Waqas Haq

Waqas Haq, Chief Technology Officer @ Aretec Inc

Records Management Roadmap ‚ AI for Documents Content and Records Management

Records Management Roadmap – AI for Documents Content and Records Management The Journey Begins – Records Management System Paper has long been the key way of storing documents. All types of documents have existed, and today we generate documents in electronics applications as well like messaging, emails, chats, and others. Although the documents or communications exist in paper and media, the media forms are dealt with in different ways, so they may be available to the end users, but the information is nonexistent in a cumulative format. The Challenge for Records Management The challenge with records management is the combination of paper plus electronic documents, even if they do exist in soft media, the various formats make it extremely difficult to manage them with any one application. The federal and other governments have a broad mix of document types but there is no system to manage these documents consistently, in a systematic way over long period of times. The White House Directive In 2019, White House OMB (Office of Management and Budgeting) issued a directive to convert all types of documents that are generally provided to NARA (National Authority of Records Administration) in paper form. All government agencies’ documents have to be provided to NARA in electronic form (with standardized associated metadata) by the end of 2022. One of the key Paragraph states what the documents are. Maintain permanent electronic records (e.g., emails, IMs, text messages, electronic documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, maps, videos, blogs and other social media tools that generate communications) electronically, and if applicable, in an approved electronic records system. The OMB-19-22 memo lists the types of documents that need to be stored in a way that take advantage of capabilities that are to be provided in one Document Management System that can collect, convert, transform, parse, analyze, and present in a way that ordinary users can search and review the documents. It is definitely a very complex task and there are no systems that can perform all these tasks or perform them in a secure, reliable, and distributed manner to a large audience in a collaborative manner. Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Documents, Content and Records Management Aretec saw the document space as an opportunity and created a platform called Context, which interfaces to Google’s AI-driven Document AI as the technology to perform all these functions. Google Document AI and the other AI functions like the Records AI and the ability to convert records or forms into a document format will help in organizing all records, paper document, and various content types into an electronic form for records management system. These document types can be collected, converted, transformed, parsed, analyzed, and presented as one document type.  This uses all the latest AI algorithms to convert a scan of the form into a record or an electronic document with a high degree of accuracy. Aretec also created a Human in the Loop function so that the Document or Record AI software learns from a human in the loop and its machine learning and AI capabilities improve with time. An array of all the document types mentioned earlier can be taken as a pilot and various types of documents identified as candidates for creating an all-encompassing content management platform that helps in creating the compliance required by current and future needs of all Federal, State, County or City governments to serve their communities. Context AI is a system that provides all the capabilities, and Aretec is willing to work with any organization to provide them a demonstration of these capabilities. It will take a group of people or experts and teams to prepare the plans, deploy the infrastructure, and eventually get to the point where you can start to get some traction with the record management project. This effort may go on for a year or two before any tangible progress will show. This team is typically look like below. Luckily there is a ray of light in the tunnel. Aretec looked at the problem and while we were all fighting with Covid for the past two years, and hired a large team that set out to take Google’s AI technology for documents and applied it to Content and Records Management. We developed the Context content platform that takes almost all the Google technology infrastructure and software AI assets and adds custom code to deliver a fully Self Serviced Context Platform. The plan was to build Context Self-Service to solve customer experience issues, and provide an easy-to-use interface for the citizen analyst. Digitalization Process in Records Management System The process first step is to use a paper Digitalization process that takes all the paper forms and documents and scans them into a large repository. This technology area of scanning has made a lot of progress in the past few years. Although you can scan any form or document with your smartphone or any tabletop scanner, that is only applicable to individuals. Government agencies whether they are federal, state, county or city governments contains thousands or millions of document forms. The only caveat is to use someone who can deliver on scanning reliably. Aretec partners with the industry leading digitization providers with the equipment and expertise to deliver document and forms in a reliable manner. Once the paper records or document or record forms are scanned, they can be loaded into Context with a simple drag and drop. Context also has an ever-growing list of pre-built connectors to whatever platform or system you use to store your records. Customers can upload thousands of documents or content in one go. Once the documents are loaded, Context takes over and it starts converting and indexing them. A few documents are done first with a human in the loop so that the Context AI gets trained and as the confidence improves, the number of documents increases substantially. Document Artificial Intelligence Function for Records Management As the Document AI scans the documents, it also creates all the ‘key’ and ‘value’ pairs that simple OCR

