For example a document management system which is used to create, receive, maintain and provide access to 'documents' which have no or insufficient evidential characteristics is an information system not a recordkeeping system. Data Not surprisingly 'data' is a term which has been taken on by the IT industry as one of its own, most probably due to the ancestral link between scientific research and the development of computing. Operations can be performed upon data by humans or by automatic means 26 . Given that 'data' does not have a meaning or usage specific to archives and records management the meaning provided in the 'archival' dictionary is remarkably similar to the IT dictionary. To complete the circle the main link between data and records is through data elements.
Data elements are the primary building blocks for records in electronic systems.