Classified records certification awarded

Joint Interoperability Test Command Records Management Application

Open Text Corp.'s Livelink collaboration and knowledge management software recently became the first tool to pass the Defense Information Systems Agency's Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC)'s latest test for the security of records management solutions.

Open Text met the security requirements as part of its Defense Department 5015.2 certification, which is required for all records management solutions that DOD and other federal agencies use. The Management of Classified Records certification (DOD 5015.2, Chapter 4) was created in June to help ensure the security of official records and meet the government's evolving information-sharing requirements.

Stephen Matsuura, senior electronic engineer at JTIC's Records Management Application, said Livelink successfully completed testing Nov. 22, and it remains the first and only tool to achieve Chapter 4 certification.

Livelink is a Web-based solution for managing electronic and physical records through a consolidated interface featuring:

* Virtual team collaboration.

* Business process automation.

* Enterprise group scheduling and information retrieval services.

By meeting the new security standard, Open Text's records management solutions become eligible for government contracts with high security requirements, said Campbell Robertson, director of government solutions at the Canadian company. Both of Open Text's records management solutions, Livelink Records Management and iRIMS, received the classified records certification, along with the mandatory DOD 5015.2 certification. Open Text, which also maintains U.S. headquarters in Bannockburn, Ill., is excited to be the first and only firm to have achieved DOD 5015.2 Chapter 4 certification because it represents the "next level of a lifecycle security model for the retention and disposition schedules of records," Robertson said.

"As a record travels through schedules, we can tighten the security model around that so the correct individual with the correct classification can access it," he said.

Open Text's customers include the Naval Sea Systems Command and the U.S. Army Reserve. With the new certification, the company will be trying to expand its DOD business, and it also will be targeting the new Homeland Security Department as a customer because that organization — like all federal agencies — must reduce paperwork while increasing its secure information-sharing capabilities, Robertson said.

"Our Chapter 4 certification supports the key areas of homeland security" — collaboration, publishing, content management, creation of records and records management — while decreasing opportunities for fraud and collusion, he said.