State Records has published a standard and a functional specification to assist agencies in managing official records generated by their business systems.Management of Official Records in a Business System
The purpose of this glossary is to explain a range of terms reflective of State Records\' role as the official custodian for archival records created by state and local government agencies within South Australia and as the agency responsible for administering the State Records Act, 1997, Freedom of Information Act, 1991 and the Information Privacy Principles Instruction.
The glossary is not a comprehensive listing.
Where applicable, definitions are followed by a brief citation. Terms that have not been referenced are taken from State Records\' own publications.
For easier navigation within the glossary, hyperlinks have been included.
Access The right, opportunity, means of finding, using, or retrieving information.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Access Conditions The regulations and instructions governing the access to particular records and archives.
Ellis (ed), J \'Keeping Archives\' (2nd edition)
Access Control Scheme A scheme of non-hierarchical mechanisms, which may be applied to digital records and record plan entities to prevent access by unauthorised users. May include the definition of user access groups and ad hoc lists of individual named users.
Access Determination A determination made subject to Part 8 of the State Records Act, 1997 that sets the conditions of access for records in the custody of State Records.
Accountability The principle that individuals, organisations and the community are responsible for their actions and may be required to explain them to others.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Accredited FOI Officer The person responsible for dealing with a Freedom of Information application on behalf of an agency. The term \'Accredited FOI Officer\' is further defined in section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, 1991.
Freedom of Information Act, 1991
Action Officer An employee who is responsible for work on a particular task within an organisation.
Active Records Those records required for day-to-day functioning of an agency or person. Also referred to as current records.
Ellis (ed), J \'Keeping Archives\' (2nd edition)
Records in frequent use, regardless of their date of creation, required for current business relating to the administration or function of the organisation. Such records are usually maintained in office space and equipment close to hand.
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
Activity A task or operation performed, as part of an organisation\'s business, to execute some or all of a function. An activity may be performed in relation to one or more administrative or operational functions.
Activity Descriptor The level of descriptor that follows a keyword. The activity descriptor reflects the activity performed within the function that is represented by the keyword. Used in records management thesauri.
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
Adequate Records Management (ARM) Defined as practices which have the following impacts:
records are created;
records are captured;
records are disposed of systematically;
access to records is managed;
records can be found;
records can be relied upon;
the management of official records is planned;
records management training is provided to staff;
records management reporting mechanisms are implemented;
policies, procedures and practices exist for the management of official records;
sufficient numbers of skilled records management resources are allocated.
Adequate Records Management: Meeting the Standard 2002
More generally, records should be adequate for the purposes for which they are kept. Thus a major initiative will be extensively documented, while a routine administrative action can be documented with an identifiable minimum of information. There should be adequate evidence of the conduct of business activity to be able to account for that conduct.
a person who holds an office established by an Act
an incorporated or unincorporated body established for a public purpose by or under an Act; or established subject to control or direction by the Governor
a Minister of the Crown or any instrumentality or agency of the Crown
a department or other administrative unit of the public service
the police force
a municipal or district council
a person or body declared to be an agency.
It does not mean:
a House of Parliament or a committee of the Parliament or a House of Parliament
a present or former officer of a House of Parliament
a present or former member of a House of Parliament (other than a Minister in respect of records made or received in his or her capacity as a Minister) a present or former member of staff of a House of Parliament or the joint parliamentary service.
State Records Act 1997, s3(1)
Agent A person, or group of persons, a workgroup or organisational unit that creates records as a result of the conduct of business and uses records as evidence of the conduct of such business.
Aggregation Any accumulation of record entities at a level above a document or record, eg digital folder, series.
Appraisal The process of evaluating business activities to determine which records need to be captured and how long the records need to be kept to meet business needs, the requirements of organisational accountability and community expectations.
Records of organisations and individuals that have been selected for indefinite retention on the basis of their continuing value for legal, administrative, financial or historical research purposes.
The name given to the repository in which an archival collection resides.
An organisation (or part of an organisation) whose main function is to select, manage, preserve and make archival records available for use.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
The context of the term will usually indicate which meaning is relevant.
ArchivesSearch The software used to search information about the collection of official State and Local Government records held by State Records of South Australia. With ArchivesSearch records can be ordered on-line for viewing at one of State Records\' Research Centres.
Arrangement and Description The process of organising materials with respect to their provenance and original order, to protect their context and to achieve physical or intellectual control over the materials, and the process of analysing, organising, and recording details about the formal elements of a record or collection of records, such as creator, title, dates, extent, and contents, to facilitate the work\'s identification, management, and understanding.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Australian Standards 4390: Records Management Although replaced by AS ISO 15489 Records Management, AS 4390 is still referenced, as there is significant continuity between the two standards.
