Many of the significant changes to the Records Management Training Program occur at the end of this fiscal year. We announced the changes that are underway in this April 2018 post and followed up with another post in July. Over the past year we’ve also provided updates during BRIDG meetings. This post includes some of the key changes that may affect agency personnel this fiscal year.
At the end of September 2019, NARA will stop offering the Certificate of Federal Records Management Training and will no longer offer the Knowledge Area (KA) training courses. We will be taking several steps that may affect agency personnel that have completed records management training courses.
On September 15, 2019, we will deactivate NARA Learning Center accounts for anyone not taking a course in September. Accounts for anyone completing courses in September will remain active until September 30. To prepare for the account deactivation, we encourage agency personnel to do the following:
- Complete any KA course tests as soon as possible. You will not be able to take the tests after September 15. Personnel completing courses in September must complete the tests by September 30.
- Print or save course completion certificates. After September 15, 2019. you will not be able to access certificates. NARA will not be able to provide copies of certificates after September 15, 2019.
In January 2020, we will begin a new training program for Agency Records Officers (ARO). That program will be limited to Senior Agency Officials for Records Management (SAORM) and SAORM-designated AROs. The new program will be offered online rather than in a face-to-face classroom format. Further details about the new program will be provided in an upcoming NARA Bulletin.
Now is also a good time for agencies to plan for how they will conduct records management training in FY2020 and beyond. NARA’s records management training program will be able to assist you in planning your training. One way that we are doing that is to make training materials available on our website. Our training catalog already contains the KA course materials. Over the coming months, we will be adding many self-paced lessons to the website and will include most of the training materials that are part of the new ARO training program. Beginning on October 1, 2019, we will also provide Records Management Instruction Support (ReMIS) for consultation on using these resources.
Please contact us at RMT1@nara.gov if you have questions about the program changes or need assistance in planning RM training for your agency.
Why has NARA decided to discontinue the Certificate of Federal Records Management Training? Many agencies and contracting compies have required the certificate. What happens to those government personnel and contractors who has completed the courses and have the certificates.