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2. Scope and Applicability
The GC RMMS is independent of implementation considerations related to applications, systems or technical platforms. The concepts used are applicable to electronic records management environments (where only electronic records are managed in an electronic document/records management system (EDRMS)) and hybrid records management environments (where both electronic and paper records are managed through an EDRMS). Taken together, the GC RMMS and the GC RMAP should be regarded as a foundation for local implementations. Government institutions can build upon this foundation to satisfy additional specialized requirements using an institution-specific application profile; subject to the GC guidelines (refer to the GC RMAP for further details).
The GC RMMS applies to all records in the environments stated above regardless of the records' format and their status of completion. The concept of a "final", or "made read only" or "locked" status does not determine the point at which a resource becomes a record. Such terminology is usually technology-centric only. A resource becomes a record when it satisfies the following definition: "Any documentary material other than a publication, regardless of medium or form."8 Once a resource is deemed to be a record, it retains that status before and after it is declared "final", or "made read only" or "locked" within any system.
The GC RMMS is independent of implementation considerations related to applications, systems or technical platforms.
Excluded from the scope of the GC RMMS are transitory records which are defined as "those records that are required only for a limited time to ensure the completion of a routine action `or the preparation of a subsequent record."9
Although the life cycle of a resource includes archival consideration, the emphasis of the GC RMMS is on records management and not on archival metadata.
The GC RMMS applies to all government institutions listed in Schedules I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act (FAA). The Records Management Sub-Group has developed this metadata standard to document metadata requirements that apply to all government records irrespective of the activities they reflect.
8. Library and Archives of Canada Act, 2004, c.11, s. 2
