Records appraised and scheduled for less than ten (10) years can be maintained on optical disk systems. The following guidelines will assist agencies in considering the use of optical disk systems:
A. Legal Status: Presently, no statute or case law exists in Utah addressing the admissibility of optically stored records as evidence.
B. Records Appraisal/Retention: In planning for an optical system, the type of records and their use must first be reviewed. It is necessary to resolve records issues such as:
1. Access guarantees for the life span of the record.
2. Provisions for transferring information to another media if necessary.
3. Classification of the data.
4. Assurance of records integrity and longevity.
5. Scheduled retention of the records.
6. Volume of use and/or retrieval.
C. Standardization: Standards of technology must be closely monitored. The issues in this case are:
1. System compatibility.
2. Lack of national standards on systems for hardware, software and the disks themselves.
3. Lack of common indexing capabilities.
D. System Management: The management of the system is an important factor. Proper system documentation is essential for accessing or transferring data. Preserving the integrity of the information must take precedence. The issues to consider are:
1. Retrieval, access and indexing requirements.
2. System maintenance requirements.
3. System design architecture.
4. Storage requirements.
5. Data processing and user relations.
6. System security and access allowances.
7. Vendor support and cost comparisons.
8. Conversion costs and the quality and integrity of system conversions. (2019 Compilation)