Australian Standard 5090-2003: Work Process Analysis for Recordkeeping Provides guidance for any organisation that wishes to analyse its work processes as the starting point for a variety of recordkeeping purposes. Useful to all organisations regardless of size, sector, or industry.
Australian Standard 15489: Records Management Provides a systematic approach to the management of records, essential to protecting and preserving them as evidence of actions. Records management systems ensure that you and your business have access to a wealth of information whenever you need it.
Australian Standards/ISO 15489.1 - 2002: Records Management - General Provides best practice records management policies and procedures to ensure that appropriate attention and protection is given to all records, and that the evidence and information they contain can be retrieved more efficiently and effectively.
Authenticity Authenticity denotes that a record is what it purports to be - it can be relied upon as representing the meaning intended by the person or organisation that made it.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Born Digital Describes materials that are not intended to have an analogue equivalent, either as the originating source or as a result of conversion to analogue form. This term has been used to differentiate born digital materials from:
digital materials that have been created as a result of converting analogue originals; and
digital materials that may have originated from a digital source but have been printed to paper.
Digital Preservation Coalition, UK
Business Activity Umbrella term covering all the functions, processes, activities and transactions of an organisation and its employees. Includes public administration as well as commercial business.
Adequate Records Management: Meeting the Standard 2002/AS4390
Business Classification Scheme (BCS) An articulation of the functions and activities of the organisation derived from the analysis of business activity. The business classification scheme contains terms and scope notes that represent and describe functions, activities, transactions or other elements and shows their relationships. The number of levels within the scheme can vary depending on the level of refinement required and how the scheme will be used. The structure of the scheme is hierarchical, moving from the general to the specific. Each function has activities that are identified in relation to it, and each activity (linked to a function) has categories of transactions that are encountered.
Organised collection of hardware, software, supplies, policies, procedures and people, which stores, processes and provides access to an organisation\'s business information.
An automated system that creates or manages data about an organisation\'s activities. Includes applications whose primary purpose is to facilitate transactions between an organisational unit and its customers - for example, an e-commerce system, client relationship management system, purpose-built or customised database, finance or human resources systems.
National Archives of Australia
C
Cache
A cache stores recently used information in a place where it can be accessed extremely fast. For example, a Web browser like Internet Explorer uses a cache to store the pages, images, and URLs of recently visited Web sites on your hard drive. With this neat strategy, when you visit a page you have recently been to, the pages and images don\'t have to be downloaded to your computer all over again. Because accessing your computer\'s hard disk is much faster than accessing the Internet, caching Web sites can speed up Web browsing significantly.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Capture A deliberate action, which results in the registration of a record into a recordkeeping system. For certain business activities, this action may be designed into electronic systems so that capture of records is concurrent with the creation of the record.
AS4390-1996 Pt 1
Classification Systematic identification and arrangement of business activities and / or records into categories according to logically structured conventions, methods, and procedural rules represented in a classification system.
Commonwealth Record Series (CRS) System, developed by the National Archives of Australia in the 1960s, to document government agencies and the series they create.
Compliance Ensuring that the requirements of laws, regulations, industry codes and organisational standards are met.
AS3806 - 1998 Compliance Programs - now AS3806 - 2006
A compliance audit is a review or examination of any aspect of the operations of an organisation.
Australian National Audit Office
Conservation
The physical aspects and processes of preservation of original archival materials.
Preventive Conservation. Those measures taken in order to prevent or delay future degradation of holdings, eg the provision of environmentally sound and secure storage; the installation of warning devices; the withdrawal, restriction or copying of fragile items. Also referred to as macro-conservation.
Restorative Conservation. Those measures taken to repair or restore damaged or deteriorated archival (and other) material to its original condition. In doing this, it is important that the evidential value of the original be retained, and consequently repairs are usually reversible and visible. Also referred to as micro-conservation. See also Preservation.
Ellis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
Consignment Comprises units or record items belonging to a single record series and transferred to the custody of State Records as part of the one series. A consignment may comprise the whole or only part of a series. A separate consignment number is allocated for each transfer of that series.
Context The knowledge necessary to sustain a record\'s meaning or evidential value. Context describes the \'who, what, when, where and why\' of records creation and management.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Control Control systems and processes associated with records management include:
registration - which provides evidence of the existence of records in a recordkeeping system;
classification - which allows for appropriate grouping, naming, security protection, user permissions and retrieval;
indexing - which allocates attributes or codes to particular records to assist in their retrieval; and
tracking - which provides evidence of where a record is located, what action is outstanding on a record, who has seen a record, when such access took place and the recordkeeping transactions that have been undertaken on the record.
