The Norwegian Noark Model requirements for EDRMS in the context of open government and access to governmental information

Published date11 November 2014
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-09-2014-0041
Date11 November 2014
Pages189-204
AuthorOlav Hagen Sataslaatten
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Information management & governance
The Norwegian Noark Model
requirements for EDRMS in the
context of open government and
access to governmental
information
Olav Hagen Sataslaatten
The Digital Repositories, The National Archives of Norway, Oslo, Norway
Abstract
Purpose – This article aims to analyze the relationship between the Norwegian Noark Standard and
the concepts of Open Government and Freedom of Information (FOI). Noark is the Norwegian model
requirements for Electronic Documents and Records Management Systems (EDRMS). It was
introduced in 1984, making it not only the world’s rst model requirement for EDRMS but also, through
the introduction of versions from Noark 1 to the present Noark 5, internationally the model requirement
with the longest continuation of implementation.
Design/methodology/approach – To better understand the technical outline and functionality of
the Noark Model requirements, it is necessary to see the connection to the wider framework of the
Norwegian governance legislation and its FOI Act (Norway, Freedom of Information Act, 2006) on
the right of access to documents held by the public administration and public undertakings. FOI is the
foundation on which the Norwegian Open Government platform (OEP) rests, as it aims to increase
openness and transparency in the Norwegian society. Being one of the rst national initiatives to
incorporate in a single platform an up-to-date nationwide registry of metadata deriving from the
EDRMS of the governmental sector, OEP is a model which could have relevance in open government
settings also outside of Norway.
Findings – Non-xity and randomness in the registering of metadata decrease the possibility of
systematic search and systematic retrieval, since search within records presumably requires a
combination of two or more sets of metadata. Context is a crucial component in information retrieval
from records, and no records contain only one metadata element. With few exceptions, a record relates
to another record, and the relation between the two of them is in itself a set of metadata. If the metadata
relating the two records does not follow a standardized format, retrieval possibilities will remain
random. The unpredictability following inadequate search results will decrease the credibility and the
trust factor which should lie imminent within the information system. The absence of adequate search
results will lead to an immediate decrease in the public’s perception of the system being valid or relevant
as a trusted source of information. If metadata within a governmental agency is known to be subject to
non-authorised alterations, deletion on changes, trust in the authenticity and integrity of the
information provided from the agency will decrease signicantly. This subsequently decreases
predictability in the retrieval of information within the EDRMS. The parameters securing
non-alteration of metadata once locked in the Noark-compliant EDRMS, may be measured against the
absence of the same in any system being compared.
Originality/value – An adequate analysis describing the principles of trust embedded in the weekly
or daily dissemination of metadata from the Noark databases to the OEP somehow has to explain
certain parameters. These parameters within the Noark requirements eliminate the possibility of
unauthorised deletion, alteration or manipulation of metadata and documents in the databases of the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
Norwegian
Noark Model
189
Received 30 September 2014
Revised 30 September 2014
Accepted 30 September 2014
Records Management Journal
Vol. 24 No. 3, 2014
pp. 189-204
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/RMJ-09-2014-0041
governmental organisations. The combination of parameters also creates context. The metadata
transferred from the Noark systems to the OEP platform may never have been stored within a trusted
digital repository. Transfer to the OEP happens weekly, whilst transfer to the repository of The
National Archives is performed far less seldom – perhaps every tenth year. The contents of the
Noark-based systems are not stored in trusted digital repositories in the governmental agencies, but
remain part of the ordinary grid of servers and databases.
Keywords Databases, Archives
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
This article analyzes the relationship between the Norwegian Noark Standard and the
concepts of Open Government and Freedom of Information (FOI). Noark is the
Norwegian model requirements for Electronic Documents and Records Management
Systems (EDRMS). It was introduced in 1984, making it not only the world’s rst model
requirement for EDRMS but also, through the introduction of versions from Noark 1 to
the present Noark 5, internationally the model requirement with the longest
continuation of implementation.
In accordance with the 2008 revised Norwegian FOI Act, the Norwegian authorities
in May 2010 launched an updated Electronic Public Records system, or (Offentlig
Elektronisk Postjournal or OEP) (Norway, 2010,www.oep.no/?langen). OEP is a
web-based portal in which central governmental agencies are required to regularly
publish their newly registered electronic metadata records. It is metadata registered in
the Noark systems within governmental bodies which is made available in the OEP
system.
To better understand the technical outline and functionality of the Noark model
requirements, it is necessary to see the connection to the wider framework of the
Norwegian governance legislation and its FOI Act (Norway, 2006) on the right of access
to documents held by the public administration and public undertakings. FOI is the
foundation on which the Norwegian Open Government platform (OEP) rests, as it aims
to increase openness and transparency in the Norwegian society. Being one of the rst
national initiatives to incorporate in a single platform an up-to-date nationwide registry
of metadata deriving from the EDRMS of the governmental sector, OEP is a model
which could have relevance in open government settings also outside of Norway.
From a juridical point of view, the Noark standard was not created in a vacuum.
Noark would unlikely be designed in the same way back in 1984 if the Norwegian Public
Administration Act and the Norwegian FOI Act had not been introduced in 1967 and
1970, respectively. The direct relation between those two acts and Noark is expressed
through the manner in which Noark fuses and secures principles of governance,
transparency and predictability into its own core. This is accomplished through a xed
set of functional requirements dened as mandatory in the model.
The mandatory requirements in Noark have increased in number from the
introduction of Noark 1 in 1984 to the launch of Noark 5.2 in 2012. The increase in
complexity is a direct result of the general increase in the digitization of our society,
establishing fully electronic communication channels between governmental bodies as
well as between them and the public at large. Successively, the mode of interaction, to an
increasing degree interlinked, between governmental organisations, cross-sector and
RMJ
24,3
190

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