A STUDY OF THE THEORY OF APPRAISAL FOR SELECTION By ...

provenance. They also offer an integrated program of appraisal
that is developed throughout the life history of a data
information system, and includes initial appraisal, archival
appraisal and re-appraisal.
Initial appraisal begins in the design phase of information
systems. Because of the ease with which deletions and
alterations can be made, the early identification of valuable
records can support the automatic execution of appraisal
decisions during a transaction.47 Design decisions can be
carefully constructed to maximize record layout, the linkage of
records to each other and to those in other systems, and the
function that each type of record fulfills. The preservation of
information about design decisions would contribute to the
evidential value of electronic records and their contextualized
meaning. As Bailey notes, such information parallels that which
is derived from the preservation of original order in paper
records.48 She argues that this is the most vital stage of
appraisal, "because without an identification of the importance
of information soon after its creation, electronic records may
never even reach the second stage of a full archival
appraisal. "49
Archival appraisal begins after administrative use is
complete.^Accepted practice insists on the submission of
47 ACCIS, Management, 41.
48 Bailey, "Archival," 188.
49 Ibid, 186.
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