Appendix 1. Definitions

DOE-STD-4001-2000

AP1. APPENDIX 1: DEFINITIONS

AP1.1. Access. The ability or opportunity to gain knowledge of stored information.

AP1.2. Addressee. The name of the organization or individual to whom a record is addressed.

AP1.3. Attachment. A document is associated with another document as an attachment when

it is attached to the other document and filed in the RMA or transmitted between two persons. Both

documents are required to form the record in the RMA.

AP1.4. Audit Trail. An electronic means of auditing the interactions with records within an

electronic system so that any access to the system can be documented as it occurs for identifying

unauthorized actions in relation to the records, e.g., modification, deletion, or addition.

AP1.5. Authenticity. A condition that proves that a record is authentic and/or genuine based on

its mode (i.e., method by which a record is communicated over space or time), form (i.e., format

and/or media that a record has when it is received), state of transmission (i.e., the primitiveness,

completeness, and effectiveness of a record when it is initially set aside after being made or

received), and manner of preservation and custody.

AP1.6. Authorized Individual. A Records Manager and/or other persons specifically designated

by the Records Manager as responsible for managing various aspects of an organization's records.

AP1.7. Author or Originator. The author of a document is the physical person or the office

and/or position responsible for the creation or issuance of the document. The author is usually

indicated by the letterhead and/or signature. For RMA purposes, the author and/or originator may

be a personal name, official title, office symbol, or code.

AP1.8. Copy. In electronic records, the action or result of reading data from a source (RMAs

repository), leaving the source data unchanged, and writing the same data elsewhere on a medium

that may differ from the source (user workspace or other device. (RM Handbook, reference 5.b)

AP1.9. Cutoff. To cutoff records in a file means to break, or end, them at regular intervals to

permit their disposal or transfer in complete blocks and, for correspondence files, to permit the

establishment of new files. Cutoffs are needed before disposition instructions can be applied

because retention periods usually begin with the cutoff, not with the creation or receipt, of the

records. In other words, the retention period normally does not start until the records have been

cutoff. Cutoffs involve ending the old files and starting new ones at regular intervals.

(RM Handbook, reference 5.b)

AP1.9.1.

For records with retention periods of less than 1 year:

Cutoff at an interval equal to the retention period. For example, if a record

series has a 1-month retention period, cut the file off at the end of each month

and then apply the retention period (that is, hold the file 1 more month before

destroying).

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