Approach to the Description and Classification of Government Records

Description and Classification of Government Records Working Group (Information Management Forum)

February 1999

1. Background

1.1 The Information Management Forum, led by the National Archives of Canada, has identified a number of record keeping issues relevant to description. Some of the issues are as follows: the lack of human resources available for classification in departments; the Block-Numeric system is dated and is not adapted to the needs of electronic record keeping; classification schemes for both electronic and paper records may not be linked; in the electronic work environment, where records classification will occur at the desk top (e.g. the 25 most likely files to be consulted will be available at the user's desk top), guidance may not be available for the pc user/creator. Approaches to classification appear to be divergent from department to department (e.g. SGML-based filing systems, RDIMS generic classification, functional analysis approach).

1.2 The following questions need to be answered: Does everyone understand what a government record is in terms of its description? How should institutions approach the description and classification of government records? Are current approaches adequate? What is needed to ensure that a current, comprehensive and structured identification or classification scheme is in place to provide an effective means for organizing and locating government records? An articulated, common approach to the description and classification of government records is needed.

2. Purpose

2.1 The purpose of this paper is to present a perspective on the approach government institutions should adopt to the description and classification of government records.

3. The Perspective

3.1 Within the context of the definition of record as expressed in the National Archives of Canada Act and the Access to Information Act, and its purpose in documenting the actions, transactions, business processes, functions and activities of government institutions, a record must comprise the following attributes:

• Content (i.e. the information that makes up the actual text of a document).
• Context (i.e. the information surrounding the creation of the record, that provides the evidence of transactions).
• Structure (i.e. the form used for kinds of transaction such a memorandum, a letter, a business tax return. The form or structure of electronic records is usually hidden in system codes behind the text of the document).

3.2 Records description supports three objectives.

Description ensures that records can be understood within the administrative and operational context within which they were generated. A record is of something (i.e. an action or transaction). The primary purpose of a record is to document something (i.e. an operational or administrative activity). This is why a record's context and structure is as important and, in some respects even more important than its content. A record by itself is of little value. It is only when it is combined with other records to document (or provide evidence of) a given activity that it will assume value. As a result, records must be described in sufficient detail to ensure that the relationships between records and other related records and between records and related business processes and activities can be understood. Description in this respect supports the needs of those users who are interested in understanding how given government decisions were made or certain administrative and operational processes were carried out. Access to those records which have been captured to document the decision, work process, etc. provide the means by which this understanding can be achieved.
Description facilitates the means by which information in a record can be accessed and retrieved. While a record is of something (i.e. an action or transaction), information is about something (i.e. a topic). In certain circumstances users may have little interest in knowing about the administrative or operational origins of a record or the fact that the record is a documentary tool. They may be more interested in the information in the record. The greater the capability to access various information sources from a variety of different perspectives (beyond their role in documenting an administrative or operational process), the greater is the value of the information in the record. As a result, while the description of records may be intended initially to situate the record within the context of an administrative and operational process, additional elements of description may be added to facilitate access to the information in the record (i.e. for purposes beyond those connected with using the record as a way of understanding a given process, decision, etc.). These additional elements would join the other elements of description to build a metadata model designed to support the varied access and retrieval requirements of users.

Description supports the capture and maintenance of records that are reliable and authentic. Regardless of the role a record plays (i.e. as an instrument for documenting an action or transaction, or as a source of information on one or multiple topics), the record must be reliable and authentic if it is to be trusted. According to Luciana Duranti (University of British Columbia):

A...reliability refers to the authority and trustworthiness of records as evidence, that is, their ability to stand for the facts they are about. Reliability depends upon two factors: the degree of completeness of the record's form and the degree of control exercised over its procedure of creation. The completeness of the form of the record refers to the fact that the record possesses all of the elements of intellectual form necessary for it to be capable of generating consequences...Procedure of creation refers to the body of rules governing the making, receiving, and setting aside of records... In electronic systems there are two kinds of methods for ensuring that these rules are respected and that the reliability of record makers is ensured. The first kind is directed to prevention and includes three main methods... embedding within the system access methods, ...embedding within the system workflow rules, and ... limiting physical access. Reliability and the methods for guaranteeing it are linked exclusively to records creation. Authenticity, on the other hand, is linked to the record's mode, form and state of transmission, and to the manner of its preservation and custody, and is protected and guaranteed through the adoption of methods that ensure that the record is not manipulated, altered, or otherwise falsified after its creation, that is, the record is as precisely as reliable as it was when made, received, and set aside.
In building a model for the description of government records, consideration must be given to the additional elements of description that may be required to support the capability of an institution to capture and maintain records that are reliable and authentic.

4. Implications

4.1 Records description must be based on a clear understanding of the purposes of a record.

4.2 Records description must be based on a clear understanding of the attributes of a record.

4.3 Given the purposes and attributes of records, it follows that records description must account for the business processes (and associated actions and transactions) that generated the records, the business function and/or activity supported by the business processes, and the organizational unit which is accountable for the business processes (and the records). See the diagram in Attachment A for an illustration of this relationship.

