Overview

In the course of responding to a public records request for emails for employees, the City of Boston became aware that emails were not being automatically retained in the way many employees throughout the city understood they were. City officials worked vigorously to immediately resolve the situation and a new system to capture and store copies of all emails as they came into or out of city email accounts – called “journaling” – was put in place.

For over a year the City of Boston has been working to upgrade its email systems and policies, and completed a policy in May and approved a retention schedule in June. With the approval of the Supervisor of Public Records, the City Clerk’s Archives and Records Management Division spearheaded an initiative in partnership with the Law Department and other city departments to modernize retention obligations and adequately educate all city employees. Simultaneously, the City’s Management and Information Systems (MIS) Department invested $1.3 million to upgrade the City’s email platform to improve functionality and capability.

Steps Taken Immediately

Steps the city has taken since becoming aware of the issue include:

Journaling

• The city implemented a comprehensive program that immediately creates a record of all user messages sent and received no matter what each individual does with them. All journaled messages are kept in the archive for three years.

How the City of Boston email system used to work before journaling

How the City of Boston email system works now with journaling

E-Discovery

• To further improve the search and message retrieval functionality of the central email / archive systems, the City's MIS Department installed E-Discovery software.

Developed Education and Training for Department Heads and Cabinet Chiefs

• The city communicated to all department heads and cabinet chiefs that messages will now be retained for three years for the immediate future. The letter also explained their responsibility to ensure that each employee understands their obligation to save email records despite the new “journaling” system.

Corporation Council Bill Sinnott's letter to department heads and cabinet chiefs

• The city’s Corporation Counsel Bill Sinnott and Chief Information Officer Bill Oates will give an extensive presentation tomorrow morning on September 18, to all department heads regarding the city’s standards and plans for the future regarding email retention.

Moving Forward

The city continues to pursue every avenue to assure the public and the press that public records sent or received from city email accounts are properly accounted for and disclosed. The methods already implemented will be continually updated and complemented by the following future goals:

All Emails Sent or Received Will Be Kept for 3 Years

• Both “journaling” and the three-year retention will serve as a safety net until the city is confident that all email users are fully educated on the recently communicated City of Boston retention requirements.

Comprehensive Training for City Employees

• Training sessions have occurred for senior management and will continue in the upcoming weeks for all employees. The training is a collaborative initiative by the Law Department and the City Clerk’s Archives and Records Management Division, both of whom will seek clarity and guidance from the Supervisor of Public Records.

Comprehensive training presentation for city employees

• The Email Management and Retention Policy published by the Archives and Records Management Division on May 21 will serve as the foundation for a final comprehensive policy.

Initial email policy completed in May

Retention schedule completed in June

Work with Industry Renowned Experts to Develop a Long Term Policy and Plan

• The city announced that retired state Supreme Judicial Court Justice John Greaney will provide advice and guidance to city officials on completing a plan for the city to move forward with a retention policy taking into account current standards regarding public records.

• The city also hired Attorney Robert Kerwin of the firm Tarlow, Breen, Hart and Rogers to provide advice and guidance involving email retention forensic retrieval.

Work with the Secretary of State’s Office

• At the request of the Secretary of State’s Office, the city hired the highly regarded electronic forensics firm, the Stone Turn Group, to retrieve possible public records based on their office’s recommendations.