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8. Details of Individual Metadata Elements
8.36 Record Locked
Attributes
Attribute
Value
Identifying Attributes
Name
recordLocked
Label
Record Locked
Defined by
Government of Canada Records Management Metadata Standard - recordLocked
Element URI
[To be actioned by Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat before publication]
Definitional Attributes
Definition
An indicator that a record may not be further changed.
Purpose
To preserve the integrity of the record.
To support and ensure the legal value of the record.
To support and ensure the fiscal value of the record.
To support and ensure the operational value of the record.
To support and ensure the historical value of the record.
Rationale
"The integrity of a record refers to its being complete and unaltered." ISO International Standard 15489-1, s. 7.2.4
"An authentic record is one that can be proven a) to be what it purports to be…" ISO International Standard 15489-1, s. 7.2.2
"A reliable record is one whose contents can be trusted as a full and accurate representation of the transactions, activities or facts to which they attest and can be depended upon in the course of subsequent transactions or activities." ISO International Standard 15489-1, s. 7.2.3
Value Domain
Yes/No or On/Off representations.
Datatype Name
Boolean
Constraint
Applicable at record level only.
Obligation
Mandatory at record level.
Relational Attributes
Encoding Scheme
-
References
-
Linkages
Access Rights; Event Type
Conditions of Application - Record
Format
Yes/No or On/Off representations.
Modifiable
Pre Record Declared Locked
Post Record Declared Locked
Not applicable
Yes, by authorized official only.
Occurrence
Not repeatable
Conditions of Application - File
Format
-
Modifiable
-
Occurrence
-
Comments and Guidance
a) Explanation of Definition/Usage
This element is intended to identify when a record has been frozen in time and cannot be altered.
Some institutions place a checkbox on the record profile screen and have users tick the box to indicate when a record becomes locked. Given that different EDRMS use different methods to flag locked files, the GC RMAP cannot dictate exactly how this is done.
b) Best Practices
It is up to each institution to create the business rules that determine when a record can/should be declared locked. An institution's business rules will also determine when disposition processing is applied to the record, i.e. some institutions run disposition only on records that have been declared locked whereas others may run disposition on records not declared locked.
Recommended best practice is to use a Boolean indicator (i.e. Yes/No or On/Off) to identify if a record is locked.
Once a record has been locked, the status of this element may be modified by an authorized official only in order to accommodate changes to other elements as required.
c) Obligation
This element is mandatory to ensure proper maintenance and security of the record.
d) Default Values/Auto-populate
Given that in most applications, this element is simply a flag; the default setting will indicate that the record is not locked.
e) Linkages
This element is linked to Access Rights, since is has a direct affect on those rights. Once this flag has been set to locked, access rights are limited to view only.
Record Locked is linked to the element Event Type in cases where a change to the status of the record must be noted in the management and event history log.
f) Examples
- "Yes" - An email has been sent containing an opinion. The recipient submits the e-mail to the EDRMS and the record is locked.
- "Yes" - A policy document is approved by the minister. The record is locked and cannot be changed. Future reviews of the policy will possibly result in a new record.
- "No" - A draft document has a file code applied but the record is still in development. The record will not be locked.
