How do you prepare the documentation NARA expects to prove your agency meets the Universal ERM Requirements?

NARA’s Universal Electronic Records Management (ERM) Requirements describe the capabilities a federal agency’s systems and programs must have to manage electronic records reliably across their lifecycle. Proving you meet them is less about producing a single report and more about maintaining a coherent, current evidence package that ties each requirement to a documented control.

Start by mapping requirements to evidence

Treat the requirements as a checklist and, for each one, identify the artifact that demonstrates it. The goal is traceability: an auditor should be able to pick any requirement and follow it to a policy, a configuration, or a record that shows the capability exists and is in use.

Core documentation generally includes:

• Records management policy and directives establishing roles, responsibilities, and lifecycle procedures.
• Records schedules and disposition authorities, including how agency records map to approved schedules so retention and disposition are defensible.
• System documentation showing how records are captured, classified, secured, and made retrievable, and how metadata is created and preserved.
• Disposition records demonstrating that transfers, destructions, and holds actually occur as authorized.

Show the lifecycle works in practice

Capabilities on paper are not enough. Keep evidence that controls operate: metadata schemas, access and audit logs, integrity and preservation measures, and procedures for legal holds and permanent-record transfer to NARA. Document how electronic records remain usable and authentic over time, including format and migration decisions.

Govern and keep it current

Assign clear ownership, version your documentation, and review it on a defined cycle so it reflects current systems and schedules. Self-assessments and internal audits help surface gaps before an external review does. When you change a system or schedule, update the corresponding evidence at the same time.

For broader context on standards and governance, see the compliance and standards hub.

A simple readiness test

Ask whether a reviewer could, without your help, find the requirement, the control that satisfies it, and proof the control is working. If yes, your documentation is doing its job. If not, that gap is your next priority. Consult NARA’s published policy and guidance to confirm the current requirement set before finalizing your package.