Control Records Records created and maintained by a recordkeeping organisation to help identify, track and retrieve other records. Control records include such records management tools as records management software packages, file registers, subject indexes and name indexes.
Controlled vocabulary
A list containing headings or terms which are authorised or controlled so that one heading or term is allowed to represent a concept or name. Can also be represented in a thesaurus. The alternative to a controlled vocabulary is free text.
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
Conversion Process of changing records from one medium to another or from one format to another.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Conversion is the process of changing from an existing system to a new one.
The responsibility for the care of records, archives or other material, usually based on their physical possession. Custody does not always include legal ownership, or the right to control access to records.
The physical location of the records or archives.
Ellis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
D
Destruction The process of eliminating or deleting records beyond any possible reconstruction.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Digital Documents/Records A record created, and/or maintained by means of digital computer technology. Includes records that are \'born digital\' or have undergone conversion from a non-digital format. That is, they have been digitised using OCR or imaging technology. It also includes encapsulated objects for example VEOs.
Records created, communicated and maintained by means of electronic or computer equipment.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Digital Signature A security mechanism included within a digital record that enables the identification of the creator of the digital object and that can also be used to detect and track any changes that have been made to the digital object.
National Archives of Australia
Digital Watermark A complex visible or invisible pattern denoting provenance or ownership information. A watermark may be superimposed on a digital image and can only be removed by use of an algorithm and a secure key. Similar technologies may be applied to digitised sound and moving picture records.
National Archives of Australia
Digitisation The process of converting documents or objects into digital form so that they may be read, stored, managed and transmitted electronically by a digital computer. For example photographs or other images may be digitised by use of a scanner.
Disaster Plan A written procedure setting out the measures to be taken to minimise the risks and effects of disasters such as fire, flood or earthquake etc, and to recover, save and secure the vital records should such as disaster occur.
Disposal The range of processes associated with implementing records retention, destruction or transfer decisions, which are documented in disposal authorities or other instruments.
Disposal Schedule A systematic listing of records created by an organisation or agency, which plans the life of these records from the time of their creation to their disposal. A disposal schedule is a continuing authority for implementing decisions on the value of records specified in the schedule.
A disposal schedule may include the:
records created by the agency
retention period for each series or class of records
disposal sentence for each series or class of records, specifying whether the records are to be retained as archives or destroyed
custody arrangements for each series or class of records, specifying when the records are to be transferred to intermediate storage and/or to archives.
General disposal schedules cover functions common to a number of agencies, typically used by government archival authorities to cover functional areas such as Personnel, Finance and Stores.
A recent development in appraisal methodology is the view that functional analysis is more efficient than records analysis in producing disposal schedules. The resultant disposal schedules are based on function or activity within function, either across a range of related organisations or to provide a specific disposal schedule for a particular agency.
Disposal Trigger In disposal schedules the event or activity, which indicates that the active life of the record is over and the disposal schedule can be applied.
Dispose To dispose of an official record means destroy or abandon the record; or carry out an act or process as result of which it is no longer possible or reasonably practical to reproduce the whole or part of the information contained in the record; or transfer or deliver ownership or possession of or sell the records, or purport to do so. Does not include to transfer or deliver the record to State Records or between one agency and another.
State Records Act, 1997
More generally, beyond the definition of dispose within the State Records Act, 1997 can also include the permanent retention of a record.
Docket An organised unit of documents accumulated during current use and kept together because they deal with the same subject, activity or transaction. Dockets were typically fastened together and folded.
(Adapted from definition of file) Ellis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
Document Recorded information or object, which can be treated as a unit. In its widest sense a document may be a sound file, an image, a digital video or any other recorded information format as well as the more traditional word processing document or email. A paper document. Any computer file that may be printed.
VERS glossary (taken from ISO 15489.1)
Includes anything in which information is stored or from which information may be reproduced.
Freedom of Information Act, 1991 (South Australia)
Download The process in which data is sent to your computer. Whenever you receive information from the Internet, you are downloading it to your computer.
Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) An automated system used to manage the creation, use, management and disposal of physical and electronically created documents and records for the purposes of:
supporting the creation, revision and management of digital documents
improving an organisation\'s work-flow, and
providing evidence of business activities.
These systems maintain appropriate contextual information (metadata) and links between records to support their value as evidence. EDRMS are a subset of business information systems whose primary purpose is the capture and management of digital records.
Adapted from the National Archives of Australia
Encapsulated Object Digital records that have been \'packaged\' with enough metadata to preserve their content and context, and to support their reconstruction at some time in the future. The encapsulated metadata is managed as an integral part of the record.