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The Need to Address and Implement a Records Management System as a Necessary Federal Requirement

The Need to Address and Implement a Records Management Systemas a Necessary Federal Requirement Every single agency within the United States has an imminent need to digitize and preserve their records. Keeping and maintaining proper documentation of their organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions comes as a federal mandate. Agencies in US are required to establish a proper records management program, to record and manage information; supporting activities includes: As Federal agencies seek to implement proper records management systems, they also need to ensure transparency and efficiency in their electronic records, which may come as a problem for most agencies. There are still many agency programs that have not fully addressed their record management system. For example; many agencies have not adequately maintained or preserved their emails. Today, there are many agencies in the US that are at a higher risk of improper record management, just because of the absence of improvement plans. Let Us Look at How Records Management Systems can Ensure Transparency and Efficiency As we are in in a digital age, where each and every bit of information is being digitalized, we also need to understand that Federal agencies may have different missions, structures, and resources, and may need to adequately manage their electronic records. It comes a Federal requirement that all agencies need to Create, Capture, and Manage their records in compliance with NARA’s statutes, regulations, and guidance by the end of this year. However, Federal agencies are still struggling to fully comprehend with the records management system as a requirement. In simple words, agencies must: Create Any records that are created or received and captured to conduct business activity must be properly stored and maintained. Before the advent of computers and the internet, records were physical paper artifacts, lurking in some store compartment. People filled out paper forms with pens and placed them in envelopes with stamps to transmit them via our US Postal Service. As per the Federal mandate, NARA now requires agencies to create digital records. This will allow for better tracking of record provenance, and also align with ongoing Digital Government initiatives. Capture According to NARA, if it is necessary to keep and manage certain records over time to meet requirements, this should be done by capturing, storing and managing them in a digital records system. This would effectively capture a record and make it an Authoritative Record. However, there are three requirements that must be met: Manage Once records are in a central system, they must be managed properly. This means classifying the records and indexing them. A process of linking the records must be followed to the appropriate business, function, activity, or work process and indexing appropriate metadata for the quick retrieval of the record. Security in the form of access control and storage oversight are also paramount in our vulnerable, digital world. The application of access rules should be recorded as part of process metadata for records at the appropriate level and changes to these rules includes the authority for and the date of the change should also be recorded as process. The rationale for mandating standards for what makes an Authoritative Record is to provide consistency and scalability for the Digital Government of tomorrow. Generating and associating metadata is done to: NARA prescribes six broad classes of metadata, which may be used in the management of records: Why is it Necessary to Implement Records Management Systems for Federal Agencies Luckily, our agencies and businesses have many options. Options for digitalizing their services, for creating and associating all the metadata required by NARA and the Universal Electronic Records Management (ERM) requirements, and even more options for records system software solutions. Aretec, Inc. offers subject matter expertise and capability for record creation, capture, and a state-of-art software integration solution that streamlines and removes the guesswork from this daunting endeavor – a platform we call Context AI. The Answer to Records Management System Requirements Context ingests records in a variety of data formats (documents, images, videos, etc.) from a variety of data sources (cloud & on-prem, SaaS, etc.). Context is a native Google Cloud Platform (GCP) solution, which means it meets ISO 15489-1:2016 guidelines for reliability, security, and compliance, and can scale to accommodate petabytes worth of Records effortlessly and in a cost-optimized manner. Context features powerful AI/ML modules that allows extraction of hidden insights, details, keywords, and patterns within Records. It can subsequently initiate notifications, alerts, and virtually other any programmatic action automatically, to accelerate processes. Context expedites the process of identifying, classifying, and creating Authoritative Records. Context features a built-in no-code workflow interface to configure and automatically enforce business rules for Record retention, disposition, and migration (i.e., Record Schedules). Context’s unique Human in the Loop assistive tool allows users to include human reviewers in the digitization process where necessary, verifying and validating document metadata extracted by Document AI. Context also allows for in-line updating of the captured metadata or suggestions for fields that might have been missed while continuously training underlying models to increase the accuracy of future predictions. Context provides a comprehensive Application Analytics layer, featuring customizable dashboards and extensive audit & reporting functionality, to enhance data-driven decision-making capabilities for any organization. Overcoming the History of Neglect With serious shortcoming and deficiencies with records management systems among Federal Government agencies, there are opportunities to save millions of dollars by implementing the right records management program. More and more taxpayer dollars are being wasted to ensure proper records management. With just the right records management solution, it would undoubtedly mean the salvation of managerial activities. The need to create, maintain, and use records is the need of the hour. As an organization ourselves, Aretec Inc. understands how important and necessary the transition to electronic recordkeeping is. We are looking forward to working with federal agencies to fulfill the gaps in their records management systems to become compliant with the NARA mandates and deadline. We recognize the challenges that must be resolved for transparency and efficiency of

