Document Management - White Paper (ID 5277).pdf Jul. 2014 | Page 41

The Rules of Record Management

1. Title
2. Creator
3. Subject
4. Description
5. Publisher
6. Contributor
7. Date
8. Type
9. Format
10. Identifier
11. Source
12. Language
13. Relation
14. Coverage
15. Rights

To understand how record management (RM) solutions can help
to achieve records compliance and mitigate risk, one must first
understand the rules and legal constraints that apply to records,
especially those in electronic form.
The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 15489:
2001 standard defines records management as “the field of
management responsible for the efficient and systematic control
of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of
records, including processes for capturing and maintaining
evidence of and information about business activities and
transactions in the form of records.”
A widely recognized de facto standard of records handling by
digital systems across both government and industry is the U.S.
Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.02 standard. This guideline
outlines in detail the proper way to capture, classify, control,
and dispose of electronic records, and is also endorsed by the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Much of RM involves identifying official files for retrieval and
determining their position within the timeline of the record life
cycle. Should the record be classified as active or inactive?
Should the record be retained, reformatted, archived, or
destroyed? In a regulatory environment, well-defined rules
govern each step in this lifecycle.
A records schedule refers to an official policy of retention
periods and disposal. Digital systems can simplify and
streamline record handling by internalizing these rules, which
prevents workers from making improper actions, while also
automating many of these time-sensitive functions.
A records series is the basic unit of categorization for
records. Series codes can be created in a way that best suits
the organization. Each series category should correspond to
an established records schedule. In order to comply with DoD
5015.2 criteria, RM solutions must place restrictions on which
files can enter a record series, and once assigned, ensure files
cannot be moved or modified.
As discussed earlier in this guide, metadata indexing plays the
central role of embedding important “data about data.” In the
context of records management, however, record metadata
should conform to a strict set of universal conventions to
make search and audit actions consistent from organization to
organization.
The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) provides 15
basic metadata categories that are also recommended by ISO
Standard 15836 (2003) and NISO Standard Z39.85 (2007):

For more details on practical usage of these metadata fields,
please visit: www.dublincore.org.
Additional metadata fields apply for the pu