National Archives of Australia
Encryption Encryption is the coding or scrambling of information so that it can only be decoded and read by someone who has the correct decoding key. Encryption is used in secure Web sites as well as other mediums of data transfer. If a third party were to intercept the information you sent via an encrypted connection, they would not be able to read it.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Enduring Format An enduring format is one that will be readable far into the future. It is characterised by being lossless (no bits of data are lost to compression or migration), open format, transparent (the manner in which the information is encoded should be easy to understand and interpret) and supported by multiple suppliers.
Evidence Information that tends to prove a fact. Not limited to the legal sense of the term.
Australian Standard AS 4390-1996, Records Management
Export A disposal process, whereby copies of a digital record (or group of records) are passed with their metadata from one system to another system - either within the organisation or elsewhere. Export does not involve removing records from the first system.
Adapted from The National Archives (UK)
F
File An organised unit of documents accumulated during current use and kept together because they deal with the same subject, activity or transaction.
Finding Aids Tools to guide users to the information they are seeking from or about archives, to aid access. They provide additional access points to the archival collection. Types of finding aids include registers, guides, inventories and indexes and may be in hard copy or electronic form.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Freedom of Information (FOI) An administrative process to enable members of the public to access information held by the government and amend incomplete, incorrect, out-of-date or misleading information about them held by the government.
To make these rights legally enforceable, Parliament enacted the Freedom of Information Act, 1991 that came into force in South Australia on 1 January 1992. Other States and Territories of Australia and the Commonwealth have their own FOI legislation.
Freedom of Information Application An application made by a member of the public (including the media and members of parliament) to an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act, 1991 to either access documents held by that agency or to amend their personal records held by that agency. A member of the public who is aggrieved by the initial determination of an agency can also make an application for internal review in certain circumstances.
Freedom of Information Notice of Determination A notice of determination is a written decision about the documents or information that an agency has determined to grant access to through the FOI process. A notice of determination must be issued to every FOI applicant within 30 calendar days of the agency receiving the FOI application (unless the agency has extended the time to deal with the application).
Folio A single leaf of paper or page of a register, usually numbered only on one side.
Ellis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
Full and Accurate Records Full and accurate records are sources of detailed information and evidence that can be relied on and used to support current activities. They are records that have been created and managed in ways to ensure that they can be reused and understood in the future. This use can be for everyday business purposes, as evidence in legal proceedings, for accountability to internal or external stakeholders, or for future historical research.
To be full and accurate, records must:
be made
be accurate
be authentic
have integrity, and
be useable.
State Records New South Wales (Standard No.7, Issued April 2004)
Function The largest unit of business activity in an agency or jurisdiction. Functions represent the major responsibilities that are managed by the organisation to fulfil its goals. Functions are high-level aggregations of the agency\'s activities.
Government Agency Number (GA) When an agency transfers records to State Records, they are allocated a unique government agency (GA) number. For example, GA 1484 is the Agency Lenswood Primary School.
Government Record Group (GRG) Under this system, a unique control number was allocated to the state government agency that created, received or used the records. For example GRG 78 is the now defunct Hospitals Department. The Record Group System was superseded by the Series System in 1982 but you will still see records arranged by this earlier system at the Research Centres.
Government Record Series (GRS) A record series that contains agency official records and is registered by State Records as a series that is under the control of the Agency.
Inactive Records Records that are no longer required by an agency for administrative or other purposes on a regular basis. Also referred to as non-current records.
National Archives of Australia
Indexing The process of establishing access points to facilitate the retrieval of records and / or information.
Information Management Describes the measures required for the effective collection, storage, access, use and disposal of information to support agency business processes. The core of these measures is the management of the definition, ownership, sensitivity, quality and accessibility of information. These measures are addressed at appropriate stages in the strategic planning lifecycle and applied at appropriate stages in the operational lifecycle of the information itself.
Office of Information Technology, Information Management Framework Guidelines
Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) The South Australian Government\'s Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) form part of an instruction of Cabinet to regulate the way Government agencies collect, use, store protect and disclose personal information.
Information Systems Organised collections of hardware, software, supplies, policies, procedures and people, which store, process and provide access to information.
AS 4390 Part 1 Clause 4.17
Intellectual and Physical Control Intellectual: The control established over the informational content of records and archives resulting from ascertaining and documenting their provenance, and from the processes of arrangement and description.
Physical: The control established over the physical aspects (such as format, quantity and location) of the archives and records in custody.
