Records Management

Records Management terms

1. access right, opportunity, or means of finding, using, or retrieving information
2. access copy See use copy.
3. access restriction An identified restriction that controls how access can be provided to documentary material and information about the documentary material, and how the…
4. access review The process of reviewing documentary material to determine what material or parts of material must be withheld from a requestor because of access…
5. access, to provide To make available (in accordance with all applicable access restrictions) documentary material, copies of documentary material or information about…
6. accession process of transferring physical custody of documentary materials to an archival institution Note: May also include transfer of legal custody.
7. accessions (1) The act and procedures involved in the taking of records or papers into the physical custody of an archival agency or a records center.
8. Accountability The principle that individuals using a facility or a computer system must be identifiable.
9. acid-free paper In principle, papers that contain no free acid and have a pH value of 7.0 or greater. In practice, papermakers consider a paper having a pH value of 6.
10. acid-free/alkaline-buffered paper Paper that has a reserve of an alkaline substance added for the purpose of counteracting any acid that may be introduced into the paper later Note: The…
11. acid-neutral See acid-free paper.
12. acquisition If a company buys another company outright, or accumulates enough shares to take a controlling interest, the deal is described as an acquisition.
13. acta (plural) a formal term for documents that are officially-certified records of actions, transactions, and proceedings, usually of a governing authority, but also…
14. action copy That copy of a communication directed to a particular agency, office, or individual responsible for action, as opposed to an information copy.
15. active record A record needed to perform current operations, subject to frequent use, and usually located near the user Also referred to as current record.
16. Active Records Active Records are those Records related to current, ongoing or in-process activities and are referred to on a regular basis to respond to day-to-day…
17. administrative record A record that is related to budget, personnel, supply, and similar administrative or facilitative operations common to all organizations See also…
18. administrative retention criteria standards or rules concerned with the availability of records for long-term administrative consistency and continuity, as well as for day-to-day…
19. administrative value The usefulness of a record in the conduct of an organization's business The value of a record for the purpose for which it was created See also evidential…
20. Agency A firm that solicits insurance for one or more insurance carriers. It also may issue policies and adjust losses.
21. agency of origin or agency of creation See creating agency.
22. agency-specific schedule Retention schedule which specifies the approved disposition of a record series unique in purpose and function to its creating agency.
23. alphabetic filing system A filing system in which files and documents are arranged in alphabetic order from A to Z See also numeric filing system.
24. alphanumeric Characters composed of letters, numbers (and sometimes punctuation marks). Excludes control characters.
25. analog record A record created by a continuously varying quantity that reflects variations in some quantity, such as photographs and films made with light-sensitive…
26. annotation Adding pertinent information such as gene coded for, amino acid sequence, or other commentary to the database entry of raw sequence of DNA bases.
27. annualized loss expectancy probable annual dollar loss associated with the loss of a specific vital records series Note: The total expected annual loss to an organization is the sum…
28. aperture card An IBM punch card with a window which holds a 35mm frame of microfilm. Indexing information is punched in the card.
29. API Ascent-Phase Intercept.
30. API (Application Program Interface) A language and message format used by an application program to communicate with the operating system or some other control program such as a database…
31. Appraisal The act of evaluating and setting the value of a specific piece of personal or real property.
32. archival agency See archives.
33. archival authority Agency or program responsible for selecting and preserving archives, making them available, and approving destruction of other records
34. archival description See [a href="##"]Description[/a].
35. archival institution See archives.
36. archival integrity principle that a body of records resulting from the same activity must be preserved as a group, without division, separation, or addition to protect the…
37. archival medium a material recording medium that has been approved for archival use because it has been tested and proven to offer a high degree confidence in the…
38. archival processing The activities of accessioning, arranging, describing, conducting access review, and properly storing documentary material.
39. archival program See archives.
40. archival quality material properties inherent in any medium permitting its preservation under controlled circumstances See also durability.
41. archival record the same as permanent record (q.v.). The term is redundant since all archives are records (though not all records are archives).
42. archival repository See archives.
43. archival value The determination by appraisal that records are worthy of permanent preservation by the Office of State Archives. See also historical value.
44. archive A copy of data (any information stored on a computer) on a computer drive, or on a portion of a drive, maintained for historical reference.
45. archive writer a [Kodak] trade name for a device that converts digital records to computer output microfilm.
46. archives The documents created or received and accumulated by a person or organization in the course of the conduct of affairs and preserved because of their…
47. archives administration the same as archives management, although it often refers more narrowly and particularly to the administration of staff, budgets, facilities, logistics…
48. archives management the management of acquiring and maintaining permanent records in an archives and making them available for public inspection.
49. archiving reducing the strain of storing data by backing it up, removing it from its native environment, and storing it elsewhere. [...
50. archivist A person professionally occupied in the administration of archives and/or management of archives See also Certified Archivist (CA) and records manager.
51. arrangement The process of organizing materials with respect to their provenance and original order in order to protect their context and to achieve physical or…
52. artificial intelligence field of computer science that deals with the development of systems that mimic human intelligence, such as expert systems and natural language processing…
53. ASCII An acronym for American Standard Code that allocates a number to each key on the keyboard and that can be traded and read by most computer systems.
54. audiovisual records Program and information motion pictures, still pictures, sound recordings, video recordings, and related documentation.
55. Audit An audit is a professional, independent examination of a company's financial statements and accounting documents following generally accepted accounting…
56. Audit Trail In computer security systems, a chronological record of when users logged in, how long they were engaged in various activities, what they were doing, and…
57. authentic copy A copy of documentary material for which the official custodian attests the authenticity.
58. authentically preserve To maintain documentary material over time in such a manner that its identity is unquestionable and it is not corrupted.
59. authentication The process of validating the credentials of a person, computer process, or device.
60. authenticity sum of the qualities of a record that establish the origin, reliability, trustworthiness, and correctness of its content
61. author A user who has permission to add, edit, delete, or read all documents in a folder.
62. authority source A list, file, pick list, or thesaurus containing standardized information (e.g.
63. authority to weed Authority given to the State Archives by the agency and approved by the State Records Committee to purge a record series of duplicate or nonessential…
64. automatic classification A process using electronic systems to encode rules and apply them to records in order to categorize and sort them
65. back up To duplicate information primarily for protection in case the original is lost or destroyed See also security copy.
66. backfile conversion process of changing legacy documents and records from one format, storage media, application, and/or system to another See also conversion, file…
67. Backup To create a copy of data as a precaution against the loss or damage of the original data.
68. bar code A small pattern of vertical lines that can be read by a laser or an optical scanner.
69. baseline An initial measurement that is taken at an early time point to represent a beginning condition, and is used for comparison over time to look for changes.
70. batch A group of documents treated as a unit for a specific process
71. batch processing The processing of a large amount of data, or multiple records, in a single step.
72. Bates numbering See Bates stamping.
73. Bates stamping A technique to mark documents with a unique identification code as they are processed Also referred to as Bates numbering.
74. Benchmarking To measure a process or practice according to specified standards or references
75. blip code An optical mark, usually rectangular, that has been recorded below a microfilm image and is used for counting or indexing images or frames automatically…
76. block-numeric A records classification system that assigns number ranges to subjects (e.g., the Dewey Decimal system)
77. boilerplate Common text or graphics elements used consistently from one document to another Also referred to as template.
78. Boolean logic A method of searching electronic information systems that uses specific terms and symbols to refine a search and improve the chances of obtaining…
79. break-even analysis A technique used to show relationships among costs, revenues, and outputs to identify the point at which revenues equal costs
80. built-in dispersal regular distribution of records (especially vital records) to additional locations as a method of protection See also dispersal and mirror site.
81. business archives accumulated records of a company maintained and preserved for their enduring value to document the history of that company See also archives.
82. business continuity An organization's ability to continue to operate in the event of a disaster or disruption See also disaster recovery plan.
83. CA Cloud-to-Air lightning.
84. CA (Certified Archivist) An archivist who has successfully met all criteria for membership in the Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA) Note: Certified Archivists demonstrate…
85. Caption Heading or introductory part of a pleading.
86. CAR (1) Command Assessment Review (AF). (2) Configuration Audit Review. (3) Contract Assessment Report.
87. CAR (computer-assisted retrieval) A system that contains the capability to retrieve a specific frame of microfilm according to its coded location on a particular roll See also blip code.
88. cartographic records Program and information motion pictures, still pictures, sound recordings, video recordings, and related documentation.
89. cartridge A single-spindled, and usually closed, holder that stores, facilitates access to, and allows the automatic threading and rewinding of a single roll of…
90. case file the hard copy case folder which contains all or part of the documentation forming the case record.
91. cassette See: construct.
92. catalog See Index.
93. CD a type of form designation such as Form CD435, meaning a Commerce Department form
94. CD (compact disk) An optical disk that can store up to 700 MB of data Note: It is available in read-only (CD-ROM), write-once (CD-R), and rewritable (CD-RW) technologies.
95. CDIA+ Vendor-neutral certification that validates a professional's level of expertise in the technologies and best practices used to plan, design, and specify a…
96. central files files of one or more organizational units stored in one physical location to improve their management and control Also referred to as central registry.
97. central registry See central files.
98. certificate of destruction Formal documentation that certain records have been destroyed
99. certified copy A copy of a document attested to be a true copy by the official custodian of the original document
100. CFR Code of Federal Regulations -- see MORE INFO