Towards Automated Record Keeping, Interfaces for the Capture of Records of Business Processes

Abstract

In June 1996, the National Archives of Canada issued its Guideline on the Management of Electronic Records in the Electronic Work Environment to all Canadian federal government institutions. Part of the Guideline contained a vision of automated record keeping in which records would be captured automatically based on the incorporation of record keeping rules in the design of automated work processes. As an illustration of this concept, the National Archives developed a demonstration prototype based on a project management work process situated within one of the operational activities of the department. This paper provides an overview of the prototype and an outline of both the lessons learned and the outstanding questions that have emerged concerning the feasibility of building an electronic work environment reflecting automated record keeping.