Victorian Electronic Records Strategy


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Standard
(Version 1)
  Specification 1
  Specification 2
  Specification 3

Standard
(Version 2)
  Specification 1
  Specification 2
  Specification 3
  Specification 4
  Specification 5
  Advice 9
  Advice 10
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  Advice 14

Home > Standard > Standard (Version 2) > Advice 10 > Metadata capture (Specification 1, section 2.4)

3.4 Metadata capture (Specification 1, section 2.4)

A recordkeeping system must capture or generate the mandatory metadata specified in PROS 99/007 Specification 2: VERS Metadata Scheme. It must also capture the conditional metadata in Specification 2 if the relevant condition applies.

Capturing the optional metadata will improve the quality of the record or folder and it is expected that all recordkeeping systems would capture some of the optional metadata.

Conditional metadata is metadata that is mandatory in certain circumstances. Conditional elements occur in the following cases:

A mandatory subelement of an optional element. An example is Relation Type (M44), which is conditional because it is a mandatory subelement of the optional element Relation (M42). In other words, Relation Type must be present when a Relation is present.
Elements which are mandatory in Version 2, but do not exist or are optional in Version 1. An example of this is Lock Signature Block (M152).

Conformance to this point is achieved by the recordkeeping system vendor demonstrating that:

the mandatory metadata can be captured and stored, or can be generated upon export
any conditional metadata necessary can be captured and stored
any optional metadata that the system states it can support can be captured and stored.

An agency may elect to capture additional metadata not specified in the VERS standard for storage in the record. If additional metadata is to be captured, it is recommended that the agency confer with PROV about the best approach to extending the standard record format to accommodate the additional metadata. This will assist in maximising interoperability of metadata between agencies.

An agency should conduct an analysis to ensure that the total cost of metadata capture is minimised while maximising the accuracy of information captured. As far as possible, metadata should be automatically captured from the computer system, application, or other records, and not be entered manually. However, attention should be paid to the up-front cost of software development work required to automatically capture metadata and the on-going cost of maintaining the resulting system. Obviously, the cost effectiveness will vary depending on the application, the technology used to implement the application, and the importance of the records produced.

The record capture system must be able to limit the metadata entered into a metadata element to those values specified in PROS 99/007 Specification 2: VERS Metadata Scheme.

This could be done using data validation techniques, pick lists and/or thesauri and the automatic capture of date and time information from the system. The cost of creating and maintaining the information used by these techniques must be analysed. Care should be taken to ensure that the system of controlling metadata is not so rigid that it prevents users from accurately describing the record.

Conformance to this point is achieved by the recordkeeping system vendor demonstrating that it is possible to limit the values captured for those elements to those specified in PROS 99/007 Specification 2: VERS Metadata Scheme.

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