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5.2 Exporting records to PROV

The VERS Standard imposes rigorous requirements on the export of records to PROV. These requirements deal with:

• the physical representation of the records. This physical representation is known as the VERS Encapsulated Format (VEO)
• the mechanism by which records are exported to PROV.

There are two reasons for these export requirements:

• Long-term preservation. The requirements have been primarily formulated to support the long-term preservation of records.
• Cost-effective preservation. A secondary reason for the requirements is to reduce the cost of export and preservation to both an agency and PROV.

At some point in the life of the record at or prior to export, the record content must be converted to one of the long-term preservation formats specified in PROS 99/007 Specification 4: VERS Long Term Preservation Formats.

These formats are selected to address the challenge of application obsolescence described in section 4.1. The conversion also has the secondary pragmatic benefit of reducing the cost of providing ongoing access to the records, as each additional format supported by an archival agency requires access software to be purchased or written.

Figure 3. Nominal process of creating a VERS Encapsulated Object (VEO). The record content is first converted to the suitable long-term preservation format. The result of the conversion is combined with the record metadata to form the record. The result is digitally signed to form the VEO.

The VERS Encapsulated Object (VEO) contains a very extensive collection of metadata that documents the record's context, history, and technical details. The metadata is specified in PROS 99/007 Specification 2: VERS Metadata Scheme. Every VEO must contain the mandatory metadata listed in this specification (and conditional metadata if the condition applies). This metadata prevents the loss of context, authenticity, and integrity described in section 4.2.

Defining a specific set of metadata has two benefits. The first is that the mandatory metadata ensures that each record contains at least a minimal description. The second is that all records transferred to the archive have a coherent set of metadata. A title, for example, is always a title. Consistent use of metadata is essential to allow an archive to provide a unified view of records from hundreds of (different) agencies.

5.2.3 Encapsulation into VERS Encapsulated Objects (VEOs)

The record content and metadata is encapsulated into a single object referred to as a VERS Encapsulated Object, or VEO. The purpose of the VEO is to have a representation of the record that is independent of any individual recordkeeping system.

The use of a VEO has two benefits:

• Reduced cost for agencies and archives. As all records are transferred in a common format, the cost of performing the export is minimised. It is hoped that support for VERS will be available in common recordkeeping applications and agencies will be able to produce VEOs and export to PROV without additional development work. Within the archive, it will not be necessary to develop software and processes to deal individually with each transfer. Once in the archive, each record will have exactly the same structure, which drastically simplifies the management and access systems.
• Program independence. A VEO contains all the information necessary to preserve an electronic record. It is consequently independent of the recordkeeping system used to manage the records at any given time. This assists in guarding against the loss of the recordkeeping system described in section 4.5.

The VEO format is defined in PROS 99/007 Specification 3: VERS Standard Electronic Record Format.

The final requirements of VERS detail the mechanisms and processes used to physically export the records to PROV. These requirements are defined in PROS 99/007 Specification 5: Export of Electronic Records to PROV. The areas covered by this Specification include:

• Physical transfer media. This includes the types of media that will be accepted and any restrictions on individual media types.
• Archiving software. This defines how records are to be written to tape media.
• Acceptance of records. This describes the protocol by which formal custody of records is accepted by PROV.

A standard export mechanism is essential to minimising cost for both agencies and PROV.

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