Victorian Electronic Records Strategy


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Standard
(Version 1)
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Standard
(Version 2)
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Home > Standard > Standard (Version 2) > Advice 10 > Record export (Specification 1, section 2.9)

3.9 Record export (Specification 1, section 2.9)

Agencies should note that this requirement covers the technical requirements involved in physically moving records and folders from one recordkeeping system to another. Export, in this limited technical sense, is usually part of a broader process known as transfer. Transfer covers the entire process of relocating records, including negotiations between organisations about what records to transfer and when, the actual transfer itself, and quality control.

Records and folders must be capable of being exported from a recordkeeping system.

The ability to export records and folders from a recordkeeping system is one of the critical functions in the long term preservation of records. Long term preservation means preservation for longer than the life span of the recordkeeping system holding the records, or for longer than the life span of the agency holding the records. In the latter case, when the agency ceases to exist the records and folders must be transferred to another agency or an archive. This will usually involve a transfer of records and folders from one recordkeeping system to another.

Hence it must be assumed that any long term records and folders will be exported from the system that they are currently being held in.

Export may be:

between agency systems (e.g. from one system to its replacement)
from a system in one agency to another agency
from an agency system to a PROV system
from an agency system to an off-site record storage location which meets PROV storage standards.³

When exporting records and folders to PROV, the records must be in the VERS standard record format; this is discussed below. This specification does not require any particular export format for export between systems, except for exports to PROV.

Conformance to this point is achieved by the recordkeeping system vendor demonstrating that it is possible to export records and folders from the recordkeeping system. Since the system is required to be capable of exporting records and folders in the VERS format (see below), export conformance will be satisfied by demonstrating export of records and folders in the VERS format.

An export of records or folders from a recordkeeping system is not complete until the receiving system has acknowledged that the record or folder was exported without error and the receiving system has accepted responsibility for the record or folder.

An export of records or folders is not complete until the receiving system has accepted responsibility for their ongoing custody. A simple indication that the receiving system has received the records or folders is not sufficient; the export might be subsequently aborted due to errors in the records or folders. A receiving system may decline the export for any reason, including errors in the records.

Until the receiving system accepts responsibility for a record or folder, the sending (exporting) system cannot complete the export and retains responsibility for the record or folder. It may be necessary for records or folders to be exported several times before responsibility for the records or folders is accepted by the receiving system.

Conformance to this point is achieved by the recordkeeping system vendor demonstrating that the export of a record or folder is not complete until an acceptance of responsibility is received from the receiving system. It will also be necessary to demonstrate that the recordkeeping system allows the re-export of a record or folder (e.g. where the original export failed for some reason and the records or folders need to be exported a second time).

Importing or exporting of records or folders from a recordkeeping system must be documented.

Transferring records or folders is one method of disposing of records. Consequently, an export must be fully documented; this is discussed further in section 3.6.

Conformance to this point is achieved by the recordkeeping system vendor demonstrating that the recordkeeping system documents the export between systems, including the identity of the operator and the new location of the records.

The system must be capable of exporting the records and folders

in the standardised format given in PROS 99/007 Specification 3: VERS Standard Electronic Record Format.
containing at least the mandatory metadata given in PROS 99/007 Specification 2: VERS Metadata Scheme.
with the content in an approved long term formats given in PROS 99/007 Specification 4: VERS Long Term Preservation Formats or a format otherwise approved by PROV.
on one of the approved export media formats and using the mechanisms given in PROS 99/007 Specification 5: Export of Electronic Record to PROV.

It is optional, but highly desirable, that the recordkeeping system be capable of importing records and folders from VERS compliant systems.

in the standardised format given in PROS 99/007 Specification 3: VERS Standard Electronic Record Format. A recordkeeping system may only be capable of importing onion records (Version 1) or both onion records and Modified VEOs (Version 2).
containing the metadata given in PROS 99/007 Specification 2: VERS Metadata Scheme.
with the content in an approved long term format given in PROS 99/007 Specification 4: VERS Long Term Preservation Formats.
on one of the approved export media formats and using the mechanisms given in PROS 99/007 Specification 5: Export of Electronic Records to PROV or a format otherwise approved by PROV.

Conformance to this point is achieved by the recordkeeping system vendor demonstrating that the recordkeeping system can export, and import (if necessary), the records and folders according to the specifications.

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