Methods for Creating and Maintaining Electronic Records as Records

Abstract

The goal of our project was to identify and define the nature of an electronic record and the conditions necessary to ensure its reliability and authenticity during its active and semi-active life. Thus, the project’s orientation was both conceptual and methodological. The conceptual work consisted of the identification of the components of a record, and the conditions necessary to create a reliable and authentic record in both paper and electronic recordkeeping environments, as detailed in the previous two chapters. The methodological work consisted of the elaboration of methods for creating and maintaining reliable and authentic electronic records based on that conceptual foundation, as detailed in this chapter and the next. This chapter examines specifically the principal methods we have identified for creating, maintaining, and retrieving electronic records as records (rather than as data or information), while the next one examines the principal methods for ensuring their reliability and protecting their authenticity.