SR22
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Procedure
We were in the middle of a six day ERAM run. The Cirrus was VFR DCT..CGT..ARR at 10;500 FT; slow descent to 3;500 FT. I put the aircraft in hard at VFR/035 so the flight plan would pass to SBN APCH and I could do an automated hand off. I initiated the hand off and called to coordinate the slow descent with approach. By the time I got off the phone the data block disappeared and all that was left was a limited data block with the BLOCK 'I' and a discreet code. I called SBN Approach back and asked if they had removed strips. They said no. I called over the ERAM SME. He investigated the situation and said that someone had removed strips on the Cirrus flight plan. I was still talking to the Cirrus; so I didn't even have a record of his call sign and no indication that he was still on my frequency.  When I typed a request for a full route and got an error message FLID not stored. Luckily he was grayed out in ESDT< SO I quickly selected to keep the line in the ESDT. The old NAS didn't allow FLIGHT PLAN data to get passed back to the Center's computer. Apparently; ERAM does. So controllers need to be taught not to remove strips on aircraft they are not responsible for. If this had been an IFR aircraft the results may have been disastrous.
ZAU Controller described an unsafe situation due to the functionality of ERAM which is unlike prior equipment; the reporter emphasized that controllers must not 'remove strips' for aircraft under their control.