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Aretec, Inc. wins 10-year, $80M+ Task Order at U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Supporting the Division of Examinations

Aretec, Inc. continued its success at the SEC after being recently awarded a ten-year task order on the SEC OneIT contract vehicle. This new task order will support requirements for the SEC’s Division of Examinations and its suite of systems.

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DHS USCIS awards Continuous Monitoring and Agile Support Services (CMASS) II task

8(a) small business Aretec has been awarded a 1-year, $3.3M task from the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to provide Continuous Monitoring and Agile Support Services (CMASS) II. This task was awarded as an 8(a) sole-source action using the CIO-SP3 SB contract vehicle.

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Western Governors University Announces The Rivera-Luna Scholarship for Business & Information Technology

Western Governors University (WGU) announces the Rivera-Luna Scholarship for Business and Information Technology, which has a total committed value of $25k that will support students living in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan who have high financial need and wish to enroll at WGU to study business or information technology (IT).

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Anthony Rivera Appointed to WGU Northeast Alumni Advisory Council

Western Governors University (WGU) announced the appointment of Anthony Rivera to the WGU Northeast Alumni Advisory Council. As a nonprofit, accredited online, competency-based university, WGU established the Council to grow and strengthen the university’s connections with key stakeholders in the region. Comprised of leaders and influencers from a variety of sectors in the northeast, they also will provide counsel on the most effective ways WGU can meet its core mission to expand access to career-relevant post-secondary educational opportunities that are respected by employers, by other academic institutions, and by policymakers from Maine to Virginia.

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Promoting Government Agency Efficiency Through Automated CLM

