Information and documentation - Principles and functional requirements for records in electronic office environments - Part 2: Guidelines and functional requirements for digital records management systems

The scope of this part is limited to products that are often termed ‘electronic records management systems’ or ‘enterprise content management systems’. This part will use the term digital records management systems for those software applications whose primary function is records management. It does not seek to set requirements for records still in use and held within business systems. Digital objects created by email, word processing, spreadsheet and imaging applications (such as text documents, and still or moving images), where they are identified to be of business value, should be managed within digital records management systems which meet the functional requirements set out in this part. Records managed by a digital records management system may be stored on a variety of different media formats, and may be managed in hybrid record aggregations that include both digital and non-digital elements. This part does not attempt to include requirements that are not specific to, or necessary for, records management, for example, general system management and design requirements. Nor does it include requirements common to all software applications, such as performance, scalability and usability. Given the target audience of this document, it also assumes a level of knowledge about developing design specifications, procurement and evaluation processes, and therefore these issues are not covered in this part. Although not included in this part’s requirements, the importance of non-records management functional requirements for records management systems is recognised through their inclusion in the high-level model outlined in Section 4.2: Overview of functional requirements. Specifications for the long-term preservation of digital records are also beyond the scope of this part; this issue should be addressed separately within a dedicated framework for digital preservation or ‘digital archiving’ at a strategic level. These digital preservation considerations transcend the life of systems and are system independent; they should be assessed in a specific migration and conversion plan at the tactical level. However, recognition of the need to maintain records for as long as they are required shall be addressed, and potential format obsolescence issues should also be considered when applying the functional requirements. This part articulates a set of functional requirements for digital records management systems. These requirements apply to records irrespective of the media in which they were created and/or stored. The requirements are intended to: a) set out the processes and requirements for identifying and managing records in digital records management systems; b) set out the records management functionality to be included in a design specification when building, upgrading or purchasing digital records management systems software; c) inform records management functional requirements in the selection of commercially available digital records management systems; and d) review the records management functionality of, or assess the compliance of, an existing digital records management system.