Government

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8. Details of Individual Metadata Elements

8.6 Agent Institutional Entity

Attributes

Comments and Guidance

a) Explanation of Definition/Usage

This element is used to define further the organization to which an agent belongs. It is one of the elements that constitute a management and event history log.

It is not to be confused with the element Trustee Institutional Entity which specifies the name of the institutional entity of the steward of the record. Trustee Institutional Entity is not used within a management and event history log.

This element will be repeated in the log file for each action that is taken, but since only one action can take place at one single point in time, it is deemed as "Not repeatable".

b) Best Practices

The value for this element should be able to be extended to whatever level deemed appropriate. - Branch-Division-Section. This level should be determined through institution-specific business rules. Acronyms and codes should not be used when describing the business unit of the agent. In developing an institution-specific encoding scheme, institutions may wish to consult internal organization charts or GEDS and expand as required.

Since this element is used for audit purposes, the value cannot be modified.

If an institution uses a Human Resources Information System such as PeopleSoft this system should be the authoritative source for all agent data; however this data must be reliably maintained over time to be useful. Agent data must be retrievable as a "snapshot" for any given date and time in order to prove in what capacity the agent was acting when performing an action on a record or file. Links to databases that are dynamic in nature and retain only current information about an agent do not satisfy the requirements of a management and event history log for the record or file. Therefore, best practice may dictate that the information about the agent be brought inside the EDRMS and possibly stored within an agent database.

It is up to the institution to determine how to implement the management and event history log. Each time an agent performs an action on a record or file, all information about the agent may be written to the log of the record or file, or alternatively, only one element (e.g. Agent Individual Identifier or Agent Individual Name) may be written to the log of the record or file yet permit linkage to the separate agent database containing other information about the agent.

In order to minimize storage concerns of writing to each record or file all information about the agent, recommended best practice is to maintain a table within the EDRMS that records information about each agent and the elements that relate to them. This table will be maintained as a type of agent database, with new entries made for each change of the agent's information. In this way, a "snapshot" of an agent's status can always be retrieved for evidentiary purposes. This agent database would then be linked to the management and event history log of the record or file through the common element Agent Individual Identifier or Agent Individual Name, i.e. as long as Agent Individual Identifier or Agent Individual Name is written to the management and event history log of the record or file, information about the agent can be retrieved from the agent database.

In the above scenario, when moving records and files out of the institution, the information about the agent must be moved also in order to properly maintain the integrity of the management and event history log of the records and files.

c) Obligation

This element is deemed optional. While an institution may have legal status, the workgroup does not.

d) Default Values/Auto-populate

This element is used as a log entry only and is not part of a record or file profile; therefore, all values for this element will be auto-populated by the EDRMS.

e) Linkages

This element is linked only to Agent Individual Identifier and Agent Individual Name. Through those elements, it is linked to all other agent elements and all event elements in order to constitute a management and event history log.

f) Examples

1. "Government Information Management Office, Information Management Lifecycle Unit"

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