TEMPLATE 3
WHAT IS A RELIABLE RECORD IN THE TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENT?
RELIABLE RECORD = a record endowed with trustworthiness. Specifically,
trustworthiness is conferred to a record by its degree of completeness
and the degree of control on its creation procedure and/or its
author's reliability. Reliability of a record is not affected by its
mode, form, or state of transmission.
Completeness = see the template entitled "What is a Complete Record in
a Traditional Environment?"
Creation procedure = the procedure governing the formation of the
record and/or its participation in the act.
Author's reliability = the competence of the author to issue the
specific document and/or the degree to which an author can be trusted. The
trustworthiness of an author can be ensured by:
- restricting the capacity to generate certain documents to certain persons
- requiring signatures
- giving responsibility to an author for reporting only a portion of a fact
- increasing the numbers of authors who report the same fact
- making the same record serve different purposes and users
Mode
of transmission = the method by which a record is communicated (eg. by hand,
by regular mail, by FAX, by consigning it to the files and preserving it)
Form of transmission = the form that the record has when it is made or
received
State of transmission = the primitiveness (i.e., order in time),
completeness, and effectiveness (i.e., ability to achieve the purpose for which
it was created) of a record when it is initially set aside after being made or
received.. There are three states of transmission: draft,
original, and copy.
Draft = temporary version of a record, prepared for purposes of
correction
Original = the first complete and effective record. It is possible to
have multiple originals = records contemporarily created complete and
effective, as in the case of reciprocal obligations, multiple addressees, or
security needs.
Copy = a reproduction of a record in any state of transmission. There
are different types of copies:
- simple copy = a transcription of the content of a record
- imitative copy = a reproduction of the form and content of a record
- pseudo-original = an imitative copy made for purpose of deception
- copy in the form of original = a complete and effective record, not
the first to be created
- authentic copy = a copy certified by an officer authorized to
execute such function
- inserts or insets = records entirely or partially quoted or
reported in subsequentrecords in order to renew their effects or because they
constitute precedent or serve as reference
While it can be assumed
that an authentic copy is more reliable than a simple copy, this derives from
the controlled creation procedure, not from the state of transmission. In fact,
an authentic copy is as reliable as the record it reproduces.
Procedure = the body of written or unwritten rules which establishes
the formal sequence of steps, stages or phases to be undertaken in carrying out
an activity. A procedure needs to be distinguished from a process = a
series of motions, or activities in general, carried out to set oneself to work
and go on towards each formal step of a procedure (processes can create records,
which would not be reliable, because what characterizes a process is its
spontaneity and the absence of rules).
A record is as reliable as the procedure in which it takes part.
Reliable procedure = a procedure that has required phases, each with
its own purpose, and that is controlled in each of its phases. A typical
procedure has six possible phases:
- initiative = the acts which start the mechanism of the procedure
- inquiry = the acts which aim to the collection of information for
decision
- consultation = the collection of opinions and advice
- deliberation = the act of deciding
- deliberation control = control on the form and substance of the
decision exercised by persons not involved in it
- execution = the acts giving formal character to the transaction
(validation, communication, notification, publication).
Of these
six phases, the necessary ones for each procedure are:
- a. initiative
- b. deliberation
- c. execution (in this phase, the one necessary element for
reliability purposes is the validation = the conferring on the record
of those extrinsic or intrinsic elements which make it effective, such as a
signature, a seal, a stamp, or a signet
For each procedure the number
and type of formal phases vary. However many they are and whatever they are, in
order to have a reliable procedure, they must be clearly identifiable according
to the scheme presented above, expressely regulated, and controlled.
The records created in the course of a procedure have determined
relationships with the acts of which they are part. This relationships can be of
four types creating four different kinds of records:
- dispositive = records that substantiate the act
- probative = records that provide a posteriori evidence of completed
acts
- supporting = records that provide written support for an oral
activity
- narrative = records generated in the course of non-juridical
activities
Dispositive and probative records are those whose
written form is required by the juridical system. Supporting and
narrative records are those whose written form is optional. Thus, dispositive
and probative records need to be complete according to expressed rules in order
to be reliable, while the reliability of supporting and narrative records can
only be assessed on the grounds of their completeness (see the minimum
requirements for completeness in the template entitled "What is a Complete
Record in a Traditional Environment?"), their authors' reliability, and their
context of use (i.e., the circumstances in which a record is actually
used, including the reasons for such use), as showed by its relationships with
the other records in the aggregations in which it belongs.
Each procedural phase is characterized by a predominance of one type or
another of the types of records mentioned above. For example, the execution
phase features a predominance of dispositive records.
CONCLUSION
The context of use of a record is expressed by its
annotations, which represent the conjunction between elements of
intellectual form and of procedure, as annotations are components of
intellectual form added in the course of the creation procedure. Thus, they are
a bridge between the completeness aspect of a record and the procedural control
on its creation. This implies that a reliable record, whether dispositive,
probative, supporting or narrative, must include in its intellectual form at
least the following annotations:
- a. name of recipient = office or individual receiving the record
- b. date of receipt = (see template
2)
- c. classification code = (see template
2)
Other annotations are usually required by the specific
juridical system and/or organizational context.
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