4.4 Given the model referenced in 4.3 and described in attachment A, it follows that records description must be multi-level (e.g. accounting for the hierarchical structure of the program activity framework) and multi-dimensional (i.e. incorporating the distinct attributes associated with business processes, business functions/activities and organizational structure).

4.5 Records description should only be to the level of detail required to accomplish a given set of purposes (i.e. to document; to inform; to be an authentic and reliable record). Within the context of the model described in attachment A, the model developed at the University of Pittsburgh (attachment B) might be a useful departure point for building a metadata model for records description that can be adapted to suit the specific needs of government institutions.

4.6 The classification of records according to a logical or physical grouping should be based on the system used to describe the functions and activities of government institutions (i.e. a top down model beginning with the highest level description of the functions of the institutions (normally about 3 to 5) and proceeding downwards through a hierarchy of activities, sub-activities and sub-sub activities). This approach reaffirms the National Archives guidance which advises institutions to use their program activity structure (or, more recently, the business service lines model) as the basis for file classification (i.e. as a means of situating records within the administrative and operational context they are documenting).

4.7 A record can be described in two ways:

• the record can be encapsulated with all of the descriptive elements required to ensure that it can document (i.e. provide evidence of) a given action or transaction through a specified period of time; or
• the record can be placed in a record keeping system containing all or most of the descriptive elements (the remainder being drawn from the action and/or transaction and attached to the record as it is created) required to situate the record within the context of the administrative or operational functions and activities it is documenting.

4.8 Regardless of the method used to describe records, a record keeping system will be required to ensure that records are maintained in a manner that ensures their authenticity and reliability for as long as they are needed to meet various business and accountability requirements.

4.9 If the purposes of records are to be respected, then their description will require discipline (i.e. the use of thesauri, metadata models, etc.). The use of full text search and retrieval software will facilitate user access and retrieval but only if a carefully planned and rigorous approach to records description and classification has been established.

Attachment A 

Attachment B

Functional Requirements for Recordkeeping in the Canadian Federal Government

1. Purpose

1.1 The purpose of this document is to describe the functional requirements for the creation of government records that are comprehensive, identifiable (bounded), complete (containing content, context, and structure), and authentic.

1.2 A government record is recorded information, regardless of physical form, that is under the control of a government institution, created, collected, or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of an institutional activity. In order to meet business and accountability requirements, government records must have the content, context, and structure required to provide evidence of the activity.

1.3 Records will only be evidence if the content, context, and structure information required to satisfy the functional requirements for record keeping is captured, maintained and usable. The requirements for record keeping are corporate requirements, not those of a single business function, and are therefore applicable to any organizational communications.

1.4 These requirements form the foundation of good business practices and are essential guidelines in reducing risks from increased liabilities or decreased opportunities that accompany poor record keeping practices.

2. Organization

2.1. Is the organization compliant?
Organizations must comply with the legal and administrative requirements for recordkeeping within the jurisdictions in which they operate, and demonstrate awareness of best practices for the industry or business sector to which they belong and the business functions in which they are engaged.

• 2.1.1 External recordkeeping requirements are known. Laws of jurisdictions with authority over the record creating organizations are known. Regulatory issuances of entities with administrative authority over the record creating organizations are known. Best practices of recordkeeping established by professional and business organizations within the industry and business functions of the organization are known.
• 2.1.2 Records created by organizational business transactions which are governed by an external recordkeeping requirements are linked to an internal retention rule referencing the documented law, regulation, or statement of best practices.
• 2.1.3 Laws, regulations, and statements of best practices with requirements for recordkeeping are tracked so that changes to them are reflected in updated internal recordkeeping instructions.

3. Record Keeping Systems

3.1 Has responsibility for the record keeping system been assigned? Recordkeeping systems must have accurately documented policies, assigned responsibilities, and formal methodologies for their management.

• 3.1.1 System policies and procedures are written and changes to them are maintained and current.
• 3.1.2 A person or office is designated in writing as responsible for satisfying recordkeeping requirements in each system.
• 3.1.3 System management methods are defined for all routine tasks.
• 3.1.4 System management methods are defined for events in which the primary system fails.

3.2 Have recordkeeping systems been employed exclusively in the normal course of business.

• 3.2.1 Business transactions are conducted only through the documented recordkeeping system and its documented exception procedures.
• 3.2.2 No records can be created in the recordkeeping systems except through execution of a business transaction.
• 3.2.3 Recordkeeping systems and/or documented exception procedures can be demonstrated to have been operating at all times.

3.3 Do recordkeeping systems process information in a fashion that assures that the records they create are credible?

• 3.3.1 Identical data processes permitted by the system must produce identical outcomes regardless of the conditions under which they are executed.
• 3.3.2 Results of executing systems logic are demonstrable outside the system.
• 3.3.3 All operational failures to execute instructions are reported by the system.
• 3.3.4 In the event of system failures, processes under way are recovered and re-executed.

