Maintain electronic-system inventories, documentation, and migration plans

Use this document to connect an official requirement or behavior to observable evidence: Maintain electronic-system inventories, documentation, and migration plans. Only the official source and traced locations below supply facts. Confirm applicability before acting.

Source fact:

The official 36 CFR 1236.26 – Maintaining electronic information systems from National Archives and Records Administration via eCFR supports the following bounded statements:

• Under 36 CFR 1236, the rule requires that agencies maintain up-to-date documentation about electronic information systems that is adequate to specify all technical characteristics necessary for reading and processing the records contained in the system. The research record locates this support at 36 CFR 1236.26(b)(1), read with 36 CFR 1236.26(b) (eCFR anchor p-1236.26(b)(1)).
• Under 36 CFR 1236, the rule requires that agencies maintain inventories of electronic information systems and review the systems periodically for conformance to established agency procedures, standards, and policies as part of the periodic reviews required by 44 U.S.C. 3506. The research record locates this support at 36 CFR 1236.26(a) (eCFR anchor p-1236.26(a)).

Do not import neighboring assumptions into the source record. The supported task is a scoped comparison involving essential functions, upstream providers, recovery sequences, alternate work paths, and tested recovery objectives and the conditions the source actually describes.

What the source does not establish

Federal agency records-management regulation; inventory depth, schedules, technical dependencies, migration, validation, security, and permanent-record transfer require complete-section and NARA-guidance review. It does not establish a deployment’s current state, authorize a production change, prove compliance, or show that identity, DNS, communications, facilities, suppliers, and the people authorized to invoke recovery are healthy. Documented options are review inputs, not universal mandates.

Applicability questions

• For source statement 1 at 36 CFR 1236.26(b)(1), read with 36 CFR 1236.26(b) (eCFR anchor p-1236.26(b)(1)), which observable configuration, record, or test can confirm applicability here?
• For source statement 2 at 36 CFR 1236.26(a) (eCFR anchor p-1236.26(a)), which observable configuration, record, or test can confirm applicability here?
• Which owner can attest to the recorded state of essential functions, upstream providers, recovery sequences, alternate work paths, and tested recovery objectives, including exceptions?
• What baseline for identity, DNS, communications, facilities, suppliers, and the people authorized to invoke recovery must accompany the source-specific observation?
• Which success, stop, and escalation criteria are written before testing begins?

DSE recommendation:

DSE recommends using the cited source as the evidence anchor for this decision. Use a two-person review for the source interpretation and the resulting operational decision. Record the source location, examined part of essential functions, upstream providers, recovery sequences, alternate work paths, and tested recovery objectives, observed and expected states, owner, and reason for deviation.

An implementation decision needs an owner, approved window, prechecks, observable outcome, stop authority, and rollback path. Validate identity, DNS, communications, facilities, suppliers, and the people authorized to invoke recovery before and after the test, and store only sanitized operational evidence.

Verification and evidence

Keep the source locations 36 CFR 1236.26(b)(1), read with 36 CFR 1236.26(b) (eCFR anchor p-1236.26(b)(1)); 36 CFR 1236.26(a) (eCFR anchor p-1236.26(a)) adjacent to the sanitized artifacts used for comparison. Prefer business-impact records, dependency maps, exercise results, recovery timings, and open corrective actions, with enough identity and timing data for an independent recheck.

Keep before-state evidence, approval, test or change result, exceptions, and after-state evidence together. Use an approved lab, window, or nonproduction path for risky tests. Set a recheck trigger for version, architecture, dependency, vendor, incident, or ownership change. A check proves only what was observed.

Official references

• 36 CFR 1236.26 – Maintaining electronic information systems — National Archives and Records Administration via eCFR