[Abstract] This article discusses the principles of governing electronic documents under the e-government situation. It proposes specific measures and technical means for the scientific management of electronic documents from the perspective of ensuring the authenticity, integrity, readability, and security of official correspondence.
[Keywords] E-Government, Electronic Documents, Management Principles, Management Methods
E-Government refers to the use of information and communication network technology to break the organizational boundaries of administrative agencies, optimize government organizational structures and workflows, forming a new state of government governance, and achieving a virtuous interaction between the government, non-government organizations, enterprises, and the public. The e-government system is essentially an extension in scope and function of government office automation, extending from internal office work to external services. It is a society-oriented form of government office automation. In the e-government system, the drafting, review, signing, publication, and processing of incoming documents are all carried out on the e-government operation platform. These official documents running in the e-government system are historical records of the functional activities of the agency, so they must be archived and managed according to archival management requirements. However, because these official documents are generated through the e-government document processing platform, their characteristics determine that their archiving and management methods cannot simply adopt the methods used for paper documents but should embed the management functions of electronic documents within the e-government system, implementing integrated document and archive management and full-process management, while adopting various measures to ensure the authenticity, integrity, readability, and security of electronic documents.
Traditional document and archive management each have independent management processes, with both processes following systems and standards set by respective management agencies, and the connection between the two processes is made through the physical transfer of documents. Document-integrated management, however, follows the rules of document creation and operation, using unified and meticulous methods to efficiently organize and manage documents. Compared to traditional document and archive management, the biggest difference in document-integrated management is the reorganization of the document and archive management processes to achieve seamless integration and programmatic unification, thereby maximizing the elimination of gray areas caused by organizational factors and reducing repetitive work.
1 Principles of Electronic Document Management
1.1 "Front-end Control" Principle
Considering the characteristics of electronic documents such as ease of modification and disappearance, if we continue to manage electronic documents in the same sequential manner as before—creation, accumulation, evaluation, filing, archiving, classification, cataloging, etc.—it will be difficult to ensure the authenticity of electronic documents, and the loss of electronic documents will be unavoidable, leading to unnecessary repeated labor. For example, electronic documents may already have been modified before archiving, or some may have been intentionally or unintentionally deleted; others might have had subject terms extracted during creation, yet still require indexing after archiving, which increases workload unnecessarily. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the "front-end control" principle, which requires moving the control mechanisms traditionally applied in later stages of paper document management to the front end. That is, the archive department should participate earlier in the lifecycle of electronic documents, starting from the "front-end" to control the archiving process. Specifically, during the design phase of the document system, archive personnel should participate in the design and provide guidance, considering the needs of archiving and post-archiving document management. All relevant information about a single document should be treated as a whole for archiving. Archiving should be embedded into the workflow to ensure that relevant documents are promptly archived after each step. Users should also timely describe and evaluate document information and establish connections between this information and the electronic documents themselves, ensuring that when the documents are archived, both the electronic files and related information are transferred or sent to the archive department together.
1.2 "Full Process Management" Principle
Based on the characteristics of electronic documents, it is necessary to establish a complete management system, managing electronic documents throughout their lifecycle from creation to permanent retention or destruction, ensuring their authenticity, integrity, and readability.
The specific implementation of the full-process management principle for electronic documents should be reflected in the determination of the electronic document management system and model, the design and operation of the management system, the content and enforcement of management regulations, etc. For example, the system should uniformly register, classify, and evaluate electronic documents generated from different departments and application systems within the organization while monitoring and recording all operations performed on the documents, such as creation, registration, modification, review, signature, and distribution. Additionally, technical operations like platform conversion and changes in storage location should also be recorded. This kind of management and tracking record plays a crucial role in proving and ensuring the administrative effectiveness and legal evidentiary value of electronic documents.
2 Ensuring the Authenticity of Electronic Documents
To determine the authenticity of traditional documents, two main aspects are examined: the originality of the document carrier and the originality of the document's form, mainly referring to specific content, font, handwriting, and legally effective signatures or seals. Any change in any of these elements can raise doubts about the document's authenticity. However, the criteria used to judge the authenticity of traditional documents do not apply to electronic documents because: (1) the carrier and information of electronic documents can be separated, and the non-fixed nature of the carrier makes electronic documents no longer possess the concept of a "original" in the traditional sense; (2) modifications to electronic documents can leave no trace, making them hard to distinguish between real and fake copies, and the processing process has hidden characteristics. Therefore, determining the authenticity of electronic documents must focus more on the authenticity of their content, primarily confirming whether the document was indeed created at the specified time by the specified person for the specified event, paying attention to the preservation of its essential factors unchanged. Internationally, the common practice is to use a statutory procedure to manage the entire lifecycle of electronic documents and employ technical methods and management regulations to create a secure "channel" that spans the entire process from the creation, operation, to disposal of electronic documents, ensuring the reliability of digital information. Under current technical conditions, commonly adopted methods include:
2.1 Implementing Security Protection Techniques in Computer Systems
- Establish identity recognition and access control for electronic document operators to prevent unauthorized access.
- Set up operation logs to automatically record details such as the operator, time, and content of actions.
- Implement measures to prevent illegal use of electronic seals and digital signatures. Before the formal implementation of laws regarding electronic signatures by national legislative bodies, when archiving electronic documents with only seals, they should be supplemented with non-electronic documents having legal effect.
2.2 Identity Recognition Technology
Identity recognition technology is primarily used to accurately identify users...
This article originates from Unilever.