Internet Bookmark Similar to a real-life bookmark, an Internet bookmark acts as a marker for a Web site. (In Internet Explorer, they\'re called \'Favorites\'.) When using a Web browser, you can simply select a bookmark from the browser\'s Bookmarks menu to go to a certain site. This way, you don\'t have to go through the redundant process of typing in the Internet address each time you visit one of your favourite sites.
Item The smallest discrete unit of record material that accumulates to form a series (ie a file or part file in a series of files; a volume in a series of volumes, etc.).
Ellis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
An item is a single recordkeeping item that exists as a discrete entity. An item could be a group of folios fastened together to form a file, a single volume, card, map, photograph, film, sound recording, computer tape or any other document. Within a series there may be only one record item or there may be several thousand or more.
JPG/JPEG The term actually stands for \'Joint Photographic Experts Group,\' because that is the name of the committee that developed the format. ... Instead, remember that a JPEG is a compressed image file format. ... Therefore, the JPEG format is best for compressing photographic images. So if you see a large, colorful image on the Web, it is most likely a JPEG file.
File extensions: .JPG and .JPEG
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
K
Keyword Pre-determined, prescribed and controlled descriptors that represent broad functions undertaken by an agency. They are the first element or highest level term in the classification hierarchy (and consequently in a title).
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
Keyword Classification Keyword classification involves grouping records into broad, functionally based areas represented by keywords. Records are further classified by the use of activity descriptors and optional subject descriptors.
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
Knowledge Management A multi-disciplined approach to achieving organisational objectives by making best use of knowledge. It involves the design, review and implementation of both social and technological processes to improve the application of knowledge, in the collective interest of stakeholders.
L
Lossless A term describing a data compression algorithm, which retains all the information in the data, allowing it to be perfectly recovered by decompression. TIF format is considered lossless as no data is discarded when files are saved.
Lossy A term describing a data compression algorithm, which actually reduces the amount of information in the data, rather than just the number of bits used to represent that information. The lost data is usually removed because it subjectively adds less value to the quality of the data, or because it can be recovered reasonably by interpolation from the remaining data. GIF and JPEG formats discard information in orders to reduce file sizes.
M
Metadata Data describing contexts, content and structure of records and their management through time.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
In the context of recordkeeping, metadata includes that which:
gives a record its unique identity in the system and classifies it in a classification scheme
describes content, structure and context. For example a title, abstract, its type format and context, who created it, where it was created, when it was created and its relationship with other records
provides information or evidence about processes a record may have undergone such as viewing, transmitting, transferring custody, accessing, reviewing, sentencing, etc.
South Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Standard
Metadata provides information about an item\'s content. For example, an image may include metadata that describes how large the picture is, the color depth, the image resolution and when the image was created. A text document\'s metadata may contain information about how long the document is, who the author is and when the document was written.
Web pages often include metadata in the form of meta tags. These can be keywords used to describe the web page\'s content. Most search engines use this data when adding pages to their search results.
Municipal Record Group (MRG) Under this system, a unique control number was allocated to the local government agency that created, received or used the records. For example MRG 78 is the now defunct District Council of Prospect. The Record Group System was superseded by the Series System in 1982 but you will still see records arranged by this earlier system.
Normal Administrative Practice (NAP) NAP is the concept that material can be destroyed according to \'normal administrative practices\'. This provides for the routine destruction of drafts, duplicates and publications, with the test that it is obvious that no information of continuing value to the organisation will be destroyed.
Originating in the National Archives the term is in general use in Commonwealth Government agencies and has been adopted by some Australian states.
Material that can be disposed of under NAP comprises items of an ephemeral or transitory nature created, acquired or collected by agency officers in the course of their official duties. Such material has no ongoing value and is not usually incorporated into the agency recordkeeping system.
NAP falls into six main groups:
transitory or short term items, e.g. phone messages, notes, compliment slips, office notices and circulars;
rough working papers and/or calculations created in the preparation of official records;
drafts not intended for further use or reference, excluding official version drafts of agreements, submissions and legal documents;
duplicate copies of material retained for reference purposes only;
published material which does not form an integral part of an agency record;
system printouts used to verify or monitor data, or answer ad hoc queries, that are not part of regular reporting procedures and not required for ongoing use.
NAP and Electronic Media Just as telephone conversations or other verbal communications that contain information of ongoing value should be documented, so voice mail, email, facsimiles, word processed documents, spreadsheets, etc. should be captured into corporate recordkeeping systems when they contain information of ongoing value.
Agency induction and procedures must ensure that all officers are aware of their recordkeeping responsibilities and that electronic records with ongoing value are captured and retained in an appropriate way. Only data included in the six categories outlined above may be deleted from electronic systems according to Normal Administrative Practice.
