The U.S. Navy began a new initiative designed to revolutionize its approach to electronic and paper records management. The initiative is designed to create a uniform system for sharing the Navy and Marine Corps' records over 400,000 computers worldwide. Some naval sites maintain no records, and naval personnel have found it difficult to obtain specific documentation regarding their military service.

The Navy's goals for its records management system include:

* Creating one system for maintaining all Navy records, including paper records

* Meeting the records management requirements set by the Defense Department and the National Archives and Records Administration

* Standardizing a single application and eliminating legacy applications for records and document management

* Creating a system for managing correspondence and documents

* Making data that was stored in standalone systems widely available

* Improving external and internal access to Navy records under the Freedom of Information Act

* Reducing storage and service fees