What are trustworthy records?
The characteristics of trustworthy records are: • Reliability – the records are 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; • Authenticity – the records can be proven to be what they claim to be, to have been created or sent by the persons claiming to have created or sent them, and to have been created or sent at the claimed time; • Integrity – the records are complete and unaltered; and • Usability – the records can be located, retrieved, presented and interpreted. To ensure records are trustworthy, a recordkeeping system must preserve the: • Content – the information within the records; • Context – the circumstances under which the records were created or received (who, when, how and why); and • Structure – the relationship between the parts of the record.
