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VERS STORY | STANDARD | ASSESSMENT | PROJECTS | DIGITAL ARCHIVE | TRAINING | TOOLKIT | PUBLICATIONS | |
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4.0 Records and Files A file is a group of logically associated records, which may or may not be physically co-located. The logical association may be based on function/activity, subject or some other criterion. In paper record keeping practice a file is a group of records which are accumulated in the conduct of business within a paper cover (which may be composed of several parts). Electronic files may be thought of as similarly constructed, however, records within electronic files do not necessarily need to be physically collected together as long as they are all identified as belonging to the same file and as long as they are able to be displayed as belonging to the same file. In the VERS model an implicit association is constructed between files and records based upon their unique identifiers. Within the Victorian Electronic Records Strategy a distinction has been made between VEOs which are records and VEOs which are files. The metadata elements necessary for managing file VEOs and record VEOs are essentially similar, however some additional information is necessary for the proper management of files. In the VERS model, individual records are never disposed of. Instead, all the records within a file are disposed of as a group. After disposal of the records, the file VEO itself remains to document that the records once existed. The File Disposal element documents who made the decision to dispose of the records, why, and when the decision was made. These elements are only present if the records that were contained within the file have been disposed of. A file VEO has been graphically represented in Figure 4. The VERS metadata scheme has been represented in three ways:
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