting e-government, towards digital government.
- Proposing some solutions for the management of electronic documents at the Ministry of Home Affairs
The Ministry of Home Affairs is an agency of the Government performing multi-sectoral and multi-field state management functions. In the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 towards building an e-government, the Ministry of Home Affairs has gradually improved the legal basis and professional regulations for clerical work and electronic archives, specifically: promulgating regulatory documents and professional guidelines for clerical work, archiving in general and electronic document management in particular; pay attention to invest in funding and infrastructure, develop a plan and roadmap on electronic document management in each period, determine specific objectives to ensure that it is suitable to the conditions of the ministerial agency; additional personnel for clerical and archival work; strengthen training and professional guidance in managing electronic documents for all civil servants and public employees in the Ministry; Information technology application in electronic document management has contributed to improving labor efficiency.
In addition to some achievements, the management of electronic documents at the Ministry of Home Affairs still has some shortcomings and limitations such as: a number of documents guiding and guiding the management of electronic documents have not been completed yet, completion need to be reviewed, amended, supplemented and perfected; the number of personnel in charge of managing electronic documents is still limited, unable to meet the workload to be implemented; the inspection and guidance of electronic document management has not been regular and continuous. The conversion from documents, paper records to electronic documents and records still faces many difficulties and obstacles in advising professional activities on archiving; The electronic archive system has not been equipped, currently archived documents are being managed on a common software system.
From the above situation, in order for the electronic document management of the Ministry of Home Affairs to be highly effective and synchronous, it is necessary to focus on the following solutions:
Firstly, strengthen leadership and direction in the preparation and archiving of electronic documents of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Currently, the Ministry of Home Affairs is operating and continuing to update and supplement the features of the Voffice System, including the function of making and submitting electronic records. On that basis, the Office of the Ministry advises the leadership of the Ministry of Home Affairs to build and perfect the institution on electronic document management in order to create a full and comprehensive legal basis for this work. At the same time, leaders of subordinate units and affiliated units need to proactively, regularly manage, and widely disseminate to their constituent units and officials, public employees and employees the legal regulations and policies and measures. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ law in the preparation and archiving of electronic documents to uniformly and drastically implement from the creation of documents to the storage, search and search of electronic documents in service of the public. management of the Ministry of Home Affairs according to the functions and tasks of each unit. Accordingly, leaders of the Ministry of Home Affairs and leaders of units also need to clearly show their determination and commitment to be pioneers and exemplary in the performance of this task.
In order for the preparation, submission and filing of documents to be effective in the coming time, the leadership and direction need to focus on a number of specific solutions as follows: (1) To manage, direct and implement the making, submitting and storing electronic records at the units in accordance with the current regulations of the State and the Ministry of Home Affairs; (2) To promote the pioneering, exemplary character, especially the heads of the units under and under the Ministry in directing the implementation of the preparation and archiving of electronic documents of their agencies and units; (3) to be focus on and regularly direct the inspection and inspection of the preparation and archiving of electronic documents of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Secondly, promulgating the Regulation on the preparation, submission and storage of electronic records
Electronic records, when submitted to the Archives of the Ministry, must ensure the standard of input information data; inheritance, consistency, authenticity, security, and accessibility. It is necessary to promulgate regulations on the order, time, technical standards, components of electronic records and procedures for electronic filing.
These regulations are the legal basis that clearly stipulates the responsibilities of the Agency’s Secretariat and the Agency Archives, the IT department, civil servants and public employees when handing over electronic records to the Agency Archives. The management of electronic documents is a new issue for clerical and archival work, so some regulations are still inconsistent and inconsistent due to the lack of theoretical and practical basis for implementation. Therefore, in order to ensure the synchronization, consistency and clear responsibility, the Ministry of Home Affairs should issue documents guiding the construction of the list of dossiers; instructions for updating documents into electronic management software; instructions on how to make and submit electronic records to the Agency Archives; guide the maintenance and preservation of electronic records and documents; guide the exploitation and use of electronic archives and the destruction of electronic documents. The current important and urgent solution is to develop and submit to the Minister of Home Affairs for promulgation a Regulation on the preparation and submission of electronic records, including the following basic contents: (1) Regulations on naming electronic document files; (2) Regulations on creating outgoing documents and ending incoming text flows on the Voffice system of individuals assigned to process documents; (3) Regulations on creating records for each completed work of individuals assigned to process documents on Voffice system; (4) Regulations on the maintenance, preservation, search and search of electronic archival documents; (5) Regulations on exploitation and use of electronic archives; destruction of electronic documents; (6) Regulations on ensuring network security and safety in the process of creating and managing electronic archives; (7) Specific regulations on inspection, examination and handling of violations. In which, there should be regulations on sanctions for implementation such as stipulating the criteria for evaluating, commenting, emulating, and rewarding based on the results of solving the work of units and individuals on the Voffice system. Accordingly, units and individuals that perform well the management of electronic archives will be awarded points to consider the level of task completion as a basis for consideration of rewards and salary increase ahead of time…, the introduction of such sanctions will help raise the sense of responsibility and encourage the morale of public officials and employees in the process of performing this work; (8) Specifying the implementation responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals in the management of electronic archives of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The promulgation of regulations guiding the preparation, submission of electronic records and the preparation of adequate IT infrastructure are necessary and sufficient conditions for the good implementation of electronic document management at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. That helps cadres, civil servants and public employees to take the initiative in creating, submitting and storing electronic records in a scientific and synchronous manner according to the regulations and regulations of the agency. These regulations clearly define the responsibilities, tasks and powers of officials, public servants and public employees in the preparation, submission and storage of electronic records, and at the same time help the agency to well control the quality process and methods. electronic records right from the filing stage.
