Chris

The Public Records Office of Victoria (Australia) has done a lot of work
on this, and issued an Advice which you might find useful. Their view is
that some databases are or contain records, and the solutions are include
snapshots and encapsulation.

http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/recmgmt/guides.htm

I'm happier with snapshots, as I think you can argue that a database
contains within it nothing that is understandable by humans until the
content is assembled and displayed in some way. Encapsulation (saving the
database as a whole, plus the software necessary to use it) is only
practical for smaller stuff - where I am now, the financials and CRM
database is terabytes, and I think also that the software vendor may have
something to say about licensing if we started copying the software as
well!

Glenn

Glenn Sanders MRMA
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
Australia

These views are mine alone. They may or may not be those of any
previous or present employers or clients. I don't know. If I'd asked
and they'd agreed, I would have signed it "Bloggs and Co and
Glenn". Or whatever. But I haven't, so I didn't.

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance