Functional Requirements for Recordkeeping Systems

~ DRAFT ~

July 10, 2000

1. The system shall be compliant.

The system meets legal and administrative requirements, national and international standards, and best practices for recordkeeping.

2. The system shall be accountable and reliable.

a) System policies and procedures are defined and documented.

b) The system is employed exclusively in the normal course of business, and a business record created by the system is regarded as the official record. Redundant (paper) recordkeeping systems are discontinued.

c) The performance and reliability of system hardware and software are regularly tested.

d) The system includes quality control mechanisms to ensure that consistent and accurate business records are created.

e) The system maintains audit trails for all business processes, including activities relating to the capture, retrieval and use, disposition, and preservation of records.

3. The system shall capture all business records and essential metadata.

a) The system creates or captures a business record for all defined business transactions and maintains a link between the record and the transaction.

b) The system captures all essential metadata describing content and structure of the business record and the context of its creation.

c) The system allows for the import of or linkage to other business records related to the business transaction.

d) The system allows only authorized personnel to create or capture records.

4. The system shall maintain the business record.

a) The system maintains inviolate business records that are protected from accidental or

intentional alteration and from deletion while the record still has value.

b) The system ensures that all components of a record, including relevant metadata, notes,

attachments, etc., can be accessed, displayed and managed as a unit or as a complete

record of a business transaction.

c) The system includes an authorized disposition plan that is implemented as needed.

d) The system ensures that records of similar or like transactions are logically organized in a

coherent filing system.

e) The system controls access to the business records according to well-defined criteria.

5. The system shall ensure future usability of the business records.

a) The system ensures that business records can be easily accessed and retrieved in a timely

manner in the normal course of all business processes or for reference or secondary uses.

b) The system reproduces a business record, regardless of format or media, in the

same manner as the original.

c) The system ensures that business records, including relevant metadata, notes, attachments, etc., can be migrated to a new system without loss of any vital information.