4. Records - Captured

4.1 Have records been created by all business transactions?

• 4.1.1 Communications in the conduct of business between two people, between a person and a store of information available to others, and between a source of information and a person, generate a record.
• 4.1.2 Data interchanged within and between computers under the control of software employed in the conduct of business created a record when the consequence of the data processing function is to modify records subsequently employed by people in the conduct of business.

4.2 Are records identifiable? That is, are they bounded by linkages to a transaction which used all the data in the record and only that data?

• 4.2.1 There exists a discrete record, representing the sum of all communications associated with a business transaction.
• 4.2.2 All data in the record belongs to the same transaction.
• 4.2.3 Each record is uniquely identified.

4.3 Are records complete? That is, do they contain the content, structure and context generated by the transaction they document?

4.4 Are records accurate? That is, is the content of records quality controlled at input to ensure that information in the system correctly reflects what was communicated in the transaction?

• 4.4.1 Data capture practices and system functions ensure that source data is exactly replicated by system or corrected to reflect values established in system authority files.

4.5 Are records understandable? That is, is the relationship between elements of information content represented in a way that supports their intended meaning?

• 4.5.1 Meaning conveyed by placement or appearance of data are retained or represented.
• 4.5.2 System defined views or permissions are retained and the effects as reflected in the record are represented.
• 4.5.3 Logical relations defined across physical records are retained or represented.
• 4.5.4 Software functionality invoked by data values in the content of the record are supported or represented.

4.6 Are records meaningful? That is, are the contextual linkages of records in place to carry information necessary to correctly understand the transactions that created and used them?

• 4.6.1 The business rules for transactions, which minimally locate the transaction within a business function, are maintained.
• 4.6.2 A representation of the source and time of the transaction which generated a record is maintained.
• 4.6.3 Links between records which comprised a business activity are retained.

4.7 Are records authentic? That is, is an authorized records creator originating all records.

• 4.7.1 All records have creators which are documented.
• 4.7.2 Records creators must have been authorized to engage in the business transaction that generated the record.

4.8 Has a knowledge-base of persons authorized to engage in business transactions been established and does it either operate as a control over system functions such that transactions could not occur without being authorized and/or documents the authorization of the creator as part of the record?

5. Records - Maintained

5.1. Are records preserved? That is, do the records continue to reflect content, structure and context within any systems by which the record are retained over time.

• 5.1.2 Are records inviolate? Records are protected from accidental or intended damage or destruction and from any modification.
• 5.1.3 No data within a record may be deleted, altered or lost once the transaction which generated it has occurred.

5.2. Are records coherent? That is, is the information content and structure of records retained in reconstructible relations?

• 5.2.1 If records are migrated to new software environments, content, structure and context information must be linked to software functionality that preserves their executable connections or representations of their relations must enable humans to reconstruct the relations that pertained in the original software environment.
• 5.2.2 Logical record boundaries must be preserved regardless of physical representations.

5.3 Are records auditable? That is, is, does record context represent all processes in which records participated?

• 5.3.1 All uses of records are transactions.
• 5.3.2 Transactions which index, classify, schedule, file, view, copy, distribute, or move a record without altering it are documented by audit trails attached to the original record.
• 5.3.3 Transactions which execute a records disposition instruction whether for retention or destruction are documented by audit trails attached to the original record.

5.4 Are records removable? That is, are Records content and structure supporting the meaning of content deletable?

• 5.4.1 Authority for deletion of record content and structure exists.
• 5.4.2 Deletion transactions are documented as audit trails.
• 5.4.3 Deletion transactions remove the content and structural information of records without removing audit trails reflecting context.

6. Records - Usable

6.1 Are records exportable? It must be possible to transmit records to other systems without loss of information.

• 6.1.1 Exporting protocols should be reversible or the lost functionality should be represented in a fashion that produces the same result in the target system as in the originating environment.

6.2 Are records accessible? It must be possible to output record content, structure and context.

6.3 Are records available? It must be possible to retrieve records.

• 6.3.1 The system must be able to retrieve the record of any transaction at any later date.

6.4 Are records renderable? Records are displayed, printed or abstractly represented as they originally appeared at the time of creation and initial receipt.

• 6.4.1 The structure of data in a record must appear to subsequent users as it appeared to the recipient of the record in the original transaction or a human meaningful representation of that original rendering should accompany the presentation of the original content.

6.5 Are records evidential? Records reflect the context of their creation and use.

• 6.5.1 human meaningful representation of the contextual audit trail of a record accompany all displays or printed output.

6.6 Are records redactable? Records are masked when it is necessary to deliver censored copies and the version as released must be documented in a linked transaction.

• 6.6.1 The release of redacted versions of a record is a discrete business transaction.
• 6.6.2 The fact of the release of a redacted version of a record is an auditable use of the original record and therefore results in creation of an audit trail with a link to the transaction which released the redaction.