8. Archival data are associated with sufficient metadata and documentation
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Statement Archival data are associated with sufficient metadata and documentation about the data themselves, their organisational and business context, and activities impacting data throughout their lifecycle. Rational Documentation and metadata are relevant for archives for multiple purposes: - Ensure that archival data has value as information. - Assess authenticity, integrity and reliability of information. - Facilitate accessibility and usability of information. - Enable sustainable preservation of information. - Achieve transparency and trustworthiness of the archive. This is achieved by gathering sufficient documentation and metadata along with the data themselves at the right time and maintaining it as long as necessary. Implications - Take into account that documentation and metadata can be created throughout the whole lifecycle of information. - A shared understanding is needed between data producers, archives, and solution providers about which standards, specifications, processes, and best practices should be used to have consistent documentation and metadata. - Relevant metadata and documentation must be created at the right time, ideally automatically. - Metadata elements must always be related to one or more purposes and must be captured, validated and stored in a way that makes it possible to support those purposes. - Stakeholders within the lifecycle must align their processes and systems to the implications above to contribute to the creation and maintenance of documentation and metadata. Notes This principle underpins Principle 3 on the trustworthiness of information. The creation of relevant metadata is a socio-technical issue, including organisational measures such as training and awareness-raising, in addition to systems design and automation.