Thirdly, upgrading and building software
Complete the fully functional Voffice system according to the requirements in the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg, Government’s Decree No. 30/2020/ND-CP, Ministry of Home Affair’s Circular No. 02/2019/TT- BNV helps ensure that all electronic documents the Ministry of Home Affairs communicates with State administrative agencies will be sent and received 100% in electronic form, serving as a premise for the implementation of e-government at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The upgraded hardware system meets the standards of processing speed, software performance and storage capacity to ensure confidentiality, information safety.
Upgrading the Voffice system to version 4.0 and hardware and storage devices in the near future do the following:
- Voffice version has the following functions:
Continue to update the features to meet the requirements of the competent authorities: (1) Function to communicate documents between administrative agencies through the National Document Communication Axis (including sending and receiving documents via The axis of communication, monitoring the status of documents; receiving, refusing to receive documents; marking sent documents…) at 4 levels (Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg); (2) The function of creating work records and electronic archiving meets the requirements of the Ministry of Home Affairs on electronic archiving (Decree No. 30/2020/ND-CP; Circular No. 02/2019/TT- BNV); (3) Management functions, statistics and reports and other functions.
- Hardware equipment system: Invest in 02 server devices running in parallel, backup, upgrade storage system, invest in security system.
- Expanding capacity of Internet transmission line Ministry of Home Affairs.
Renting a high-speed Internet line as well as a Leased-Line line (Leased-Line is a high-reliability line, separate connection, with speeds from 256Kbps, 512Kbps) for applications of the Ministry of the Interior is required to help applications work well, ensure stable and high-speed transmission lines. Upgrading the Internet connection for faster access to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ document management software from the Internet environment of the Ministry’s users, updating and transferring attached documents is faster.
In addition, it is necessary to upgrade or replace old and outdated computers for officials, civil servants and public employees so that they can handle work quickly and efficiently. New computers are required to meet the following standards: (1) 3GhZ processor speed; (2) Memory 01GBRAM; (3) Operating system Windows XP or higher; (4) Pre-install Internet Explorer 8.0 or later or other equivalent browser.
In the current period, IT application in the activities of the Ministry of Home Affairs has been identified as an important task. The leaders of the Ministry requested that the units under the Ministry, based on their assigned functions and tasks, are responsible for building implementation plan seriously and effectively.
Forthly, develop and submit to competent authorities for approval the Ministry of Home Affairs’ project on storing electronic records and documents for the period 2022 – 2025
In order to have enough resources to store electronic documents of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the context of promoting digital transformation, it is necessary to develop and submit to competent authorities for approval a project on archiving electronic documents of the Ministry of Home affairs for the period 2022 – 2025, with the implementation of the office of Home Affair.
The project aims to: (1) digitize the entire volume of archival data in paper that is being managed at the archives of the Ministry; (2) systematize, correct and archive all newly arising electronic records; (3) store, manage, exploit and use electronic archives to meet state management requirements of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Dr. Vu Dang Minh
Chief of staff, Ministry of Home Affairs
References
- Minister of the Interior (2019). Circular No. 01/2019/TT-BNV dated January 24, 2019 of the Ministry of Home Affairs stipulating the process of exchanging, storing and handling electronic documents in clerical work, basic functions of the System manage electronic documents in the process of handling the work of agencies and organizations.
- Government (2020). Decree No. 30/2020/ND-CP dated March 5, 2020 of the Government on clerical work.
- Nguyen Thi Chinh (2016). Electronic Document Management – Issues raised in Viet Nam, Presentation at the Scientific Conference: “Practices of making electronic records at agencies and organizations in Viet Nam”, September 2016.
- Nguyen Thi Chinh (Chairman), (2010). “Building requirements and solutions for managing electronic records and documents”, Ministerial-level scientific project, Department of State Records and Archives.
- Department of State Records and Archives (2018). Draft project on management of electronic archives in state agencies.
- Tran Duc Manh (2016). Viet Nam’s law on electronic documents and electronic archiving – Current status and some issues, Master’s thesis majoring in Archives, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi.
- National Assembly (2011). Law of Archives.
- Prime Minister (2018). Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on sending and receiving electronic documents between agencies in the state administrative system.
[1] Tran Duc Manh (2016). Viet Nam’s law on electronic documents and electronic archiving – Current status and some issues, Master’s thesis majoring in Archives, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi.
[2] ISO 15489:2001: Record Management: The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance….
[3] Nguyen Thi Chinh (Team Leader) (2010). “Building requirements and solutions for managing electronic records and documents”, Ministerial-level scientific project, Department of State Records and Archives.
[4] Nguyen Thi Chinh (2016). Electronic Document Management – Issues raised in Viet Nam, Presentation at the Scientific Conference: “Practices of making electronic records at agencies and organizations in Viet Nam”, September 2016.