Since 2013, Aretec has served the United States government as an 8(a) federal contractor, developing data science platforms that streamline workflows from ingestion to deployment. We believe that data will power every industry, every community, and every country, and the ability to access the right information at the right time is the best way to ensure that the right decisions will be made. But data science alone does not guarantee optimal decision making. Data science combined with Aretec’s proven technical expertise does. And one of the areas where we see the proof of that is in our automated contract lifecycle management services. By combining open-source tools, open standards, and experienced specialists, we can leverage the power of machine learning for artificially intelligent CLM solutions that bring efficiency and automation to federal agencies. Partnering with Aretec for automated CLM services is easy, as Aretec is already pre-approved through a variety of government agency contract vehicles. We are a Chief Information Officer–Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) contract holder, supporting task areas 1 through 10. Aretec is also an IT Schedule 70 (IT-70) vendor, as well as a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule vendor. Aretec’s core services for automated contract lifecycle management proceed from the CLM AI capabilities that we help our customers implement. We can provide AI services to support every step of the contract lifecycle, beginning with contract extraction and data cleansing to begin the contract drafting process, before proceeding to automated contract request and document generation. Once a draft contract is ready, our CLM AI services flag it for automated contract legal review, and upon execution, the CLM AI data services automate the monitoring of the contract and enforcement of contractual obligations. These AI capabilities help to make the contractual process faster, without sacrificing accuracy or thoroughness. They improve service levels for our partner agencies by enabling a more self-service model and reducing costly and time-consuming legal touchpoints. And beyond that, they also improve the effectiveness of contracts by capturing and sending granular data points to a data warehouse and other internal back office systems for processing and outcomes-based analytics. There is virtually no area in the contract management lifecycle where Aretec’s AI services cannot produce measurable efficiencies. In the contracting and procurement process, Aretec’s services help our government agency partners manage workflow approval, quickly develop self-service contracts, run reports that improve visibility of vendor obligations, report on performance, and quickly resolve issues. They also help to onboard vendors quickly and easily, helping to reduce spending and improve the agency’s top line. Aretec’s data solutions can also significantly improve a government agency’s regulatory compliance and adapt to new policy mandates with minimal effort. Every aspect of Aretec’s AI services is designed to give our government agency partners maximum visibility into the contract lifecycle management process with minimal effort. They provide improved reporting capabilities and user permission management that adhere to all appropriate security parameters, a robust approval workflow with easily customizable user performance dashboards, automated alerts for contracts, and clear visibility into contract data, including cycle time, stage, agreement type, department, and region.  Aretec CLM customers consistently show measurable positive impacts, including faster audit reports, improved contract accuracy, increased contract compliance, streamlined contract processing, a reduction in amendments needed after signature, and an increase in auto-renewed contracts. Aretec lives by our motto of “Prosperity Achieved Through Performance Excellence.” To learn more about how we can help your government agency improve its contract lifecycle management process with AI-enhanced data services, download our capabilities statement here.

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Aretec, Inc. Selected to Provide Software Design, Development, Testing, and System Support to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)

Fairfax, Va. – August 12, 2020 – Aretec, Inc. a leader in data science, technology services, and software engineering services, and it’s subcontractor/Mentor, Solution by Design II, LLC., have been awarded a task order to provide software design and development services to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Services will support NCUA’s Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion (CURE) by integrating their Generated Efficient National Information System for Insurance Services (GENISIS) and Field of Membership Internet Application (FOMIA) applications into a single platform. NCUA’s CURE Office supports credit union growth and development by providing resources for credit unions seeking assistance with chartering, charter conversions, by-law amendments, field of membership (FOM) expansion requests, and low-income designations. Aretec will support this mission by modernizing technologies and integrating multiple applications onto a single, web-based platform. This integrated system will be used by the CURE Office to support its business functions as well as improve NCUA’s security posture and maintenance processes. The development of this new application will enhance the user experience by developing a user-driven product with a new, single front-end web interface that will improve functionality and security within the department, allowing for the NCUA to adapt to evolving priorities and requirements in upcoming years. “Aretec looks forward to providing world class business transformation support to NCUA and leveraging SBD’s established leadership in agile application development.  We are excited for the successful delivery of the consolidation and modernization efforts for NCUA’s GENISIS and FOMIA applications,” said Steve Gaudreau, Executive Vice President, Aretec, Inc. This Task Order was awarded under NCUA’s Information Technology Support Services IDIQ. About Aretec, Inc: Aretec, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, holds a niche market position through the development of data science platforms that streamline workflows from ingestion to deployment. Aretec’s core competencies involve all aspects of the software life cycle – including Agile and Cloud-based software development, Modernization, O&M, DevSecOps, and UX/UI. Our practices include ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, and (CMMI) Level 3 for both Services and Development. Founded in 2005, Aretec is an 8(a) certified Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB). Contact: info@aretecinc.com

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