Official Record A record made or received by an agency in the conduct of its business, but does not include:
A record made or received by an agency for delivery or transmission to another person or body (other than an agency) and so delivered or transited; or
A record made by an agency as draft only and not for further use or reference; or
A record received into or made for the collection of a library, museum or art gallery and not otherwise associated with the business of the agency; or
A Commonwealth record as defined by the Archives Act 1983 of the Commonwealth, as amended from time to time, or an Act of the Commonwealth enacted in substitution for that Act; or
A record that has been transferred to the Commonwealth.
Open Format A file format is open if the mode of presentation of its data is transparent and/or its specification is publicly available. Open formats are ordinarily standards fixed by public authorities or international institutions whose aim is to establish norms for software interoperability. There are nevertheless cases of open formats promoted by software companies, which choose to make the specification of the formats used by their products publicly available.
An open format can either be coded in a transparent way (readable in any text editor: this is the case of markup languages) or in a binary mode (unreadable in a text editor but thoroughly decodable once the format specifications are known).
openformat.org
The criteria for open format are that it:
is based on an underlying open standard
is developed through a publicly visible, community driven process
is affirmed and maintained by a vendor-independent standards organization
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology that allows you to scan that paper you lost on your hard drive, but fortunately printed out, back into your computer. When a page of text is scanned into a computer without OCR software, all the computer sees is a bunch graphical bits, or an image. In other words, it has no idea that there is text on the page, much less what the text says. However, an OCR program can convert the characters on the page into a text document that can be read by a word processing program. More advanced OCR programs can even keep the formatting of the document in the conversion.
Original Order The sequence or grouping in which archival records were originally accumulated or kept by their creator.
Maintaining the original order preserves the context of their creation and the authenticity of records. It also provides valuable evidence about the organisation and/or person who created the records.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Permanent Record A record that has archival value and is retained permanently in accordance with an approved disposal schedule, and will be available for research by the general community subject to appropriate access conditions.
Personal Information Information or an opinion, whether true or not, relating to a natural person or the affairs of a natural person whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.
Information Privacy Principles Instruction July 1992
Portable Document Format (PDF) PDF is a multi-platform file format developed by Adobe Systems. A PDF file captures document text, fonts, images, and even formatting of documents from a variety of applications. You can e-mail a PDF document to your friend and it will look the same way on his screen as it looks on yours, even if he has a Mac and you have a PC. Since PDFs contain color-accurate information, they should also print the same way they look on your screen.
To view a PDF file, you need Adobe Reader, a free application program distributed by Adobe Systems. Adobe also makes an Acrobat Plug-in for Web browsers that enables PDF files to be viewed inside a browser window.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Preservation The processes and operations involved in ensuring the technical and intellectual survival of authentic records through time.
Privacy An individual\'s right to control the exposure of information about themselves, their views and their behaviours to others.
Provenance
The agency, office or person of origin of records, or the entity which created, received or accumulated and used the records in the conduct of business or personal life. Also referred to as records creator.
The chain of custody that reflects the office(s) or person(s) that created received or accumulated and used the records in the conduct of business or in the course of personal life.
In archival theory, the principle of provenance requires that the archives of an agency or person not be mixed or combined with the archives of another, i.e. the archives are retained and documented in their functional and/or organisational context.
Quality Management Coordinated activities to direct and control an organisation with regard to quality.
AS/NZS ISO 9000:2006
Quality Management System Part of the organisation\'s management system that focuses on the achievement of results, in relation to quality objectives, to satisfy the needs, expectation and requirements of interested parties as appropriate.
AS/NZS ISO 9000:2006
Quality Records Documents stating results achieved or providing evidence of activities performed to the degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfils the need or expectation that is stated, generally implied or obligatory.
a disk, tape, film or other object that contains information or from which information may be reproduced (with or without the aid of another object or device).
State Records Act 1997
Information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organisation or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business.
Record Group System Records transferred to State Records under the Record Group System are controlled by:
Government Record Group (GRG) - for State Government Agencies
Municipal Record Group (MRG) - for Local Government Authorities.
Under this system, a unique control number - GRG or MRG - was allocated to the government agency that created, received or used the records. For example GRG 78 is the now defunct Hospitals Department.
The Record Group System was superseded by the Series System in 1982.
Record Series Those records or archives having the same provenance, which belong together because they are part of a discernible, filing system (alphabetical, numerical, chronological, or a combination of these). They have been kept together because they result from the same activity, or they are of similar formats and relate to a particular function. Also referred to simply as a series.
Recordkeeping Making and maintaining complete, accurate and reliable evidence of business transactions in the form of recorded information.
