Man is to attempt an official record (8)
I believe the answer is:
registry
'an official record' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'man is to attempt' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'reg' (short for Reginald).
'to attempt' becomes 'try' ('try' can be a synonym of 'attempt').
'reg'+'is'+'try'='REGISTRY'
(Other definitions for registry that I've seen before include "Place where written documents or records are kept" , "record-holder" , "where files may be observed" , "Official written record of names, events etc" , "Office where records are kept" .)