Julie:

Structured content has a number of different elements that can and should be differentiated. First there is input and output. These constitute sets of "documents" that can be differentiated into different records series. For example, the structured data is used to produce different types of reports: daily, monthly, and yearly. You may need to keep the yearly report for different purposes than the daily and monthly, so it is a different records series. The same holds for input.

The structured content itself can be viewed in a number of different ways. Perhaps the most useful would be to imagine replacing the system entirely. You would transfer the data to a new structure, because the data makes little sense without the structure. If you can parse the structure into separate functional units you may see different records series. Customer data and product data are a good example. They are linked through orders, but are fairly independent otherwise.

The other benefit of imagining replacing the entire system is that you get a better sense of what you would have to keep around as a reference system in case you did not successfully transfer all the data. Would you need to keep the specific application, operating system, and hardware--you would. Then you need to view the complete system as a record: you need the other stuff to view the data just like you need eyes to read.

This is only a start for addressing your issues.

Best wishes,
Carol
Carol E.B. Choksy, Ph.D., CRM
CEO
IRAD Strategic Consultant. Inc.
(317) 294-8329

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