Recordkeeping includes the following:
the creation of records in the course of business activity and the means to ensure the creation of adequate records
the design, establishment and operation of recordkeeping systems, and
the management of records used in business (traditionally regarded as the domain of records management) and as archives (traditionally regarded as the domain of archives administration).
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
Recordkeeping System Information systems that are specifically designed to capture, protect, store and manage data or documents as reliable records for as long as they are needed to satisfy business, legal, fiscal and historical requirements.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Records Classification Scheme A hierarchical classification tool which, when applied to a business information system, can facilitate the capture, titling, retrieval, maintenance and disposal of records. A records classification scheme stems from an organisation\'s business classification scheme.
Records Continuum The whole extent of a record\'s existence. Refers to a consistent and coherent regime of management processes for the time of creation of records (and before creation, in the design of recordkeeping systems) through to the preservation and use of records as archives.
Bettington, Eberhard, Loo and Smith (eds), Keeping Archives (3rd edition)
Records Formats Records that due to their physical nature or format, are not suitable for managing on a traditional file. They include but are not limited to:
bound documents and publications
drawings
maps
plans
legal agreements
films
tapes
discs, and
videos.
Records Management The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposal of records including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Registration The act of giving a record a unique identity on its entry into a system.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Rendition Instance of a digital record made available in another format or on different medium by a process entirely within the control of an Electronic Records Management System, without loss of content. A rendition should display the same metadata and be managed in a tightly bound relationship with the native format record. Renditions may be required for preservation, access and viewing purposes.
Repository The building or room, or part thereof, set aside for the storage of archives and/or intermediate records. Archival repositories are often constructed to meet specific environmental standards designed to ensure the longevity of the records.
Elllis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
Research Centre Two Research Centres are open to the public and government agencies, one centrally located at Leigh Street (off Currie Street) in the Adelaide CBD and the other 10km north of the city at Cavan Road, Gepps Cross. Each Research Centre has a reading and searching room area where visitors can use specialised finding aids to search, view and order records and speak to expert staff.
Retention Period The period of time, usually based on an estimate of the frequency of current and future use, and taking into account statutory and regulatory provisions, that records need to be retained before their final disposal. Sometimes also used to indicate the length of time records are to be retained in offices before being transferred to secondary storage.
Search Engine Google, Excite, Lycos, AltaVista, Infoseek, and Yahoo are all search engines. They index millions of sites on the Web, so that Web surfers like you and me can easily find Web sites with the information we want. By creating indexes, or large databases of Web sites (based on titles, keywords, and the text in the pages), search engines can locate relevant Web sites when users enter search terms or phrases. When you are looking for something using a search engine, it is a good idea to use words like AND, OR, and NOT to specify your search. Using these boolean operators, you can usually get a list of more relevant sites.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Secondary Storage The function of storing records for future retrieval and use.
Secondary Storage is for records once their ready availability is no longer required for current administrative purposes.
Records of Temporary Value - Management and Storage Standard May 2002
A low-cost, warehouse-style repository or storage area where inactive or semi-active records are housed and referenced pending their ultimate destruction or transfer to archives.
Security Classification A classification given to a document that conveys the level of confidentiality requirements to all those who handle the information. A security classification is given to a document if its disclosure could cause harm to government, an organisation or an individual. Otherwise the document remains unclassified.
Adapted from the Australian Government Protective Security Manual
Sentence The act of applying the relevant disposal schedules to records.
Ellis (ed), Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
Sentencing Sentencing is the process of identifying and classifying records according to a disposal authority and applying the disposal action specified in it. Sentencing is the implementation of decisions made during appraisal. It allows agencies to apply the decisions made about classes of records to individual records. Together appraisal and sentencing help agencies to identify how long records should be retained.
Series System Based on the Commonwealth Record Series (CRS) system, developed by the National Archives of Australia in the 1960s. The system documents government agencies and the series they create.
Each series under the series system is allocated a Government Record Series (GRS) number. For example, GRS 10033 is the series Lenswood Primary School - Admission Registers.
Sitemap A site map, sometimes written \'sitemap\', is an overview of the pages within a website. Site maps of smaller sites may include every page of the website, while site maps of larger sites often only include pages for major categories and subcategories of the website. While site maps can be organized in a variety of ways, most use an outline form, with pages arranged by topic. This gives visitors a good overall picture of how the site is organized and clearly defines all the resources the website has to offer.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
South Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Standard (SARKMS) This standard outlines the basic core set of metadata elements required to manage records in accordance with best practice.
