GB/T 26163.2-2023 Information and documentation - Metadata for managing records - Part 2: Conceptual and implementation issues
1 Scope
This document establishes a framework for defining metadata elements consistent with the principles and implementation considerations outlined in ISO 23081-1:2017. The purpose of this framework is to:
a) enable standardized description of records and critical contextual entities for records;
b) provide common understanding of fixed points of aggregation to enable interoperability of records and information relevant to records between organizational systems; and
c) enable reuse and standardization of metadata for managing records over time, space and across applications.
It further identifies some of the critical decision points that need to be addressed and documented to enable implementation of metadata for managing records. It aims to:
——identify the issues that need to be addressed in implementing metadata for managing records;
——identify and explain the various options for addressing the issues; and
——identify various paths for making decisions and choosing options in implementing metadata for managing records.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies..
ISO/IEC 11179-1 Information technology - Metadata registries (MDR) - Part 1: Framework
ISO 23081-1:2017 Information and documentation - Records management processes - Metadata for records - Part 1: Principles
ISO 30300 Information and documentation - Records management - Core concepts and vocabulary
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 23081-1, ISO/IEC 11179-1 and ISO 30300 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
——ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
——IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
4 Purpose and benefits of metadata
4.1 Purposes of metadata for managing records
4.1.1 General
Organizations need information systems that capture and manage appropriate contextual information to aid the use, understanding, management of, and access to, records over time. This information is critical for asserting authenticity, reliability, integrity, useability and evidential qualities of records. Collectively, this information is known as metadata for managing records.
Metadata for managing records can be used for a variety of purposes within an organization to support, identify, authenticate, describe, locate and manage their resources in a systematic and consistent way to meet business, accountability and societal requirements of organizations.
Records application software and business systems with records functionality manage records by capturing and managing metadata about those records and the context of their creation and use.
Records, particularly in the form of electronic transactions, can exist outside of a formal records application software, often being created in business systems serving specific purposes (for example, licensing systems). Records are used and understood by people who possess, or have access to, sufficient knowledge about the processes being undertaken, the people involved in the transaction, the records generated and their immediate context. Such records are not always robust, for reasons including the following.
a) Contextual linkages can be unwritten and dependent upon individual and group memory. Such reliance on unwritten contextual understanding is not dependable; some people have access to more knowledge than others, over time the useability of records will be compromised by staff movement and diminishing corporate memory.
b) The records often lack explicit information needed to identify the components of a transaction outside the specific business context and are therefore difficult to exchange with other related business systems for interoperability purposes.
c) The management processes necessary to assure the sustainability of the records for as long as they are required are not usually a feature of such systems.
4.1.2 Amount of metadata
There are practical limits to the amount of contextual information that can be made explicit and captured into a given system in the form of metadata. Context is infinite, while a single information system has finite boundaries. Further contextual information will always exist outside the boundaries of any one system. A single records application software system only needs to capture as much metadata as is considered useful for that system and its users to interpret and manage the records for as long as they are required within the system and to enable migration of those records required outside the system. Good metadata regimes are dynamic and can add additional metadata for managing records as
and when necessary over time.
Much metadata for managing records can be obtained from other information systems. For them to be useful in a system for managing records, they need to be structured and organized in a standardized way. Standardized metadata are an essential prerequisite for information system interoperability within and between organizations.
4.2 Business benefits for metadata for managing records
4.2.1 General
Metadata for managing records not only describe the attributes of records in a way that enables their management and use/reuse, they also document the relationships between records and the agents that make and use them and the events or circumstances in which the records are made and used. Metadata support the searching of information assets and the maintenance of their authenticity.
4.2.2 Capturing and managing records in business systems
Organizations need to create records of their transactions and maintain those records for as long as they are needed. This can be done only if organizations’ business systems capture records metadata in accordance with organizational requirements for managing records. How well a system manages records is largely dependent on the metadata functionality of the system. The relationships between business systems and specific records application software systems are subject to implementation decisions, as outlined in Clause 11.
4.2.3 Interoperability
Interoperability refers to the ability of two or more automated systems to exchange information and to recognize, process and use that information successfully. Interoperable systems need to be able to operate simultaneously at technical, semantic and syntactical levels. Standardized metadata are an essential prerequisite for information system interoperability.
Standardized metadata for managing records assist in enabling interoperability as follows:
a) between business systems within an organization (for example, between systems that support one business process and those that support other business processes across the organization);
b) between business systems that create records, and records application software that manage them as records;
c) between business systems during system migration;
d) between multiple organizations involved in the conduct of business processes (for example, chain management or electronic commerce transactions);
e) between organizations for a variety of other business purposes (for example in undertaking shared transactions or transfer of records to a third party);
f) across time between business systems that create records and archival systems that preserve them.
In supporting interoperability, metadata for managing records enable resource discovery of records in business systems as well as in records application software.
4.2.4 Risk management
Metadata schemas can be tailored to suit organizational requirements for risk aversion. Organizations specify elements that shall be present for records to be reliable, authentic and to have integrity. Other elements are optional, for inclusion at the discretion of sub-units of organizations or for particular business systems within organizations.
When considering metadata implementation strategies, organizations should identify the risks that exist, consider the degree of risk entailed, and ensure that the implementation strategy:
a) provides access to critical business systems over time;
b) satisfies legal requirements for authenticity and reliability; and
