MMC Technology & Digital Records Systems 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A municipality wants to migrate its legacy document management system to a cloud-based platform. Which concern should the clerk prioritize during the planning phase?
- Negotiating the lowest possible subscription cost
- Ensuring the new system meets state public records law requirements for access and retention (Correct answer)
- Selecting the vendor with the most modern user interface
- Minimizing the number of staff who need retraining
Correct answer: Ensuring the new system meets state public records law requirements for access and retention
Compliance with state public records laws governing access, retention, and security must be verified before committing to any cloud platform for official records.
Question 2: What does 'data normalization' mean in the context of migrating records from one database system to another?
- Compressing files to reduce storage size
- Standardizing data formats and structures so information is consistent and correctly mapped in the new system (Correct answer)
- Encrypting sensitive fields before transfer
- Removing duplicate records from the source database
Correct answer: Standardizing data formats and structures so information is consistent and correctly mapped in the new system
Data normalization ensures that data types, field names, and formats are standardized and correctly aligned between the source and destination systems to prevent corruption or loss.
Question 3: Under HIPAA, when a municipal clerk's office receives a request for records that may contain protected health information (PHI), what is the correct action?
- Release all records immediately to comply with public records laws
- Consult with the city attorney and redact PHI before releasing any applicable records (Correct answer)
- Deny the request entirely on privacy grounds
- Forward the request to the health department without reviewing it
Correct answer: Consult with the city attorney and redact PHI before releasing any applicable records
When records may contain PHI, the clerk must work with legal counsel to redact protected information before release, balancing public records obligations with HIPAA privacy protections.
Question 4: Which technology provides the most reliable method for verifying that a digital record has not been altered since it was created?
- Password protection on the file
- Cryptographic hash values (checksums) (Correct answer)
- File naming conventions with creation dates
- Storing the file in a read-only folder
Correct answer: Cryptographic hash values (checksums)
Cryptographic hash algorithms (e.g., SHA-256) generate a unique value for a file's content; any alteration produces a different hash, definitively proving tampering.
Question 5: A city's electronic agenda management system automatically numbers agenda items. If the numbering resets unexpectedly before a meeting, what is the clerk's immediate priority?
- Cancel the meeting until the software vendor fixes the issue
- Manually correct the agenda and document the system error in the meeting record (Correct answer)
- Proceed with the incorrectly numbered agenda without comment
- Contact the state municipal league for an exemption
Correct answer: Manually correct the agenda and document the system error in the meeting record
The clerk must ensure the official agenda is accurate and must document the technical error as part of the record to maintain transparency and integrity.
Question 6: What is 'version control' and why is it important in a municipal records system?
- A method to compress older file versions to save storage space
- A system that tracks changes to documents over time, preserving each iteration as a distinct record (Correct answer)
- A security feature that locks documents after a set number of edits
- Software that automatically updates operating systems on the server
Correct answer: A system that tracks changes to documents over time, preserving each iteration as a distinct record
Version control maintains a history of document revisions, which is critical for understanding how an official record evolved and for legal or audit purposes.
Question 7: Which of the following is a key characteristic of an 'authentic' electronic record under international archives standards?
- The record was created by a licensed software vendor
- The record can be proven to be what it purports to be and was created or sent by the person who purports to have created or sent it (Correct answer)
- The record is stored on a government-owned server
- The record contains a scanned signature from the original creator
Correct answer: The record can be proven to be what it purports to be and was created or sent by the person who purports to have created or sent it
Authenticity, as defined by ISO 15489 and the InterPARES project, means the record is demonstrably what it claims to be, created by the purported author at the stated time.
MMC Technology & Digital Records Systems 3
A municipality wants to migrate its legacy document management system to a cloud-based platform.
Which concern should the clerk prioritize during the planning phase?