It provides a standard approach for capturing, describing, using and managing information about records, and their associated functions and the agents that create and use them. The Metadata Standard is also known as SARKMS, and is particularly important when implementing new electronic and Internet based business and recordkeeping systems.
Subject Descriptor The level of descriptor that follows an activity descriptor. Subject descriptors define the subject content of the activities represented by the activity descriptor.
State Records New South Wales \'Glossary of Recordkeeping Terms\'
System Administrator A user role with designated responsibility for configuring, monitoring and managing the EDRMS and its use. May exist at various degrees of seniority with a variety of permissions to undertake system administration functions and some records management processes.
Temporary Record Records with no archival value that can be sentenced for destruction.
Ellis (ed) Keeping Archives (2nd edition)
Thesaurus An alphabetical presentation of a controlled list of terms linked together by semantic, hierarchical, associative or equivalence relationships. Such a tool acts as a guide to allocating classification terms to individual records.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Timeout An interrupt signal generated by a program or device that has waited a certain length of time for some input but has not received it. Many programs perform time-outs so that the program does not sit idle waiting for input that may never come.
Internet.com Webopedia
Tracking Creating, capturing and maintaining information about the movement and use of records.
AS ISO 15489.1 - 2002
Transaction The process resulting from undertaking a piece of business, or from the interrelationship between or within agencies, between people or between and agency and a person.
Unit A storage unit used by State Records to store records and to provide physical control over them. A unit may be a box, bundle, plan press drawer, tube etc, containing individual record Items. A unit may also be a single volume. Each unit has a physical location within the State Records repository.
Unsentenced Records Records for which a disposal authority (or schedule) exists but which have not been sentenced.
URL Uniform Resource Locator or URL is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet. It cannot have spaces or certain other characters and uses forward slashes to denote different directories.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
User Access Group Discrete set of named individuals (users known to the EDRMS) that make up a stable and nameable group. Access to particular records or other file plan entities may be restricted to members of certain user access groups in accordance with an access control scheme.
User Access Privileges The authorization given to users that enables them to access specific resources in an EDRMS or business system. User privileges also designate the type of access. For example, can data only be viewed (read only) or can they be updated (read/write). Also referred to as \'user rights\', \'user authorisations\' and \'user permissions\'.
User Agent Software to access Web content, including desktop graphical browsers, text browsers, voice browsers, mobile phones, multimedia players, plug-ins, and some software assistive technologies used in conjunction with browsers such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and voice recognition software.
User Profile A summary of all attributes allocated to a user of an EDRMS. Includes all data known to the system, such as user-name, ID and password, security and access rights, functional access rights.
VERS Encapsulated Object (VEOs) A record which has been encapsulated using XML as outlined in PROS 99/007 Specification 3 and which conforms to the VERS metadata scheme as outlined in PROS 99/007 Specification 2 and which contains documents expressed in a long term preservation format.
Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) VERS has been developed by Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) to provide leadership and direction in the management of digital records. VERS is a world-leading solution to the problem of capturing, managing and preserving electronic records. VERS is a framework of standards, guidance, training, consultancy and implementation projects, which is centred around the goal of reliably and authentically archiving electronic records.
Public Record Office Victoria
Vital Records Those records that are essential for the ongoing business of an agency, and without which the agency could not continue to function effectively. The identification and protection of such records is a primary object of records management and disaster planning.
Web Accessibility Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.
Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Web Browser A Web browser, often just called a \'browser\', is the program people use to access the World Wide Web. It interprets HTML code including text, images, hypertext links, Javascript, and Java applets. After rendering the HTML code, the browser displays a nicely formatted page. Some common browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, and Apple Safari.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Web Cookie In computer terminology, a cookie is data sent to your computer by a Web server that records your actions on a certain Web site. It\'s a lot like a preference file for a typical computer program. When you visit the site after being sent the cookie, the site will load certain pages according to the information stored in the cookie.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Webmaster The webmaster is the person in charge of maintaining a Web site. The jobs of a webmaster include writing HTML for Web pages, organizing the Web site\'s structure, responding to e-mails about the Web site, and keeping the site up-to-date.
Tech Terms Computer Dictionary
Workflow The automation of a business process in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules.
AS ISO 5090 - 2003
X
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) A simple, flexible computer language developed by the World Wide Web Consortium as an open, non-proprietary technology that creates common information formats so that both the format and the data can be shared between organisations, regardless of their respective Internet computing platforms.
National Archives of Australia
Clicking certain links on this page will transfer you, in a new window, to a non-State Records of South Australia Web site that is solely under the control of a party unaffiliated with State Records of South Australia. State Records of South Australia shall not be responsible for any content, product, or service offered on such Web sites.
