The National Archives of Latvia (NAL) has still not created an effective management system that would ensure the receipt and storage of electronic documents, as concluded in audit “Is the receipt of electronic documents ensured in the archives?”. The conclusion is particularly applicable to data with archival value stored in national information systems (NIS) and registers. Without managing data according to their value, they do not end up in the archives and continue to accumulate in the information systems of institutions (IS).
BRIEFLY
- The Law on Electronic Documents has been in force in Latvia for 20 years. Currently, in 2023, progress in storing electronic documents in one place, that is, the National Archives of Latvia, is still very slow.
- Continuing at the current pace, the first reception of information system data of state institutions in the archives could be completed only after 2035 that poses risks for loss of information and opportunities for the population to receive information of interest from the archive in the future.
- The information system, where simplifying archiving processes was one of the goals to develop it, is not widely used. Only 29% of all institutions monitored by the archive are registered for its use.
“The slow reception of electronic documents (including NIS data) for storage in the archive threatens the basic functions of the archives to accumulate and store the documentary heritage. What does this mean for each individual and for the public at large? The fact that we cannot rely on the NAL’s ability to provide information in areas where information is currently processed electronically. The number of areas where data is processed only electronically is growing rapidly, and technological progress contributes to a significant increase in the amount of information stored in them. Unfortunately, the NAL is not keeping up with this progress. And this is only natural because one cannot expect progress in a field in which adequate resources have not been invested. Therefore, the NAL must strengthen its capacity and act purposefully so that it is methodologically, technologically, and resource-wise able to ensure the acceptance of electronic documents (including NIS data) for storage in the archive,” explained Ms Ilze Bādere, Council Member of the State Audit Office of Latvia.
The current rate of receiving electronic documents for storage in the archives poses risks for information loss and opportunities for citizens to receive information of interest from the NAL in the future. One of the functions of the NAL is to receive and preserve documents with archival value, but the NAL has not been able to organize and plan these processes regarding e-documents and data in a sufficiently high quality so far. There is still no unified accounting system in the NAL to monitor the progress in the NIS with the transfer of archival values and e-documents to the archive due to which no significant progress has been achieved so far. Namely, from 110 NISs, where data with archival value is identified, the NAL has accepted information from only 4 NISs up to now. From 2023 to 2025, the NAL plans to accept data from another 23 NIS for storage. Unfortunately, continuing at this pace, the first receipt of the identified NIS data with archival values to the NAL could be completed only after 2035, which, according to the State Audit Office of Latvia, is a disproportionate deadline and poses significant risks (loss of information, might be impossible to receive information from the NAL in the future).
Insufficient resources are the main reason for the slow process of archiving e-documents and data, that is, only three of the 384 NAL employees in total perform the most technically complicated part of the electronic document receiving process. This is a disproportionately small resource, given that accepting institutional IS data with archival value into the archive is a new process, challenging both for institutions and the NAL. Moreover, the volumes of e-documents and data and their specificity are constantly increasing and changing due to the rapid transition to digitization in both the private sector and public sector in particular. Accordingly, for successful provision of archiving process, one requires to attract appropriate human resources and the NAL should assess the opportunities to improve the knowledge of all employees so that e-documents could be accepted by a wider range of employees.
Unsuccessful methodological support hinders the involvement of state institutions in document archiving. Already during the audit in 2015, the State Audit Office of Latvia concluded that the transfer of e-documents to storage in the archive was not automated because the institutions lacked understanding regarding practical execution of that task. The reasons for this were also insufficient legal framework and the lack of guidelines that would explain the requirements set by the regulations to state institutions to prepare an e-document for transfer to the archive for storage. The guidelines developed by the NAL have not contributed to the understanding of the institutions (transfer of e-documents is still facing the capacity of NAL employees to provide consultations and the guidelines developed have not reduced the need for consultations) and the volumes of e-documents transferred to storage. The situation is also complicated by the fact that finding necessary information on the NAL website and applying it independently, that is, without consulting NAL employees, is very difficult.
Only 29% of all institutions supervised by the NAL are registered in the Unified State Archives Information System (USAIS), which was launched already in 2015. It is intended to be used for such functions as, for example, viewing and updating an institution’s data, submitting documents, harmonizing, describing, and transferring e-documents. In the opinion of the State Audit Office, the NAL should facilitate more active and broader use of the USAIS functionality by evaluating the possibility of establishing mandatory use of the system for e-documents already at the level of laws and regulations. However, for stipulating it as a mandatory requirement at the level of laws and regulations, the NAL needs to evaluate the compliance of the system developed many years ago with archiving processes and the possibilities of modern technologies, which was one of the recommendations of the State Audit Office.
