ELECTRONIC RECORDKEEPING SYSTEMS STANDARD

PART B > FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS

1 > CAPTURE

Capture Processes

The electronic recordkeeping system must:

1.1	provide an application programming interface (API) to enable integration with business applications so that transactional records created by the business applications can be captured within the electronic recordkeeping system.
1.2	indicate when an individual record is captured within the electronic recordkeeping system.
1.3	prevent the alteration of the content of any record by any user or administrator once it has been captured within the electronic recordkeeping system and has been certified as the final version (by whatever means this is done).
1.4	prevent the destruction or deletion of any record by any user, including an administrator, with the exceptions of: destruction in accordance with a disposal authority (see section 5 of this Part); deletion by an administrator (see section 8 of this Part).
1.5	support manual naming of electronic records, and allow this name to be different from the existing filename (including e-mail subject lines used to construct record titles). If the existing filename is taken by default, the electronic recordkeeping system must allow this name to be amended at the time of declaration.

The electronic recordkeeping system should:

1.6	allow a user to pass electronic records to another user to complete the process of capture.
1.7	allow an administrator to un-register a captured record if required, to allow finalisation of the record profile. Any such temporary un-registration should be visible in an audit trail.

Recordkeeping Metadata

The electronic recordkeeping system must:

1.8	support the use of recordkeeping metadata for records.
1.9	acquire recordkeeping metadata elements for each record and persistently link them to the record over time (standard pending).²⁰
1.10	ensure that the values for recordkeeping metadata elements conform to specified formats (standard pending).
1.11	allow the administrator to define (and redefine) the recordkeeping metadata elements associated with each record, including whether each element is mandatory or optional.
1.12	allow all recordkeeping metadata for every record to be viewed by users, subject to access rights for individuals or groups of users.
1.13	save the date and time of capture of each record as recordkeeping metadata elements linked to each record.
1.14	be capable of automatically extracting recordkeeping metadata from: the software application that created the record; the operating system; the electronic recordkeeping system.
1.15	prevent the alteration of recordkeeping metadata captured in specification 1.14.
1.16	allow entry of additional recordkeeping metadata by users during record capture and / or a later stage of processing by the user.
1.17	ensure that only authorised users and Administrators can change the content of those recordkeeping metadata elements captured in specification 1.16.
1.18	allocate an identifier, unique within the system, to each record at point of capture.

Aggregation

The electronic recordkeeping system must:

1.19	ensure that all records captured within the electronic recordkeeping system are associated with at least one aggregation.
1.20	manage the integrity of all pointers or references to records (where used), ensuring that: following a pointer, whichever aggregation that pointer is located in, will always result in correct retrieval of the record; change in location of a record also redirects any pointers which reference that record.
1.21	issue a warning if a user attempts to register a record that has already been registered in the same aggregation.
1.22	not impose any practical limit on the number of records that can be captured in an aggregation, or on the number of records which can be stored in the electronic recordkeeping system. However, the system may permit limitations on the quantity of items within an aggregation if required for business purposes, e.g. to maintain parity between electronic and paper volumes.
1.23	allow users to choose at least one of the following where an electronic object has more than one version: register all versions of the object as one record; register one version of the object as a record; register each version of the object as a record.

The electronic recordkeeping system should:

1.24	support the ability to assign records to multiple aggregations without their duplication. For example, an invoice might be added to a supplier file by one user, and to a product file by another. This could be achieved by using a pointer system.

Bulk Importing

Records may be captured into an electronic recordkeeping system in bulk in a number of ways: for example, from another electronic recordkeeping system or as a bulk transfer from an electronic document management system or workflow application. The electronic recordkeeping system must be able to accept these, and must include features to manage the bulk capture process.

The electronic recordkeeping system must:

1.25	be able to capture in bulk records exported from other records management and document management systems, including capture of: electronic records in their existing format, without degradation of content or structure, retaining the relationship between the components of any individual record; electronic records and all associated recordkeeping metadata, retaining the correct relationship between individual records and their metadata attributes; the structure of aggregations to which the records are assigned, and all associated recordkeeping metadata, retaining the correct relationship between records and aggregations.

1.25

be able to capture in bulk records exported from other records management and document management systems, including capture of:

electronic records in their existing format, without degradation of content or structure, retaining the relationship between the components of any individual record;
electronic records and all associated recordkeeping metadata, retaining the correct relationship between individual records and their metadata attributes;
the structure of aggregations to which the records are assigned, and all associated recordkeeping metadata, retaining the correct relationship between records and aggregations.

The electronic recordkeeping system should:

1.26	be able to import any directly associated audit information with the record and/or aggregation, retaining this securely within the imported structure.

Document Types

The electronic recordkeeping system must:

1.27	allow users to capture and store records in their native format.
1.28	support the capture of records created in file formats from the following commonly used software applications: standard office applications (word processing, spread-sheeting, presentation, simple databases); e-mail client applications; imaging applications; web authoring tools.
1.29	be able to extend the range of file formats supported for specification 1.28 as new file formats are introduced.
1.30	capture compound electronic records (records comprising more than one component) so that: the relationship between the constituent components of each compound record is retained; the structural integrity of each compound record is retained; each compound record is retrieved, displayed, and managed as a single unit; each compound record is disposed of as a single unit.
1.31	be able to ingest such compound records easily, preferably with one action, e.g. a single click.

Where agencies have implemented specialised software applications to manage architectural, financial, geospatial, personnel, or statistical data, the electronic recordkeeping system should:

1.32	support the capture of records created in the file formats from these applications.

E-mail

E-mail is used for sending both simple messages and documents (as attachments), within and between organisations. The characteristics of e-mail can make it difficult to track and register. Agencies must provide users with the capability of capturing selected e-mail messages and attachments.

The electronic recordkeeping system must:

1.33	allow users to capture e-mails (text and attachments) as single records.
1.34	allow individual users to capture e-mail messages (and attachments) from within their e-mail application.
1.35	allow users to choose whether to capture emails with attachments as: e-mail text only; e-mail text with attachments; attachments only.
1.36	ensure the capture of e-mail transmission data as recordkeeping metadata persistently linked to the e-mail record.
1.37	ensure that the text of an e-mail and its transmission details cannot be amended in any way once the e-mail has been captured. Nor should the subject line of the e-mail itself be changeable, although the title of the record may be edited for easier access through e.g. keywords.
1.38	ensure that a human-readable version of an e-mail message address is also captured, where one exists. For example, for "Joe McClaine" <joe90@worldintnet.org>, "Joe McClaine" is the human-readable version of the e-mail address joe90@worldintnet.org.

20. Archives New Zealand is working with other archives and records authorities and professional bodies to develop an Australasian Recordkeeping Metadata Standard that will define required elements and specify the format in which they should be maintained.