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8. Details of Individual Metadata Elements
8.14 Container From Date
Attributes
Attribute
Value
Identifying Attributes
Name
containerFromDate
Label
From Date
Defined by
Government of Canada Records Management Metadata Standard - containerFromDate
Element URI
[To be actioned by Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat before publication]
Definitional Attributes
Definition
The date of the earliest record in a container.
Purpose
To provide the date range of records within a container.
To assist in organizing records in a chronological date order.
To facilitate the process of retention and disposition.
Rationale
"Techniques to ensure capture of records may include …b) arrangement in a logical structure and sequence, whether a physical file or an electronic directory, which facilitates subsequent use and reference,…d) systems which profile or template the actions undertaken in doing business, which …2) provide evidence of where a record is located…" ISO International Standard 15489-1, s. 9.3
Value Domain
A range of dates expressed using the Gregorian calendar.
Datatype Name
Date
Constraint
Applicable at file level only.
Obligation
Mandatory, if applicable, at file level.
Relational Attributes
Encoding Scheme(s)
ISO International Standard 8601 [W3CDTF] as adopted by TBITS 39: Treasury Board Information Management Standard, Part 1: Government On-Line Metadata Standard
References
Linkages
Container; Container To Date; Record Date
Conditions of Application - Record
Format
-
Modifiable
Pre Record Declared Locked
Post Record Declared Locked
-
-
Occurrence
-
Conditions of Application - File
Format
YYYY-MM-DD
Modifiable
Yes, by authorized official only.
Occurrence
Not repeatable
Comments and Guidance
a) Explanation of Definition/Usage
This element is intended to identify the earliest Record Date of any record within the particular container and may not necessarily be the same date that a container is opened. In an analog system, it is possible that all the records in the container will have the same date. Given that Record Dates of records in a digital environment are automatically tied to the record, this element is most applicable to an analog environment.
This element is not to be confused with the element Event Date/Time which logs the date and time when an action was performed on a record or file and which is in many cases system generated.
b) Best Practices
It is likely that the label for this element will differ depending on the context on the container. If it is a file, it is possible that the label will be File From Date. If it is a box, the label may be Box From Date.
Recommended best practice is to format the value for this element as YYYY-MM-DD.
The value of Container From Date may be modified by an authorized official only.
c) Obligation
This element is mandatory, if applicable, because there is a records management requirement to manage information through its life cycle. The value of Container From Date adds context to the container.
d) Default Values/Auto-populate
Given that the metadata value of the Container From Date can easily precede the actual opening of the container, the element cannot be auto-populated nor defaulted.
e) Linkages
This element is linked to the elements Container and Container To Date, and it is also linked to the element Record Date. In the latter case, the value of Record Date will help to determine the value in this element.
f) Examples
- "2005-09-13" - A file is opened on September 15, 2005, but the earliest date of the records contained in the file is September 13, 2005. That same file has an action performed on it. The metadata value of the Container From Date will not change, because the Record Date of the earliest record has not changed.
- "2005-08-24" - A record that was created on August 24, 2005 is added to the file. The Container From Date element will need to change from 2005-09-13 to 2005-08-24.
