Archives Site Upgraded for FreedDom of Information Act FoI demands on National Archives website required major ECM overhaul

15 Dec 2005

Information World Review - The National Archives publishes the latest declassified government documents under the Freedom of Information Act onto its website every month, previously without the aid of a CMS. Recent examples include Nazi propaganda efforts, Mick Jagger's complaint of police corruption and records of the Special Branch spying on George Orwell.

The 30-year standard closure period no longer determines access to government records; instead, information is assumed to be available from the start unless one of the exemptions of the Act applies.

The new system, supplied by RedDot Solutions, will allow 40 specialist content owners to upload content, bypassing the Web team.

Peter Malewski, NA project manager for CMS, told IWR: "The CMS is being implemented to enable content owners to manage their own content, which, to date, was managed by the Web team, and to release the lean Web team resources to pursue project-based technical developments." The organisation's press office has been the first department to adopt the system.

The CMS ensures that new information is published promptly and conforms to The National Archives' style guide. Out-of-date material will be removed automatically, too. The NA also plans to extend the CMS to support its intranet.

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