Functional Requirements for Evidence in Recordkeeping: The Pittsburgh Project
This site was recovered in 2002 (using the Wayback Machine)
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Metadata Requirements for Evidence
by
David Bearman, Archives & Museum Informatics
and
Ken Sochats, University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Science
Introduction: Towards A Reference Model for Business Acceptable Communications
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Functional Requirements for Electronic Evidence: The Pittsburgh Projec... http://www.archimuse.com/papers/nhprc/BACartic.html
1 / 9 30.11.2010 14:18

documenting R&D and other business related processes.
To understand what data is necessary for such communications, we must begin by examining the nature of electronic evidence (or the
essential properties of records).
Records are at one and the same time the carriers, products and documentation, of business transactions. Transactions (trans-
actions) by definition are actions communicated from one person to another, from a person to a store of information (such as a filing
cabinet or computer database) and thereby available to another person at a later time, or communications from a store of information
to a person or another computer.(10) Because such trans-actions must leave the mind, computer memory, or software process in
which they are created (or must be used, "over-the-shoulder" as it were, by a person with access to the same computer memory),
the transaction record must be conveyed across a software layer, and typically across a number of hardware devices.
Not all data that has been is communicated across software and hardware layers is a record. In fact, most information created by
and managed in information systems, is not a record because it lacks the properties of evidence. Records oriented professionals
within organizations, such as senior management, legal counsel, auditors, Freedom of Information and Privacy officials, and archivists
all require records, and not just information, but creators of the records frequently only need continued access to the information to
support their work. Therefore, application environments that support the ongoing work of the organization frequently, or even usually,
do not satisfy the requirements for creating evidence. In this paper we subsequently distinguish between the terms "records" and
"data", using records exclusively when we mean information that provides evidence of a transaction.
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Any organization that wants to use electronic documentation as evidence in the future will need to satisfy the requirements of evidence
in the normal course of conducting its business. It has been difficult to do so in the computer based communications environments we
have implemented in the past because applications software sold by third parties has not met these requirements. Information
systems are generally designed to hold timely, non-redundant and manipulable information, while recordkeeping systems store time
bound, inviolable and redundant records. Few, if any, in-house information managers have been able to devote the energy to rigorous
definition of the distinct requirements for recordkeeping or, if they had, would be able to envision how to satisfy these throughout all
systems. Without such explicit and testable specifications, computing application and electronic communications systems have failed
to satisfy the requirements for recordkeeping and are, therefore, a growing liability to companies even while they are contributing
directly to day-to-day corporate effectiveness.
The University of Pittsburgh research project identified hundreds of sources in law, regulation, best practice guidelines, and general
societal discourse which relate to the properties of evidence. From these it is clear that if records that are critical to the organization
for long term accountability and to protect its rights are not created by transactions, they cannot be created after the fact from data in
information systems. Information captured in the process of communication will only be evidence if the content, structure and context
metadata required to satisfy the functional requirements for recordkeeping is captured, maintained and usable. The requirements of
recordkeeping are corporate requirements, not those of any given business function or application, and are therefore present for any
communications. They are the foundation of good business practices and are essential elements in reducing the risks of increased
liabilities and decreased opportunities that accompany poor recordkeeping practices.
The functional requirements in table 1 below are derived from the many sources we consulted which defined what constitutes
evidence. In addition to interviewing experts, we have systematically reviewed hundreds of sources considered authoritative by
lawyers, auditors, information technology specialists and archivists and records managers. In these sources we have identified
statements that pertain explicitly to the characteristics or attributes of evidence or records. Analysis of these authoritative sources
revealed twenty functional requirements for evidence which fell into three broad categories. In retrospect the small number of
requirements should not have surprised us, since they reflect a relatively tight social consensus about what it means for written
testimony about an act in the past to be considered trustworthy in the future.
Table 1: FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR EVIDENCE IN RECORDKEEPING
Conscientious Organization
Compliant (1)
Accountable Recordkeeping System
Responsible
Assigned (2)
Documented (3)
Implemented (4)
Consistent (5)
Functional Records
Comprehensive (6)
Identifiable (7)
Complete
Accurate (8)
Understandable (9)
Meaningful (10)
Authorized (11)
Preserved
Inviolate (12)
Coherent (13)
Auditable (14)
Removable (15)
Exportable (16)
Accessible
Available (17)
Renderable (18)
Evidential (19)
Functional Requirements for Electronic Evidence: The Pittsburgh Projec... http://www.archimuse.com/papers/nhprc/BACartic.html
2 / 9 30.11.2010 14:18