One should mention that by the end of 2024, the improvement of the USAIS e-service portal is planned worth 266 thousand euros by using funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, but those improvements are focused on improving e-services for individuals and will unfortunately not affect the work of state institutions in the USAIS.
“Taking into account the low usage statistics of USAIS, processes of identification, coordination and acceptance of documents being significant in the field of archives are still not digitised. Thus, the area of archives in Latvia lags behind other areas where solutions for electronic information circulation have been introduced and are being used. For instance, document circulation in the state administration has been organized electronically for years; annual reports are submitted to the State Treasury electronically in the e-Report system; tax reports and declarations are submitted to the State Revenue Service by means of electronic declaration system. In these examples, the legal framework already stipulates the requirement to provide information electronically via specific solutions. In its turn, in the domain of archives, the use of USAIS is only one of several communication solutions and it is not defined as a mandatory requirement,” indicated Ms Bādere.
In general, more than 4 million euros were spent for the development of USAIS (there have been no significant investments in the development of USAIS after its commissioning), there are 40 thousand euros spent for maintenance and development are spent on average annually, as well as one plans to improve the service portal for 266 thousand euros by the end of 2024.
Currently, almost half of the institutions where e-documents are generated and more than 90% of information from NIS data with archival value have not yet been archived. Therefore, it was impossible to assess during the audit whether the scope of long-term data archive storage service has been determined appropriately by the NAL. To identify the necessary capacities of technical resources in a timely manner and not to overpay for already reserved but unused capacities at the same time, the NAL should make estimates of expected increase in the amount of data expected to be stored regularly.
“Despite the generally unsatisfactory audit results, we are truly pleased and thank the NAL for the courage to undertake reaching those challenging results. By coordinating the recommendations made in this audit, the Archives undertook to accept at least 40% of the identified national IS data with archival value and 75% of permanently stored electronic documents for storage within five years. Actions to achieve the targets are up to the Archives, but we made sure that the NAL had a clear action plan to progress,” stated Ms I. Bādere.
Background information
- During the audit by the State Audit Office “Storage of electronic documents and data in the National Archives of Latvia” in 2015, they concluded that the role of NAL in the preservation and provision of electronic documents and data stored in the information systems of state institutions (IS) to individuals was in danger because the documents did not reach the archive and continued accumulating in the information systems of state institutions.
- In 2023, the audit evaluated the implementation of all 14 recommendations given before, while six of the 14 recommendations were proposed for detailed assessment, which were essential prerequisites for the preservation of IS data of institutions with archival value and whose implementation involves higher risks, taking into account the technological challenges and the fact that the approach to receive and store electronic data with archival value using electronic services did not exist in the NAL until now.
- The purpose of developing the USAIS was to establish a unified information system of state archives to ensure the availability of information resources of state archives to the public and the provision of an integrated service subordinated to the customer’s needs and life situations, as well as the accumulation and storage of e-documents and data of state and municipal institutions, which would guarantee the protection of the legitimate interests and fundamental rights of the state and its citizens, the continuity of the activities of state and municipal institutions, and the development of science. Currently, the USAIS is mainly used for the internal needs of the NAL and to ensure the operation of the public search engine “Meklē LNA” (Search in NAL) and the necessary information about the funds, files, and documents in storage.
State Audit Office recommendations #PēcRevīzijas
Upon completion of the audit, three specific recommendations were made by formulating the expected result in the five-year period. Such an approach when recommendations are primarily aimed at ensuring progress and achieving specific results, in the opinion of the State Audit Office of Latvia, will help the National Archives of Latvia to be more targeted when choosing the most suitable actions for reaching the result. In addition to the recommendations provided, the audit report also indicates recommended actions to strengthen the capacity of the National Archives of Latvia in the preservation of electronic documents and to achieve a faster reception of electronic documents for storage in the archive.
About the State Audit Office of Latvia
The State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia is an independent, collegial supreme audit institution. The purpose of its activity is to find out whether the actions with the financial means and property of a public entity are legal, correct, useful and in line with public interests, as well as to provide recommendations for the elimination of discovered irregularities. The State Audit Office conducts audits in accordance with International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI (ISSAI), whose recognition in Latvia is determined by the Auditor General.
100 years of AUDIT STRENGTH
On 16 August 2023, the State Audit Law will turn 100 years old. With the adoption of this Law, the State Audit Office from a formal de facto institution founded on 2 December 1918 became a de jure independent, collegial supreme audit institution of the Republic of Latvia. The State Audit Office is one of the independent state institutions enshrined in the Satversme (Constitution) of Latvia. The Constitution was signed by Roberts Ivanovs as the secretary of the Constitutional Assembly, who was then confirmed as the Auditor General. He worked as the first Auditor General for 12 years. His signature confirmed the text of our Constitution alongside that of Jānis Čakste.
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