EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES FOR PUBLIC - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES FOR PUBLIC - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Aug 09, 2023 126 likes •429 views

EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES FOR PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES PRESENTED BY: Zandra Pulis Deputy General Counsel & Chief Records Management Officer July 24, 2018 CHALLENGE Explosion of information Stressed

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EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES FOR PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES

PRESENTED BY: Zandra Pulis Deputy General Counsel & Chief Records Management Officer July 24, 2018

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CHALLENGE

  • Explosion of information
  • Stressed record management
  • Varied methods of communicating

Utilities are creating and maintaining an increasing volume of information which needs to be readily accessible and properly maintained.

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#THESTRUGGLEISREAL

70% - Entities that permit texting for business 46% - Don’t formally capture/retain texts 23% - Unlikely they could produce texts from their organizational leader Lack of funds = Top reason texts are not captured Plans to begin archiving texts:

  • 20% not likely ever
  • 47% I don’t know
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COMPLIANCE MATTERS

  • Texas Public Information Act
  • Local Government Records Act of 1989
  • Litigation & discovery
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TEXAS PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT

  • Based on the premise that information belonging to

governmental entities belongs to the people

  • Government in the sunshine
  • Requires disclosure of requested public information
  • Begin with the assumption that information is subject

to required disclosure

  • Fines and confinement
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WHAT IS “PUBLIC INFORMATION”?

  • Information
  • Written
  • Produced
  • Assembled
  • Collected
  • Maintained
  • Pursuant to a law or ordinance or
  • In connection with the transaction of official

business

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS ACT OF 1989

  • Requires local governments to adopt a

program for the management of the

  • creation, use, maintenance, retention,

preservation and disposal of records

  • for the purpose of reducing costs and improving

efficiency

  • Class A misdemeanor
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WHAT IS A “RECORD”?

  • Record
  • Documents the transaction of public

business

  • Created or received by local government
  • Non-Records
  • Convenience copies
  • Blank forms
  • Reference materials
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ALL RECORDS ARE PUBLIC INFORMATION, BUT NOT ALL PUBLIC INFORMATION IS A RECORD

Records Non Records

Public Information

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ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

Email

  • Work Devices & Accounts
  • Personal Devices & Accounts

Messaging

  • Texts
  • Jabber
  • Instant messaging

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
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TPIA

  • 2013 amendments modernized “public

information”:

  • Any electronic communication
  • In connection with “official business”
  • any matter over which the governmental entity has

authority, administrative or advisory duties

  • TPIA specifically applies to:

Instant messaging Email Internet postings Texts Other electronic communications

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ADKISSON V. PAXTON (2015)

County Paxton

Request: Emails, including those in the commissioner’s personal email account, related to his official capacity. Personal correspondence expressly excluded. Held: Information must be disclosed. A right to privacy does not exist simply because the messages are maintained in a personal email

  • account. County owns any information made

in the transaction of public business.

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TPIA & SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Facebook postings on city’s FB page are

public information (OR2016-23161)

  • FB terms of service provide posted information

belongs to the page owner

  • Internal policy encouraged the use of social

media to advance the goals and missions of the city

  • Public comments are records
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SEABROOK, TEXAS ORR (2016)

Seabrook Paxton

Request: All comments made in response to a Facebook post made by the City of Seabrook. Held: Information must be disclosed. Public comments are records.

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“Content posted by the agency or the public on an agency’s social media website is a state record….subject to State Records Retention requirements.” Texas Dept. of Information Resources Social Media Guidelines

SOCIAL MEDIA

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TPIA & SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Twitter:
  • emergency or outage alerts
  • Instagram:
  • photos from a substation siting open house
  • YouTube
  • safety presentations
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TPIA & MESSAGING

  • AG consistently finds that texts are

public information when they are exchanged by public officials and employees because they transact business

  • Texts that do not relate to government

business are not public information

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RM & EMAIL, TEXTS & TWEETS

  • Email
  • Texts
  • Social media
  • Should be retained as a record if:

Documents business

  • r evidences an

important process? YES Exist elsewhere? NO

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RETAINING ELECTRONIC RECORDS

  • Record should be authentic and whole:
  • Metadata
  • Links
  • Attachments
  • Retention should be applied similar to paper

records

  • Various locations
  • Cloud storage
  • Content management system
  • Outlook files
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RETAINING ELECTRONIC RECORDS

Capture/Retention Solution Rudimentary Better Best Comprehensive archiving X Auto‐inclusion through configuration X Social media capture X Platform SLA X Platform native tools X Application programming interface X Manual

  • Cut & paste
  • Screenshots

X Print & file X

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RECORDS THAT SHOULD BE RETAINED

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COMMON RETENTION OF CORRESPONDENCE TYPES

  • Planning, forming, implementing, and modifying

programs, services, policies or procedures.

  • Example: A change in the standard mileage

reimbursement rate Administrative 4 YEARS

  • Content relating to the regular business operations of

programs, services, policies or procedures.

  • Example: We are processing payroll. Please do no make

any changes in SAP to the previous pay period. General 2 YEARS

  • Internal notices, meeting, requests or letters of

transmittal.

  • Example: System generated e-mail that is simply a copy
  • f a payroll record that already exists in SAP.

Routine AV – administratively valuable

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NON RECORDS

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NON RECORDS

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BEST PRACTICES

  • Policies
  • Communication/Social Media
  • Appropriate use of various platforms for business purposes
  • Internal – who can create accounts & post
  • External – manage the expectations of users
  • Records Management
  • Electronically Stored Information
  • Governance
  • Tone at the Top
  • Training
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TAKEAWAYS

  • Be mindful about what gets put in writing or

texts

  • Be thoughtful about the communication

platforms you use

  • Be thorough when responding to TPIA requests
  • Practice good records management
  • Monitor technology solutions
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Questions?

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Thank You

Zandra Pulis

Deputy General Counsel & Chief Records Management Officer, Legal & Administration CPS Energy | 145 Navarro St. San Antonio, Texas 78205 | MD: 101008 Office: 210.353.2351 | Mobile: 210.347.9482 cpsenergy.com | email: zlpulis@cpsenergy.com