Guidelines for the Creation of the Electronic Protocol Register in an Electronic Records Management System

In the last twenty years, the organization of the administrative divisions of the Italian state has been deeply modified to improve the provision of services to citizens and companies. The process of computerization of the Italian public administration, called e-government, changed the ways and tools for the management of records. Paper records have been increasingly replaced by electronic ones, and tools for records management are electronic systems. Citizens and firms can write from their computer to the government and receive answers directly at their homes. In addition, the protocol register, one of the vital records of the government, which certifies the acquisition and production of records, has become a database connected with the records management system. The protocol register plays the important role of certification and identification of records in a digital environment. It is a reliable tool, which controls all the records and preserves the institutional memory, public or private. The aim of this chapter is to identify the elements that compose the electronic protocol register in an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS) that must be kept unaltered over time.