Packaging Tool: Introduction

The Packaging Tool allows a Transferring Someone who is responsible for submitting a transfer As a noun, the body of records for which physical custody is so transferred. As a verb, the processes supporting the moving of records from one location to another. Usually used to refer to transfer of records from the creato The organization or person responsible for the creation, accumulation, or maintenance of a series of records when in working (primary) use.r or custodian to NARA (including Federal records centers). of records to NARA, either from an agency or from a records center A facility An actual physical location that contains one or more Instances, one or more Federations, and may also contain a SOC. for the storage and servicing of records pending their disposal or transfer to the National Archives. Records centers include NARA-authorized agency records centers and NARA-operated Federal records centers..Entity to create To make a new instance of a business object.instance An instance comprises the applicable security appliances (firewalls, intrusion detection devices), hardware (servers connected by routers and switches) and softwar Computer programs, procedures, and possibly associated documentation and data pertaining to the operation of a computer system.e (System-level Services) necessary to operate the ERA functionality within a specific Federatio A group of one or more Instances with the same data classification leveln at an individual facility. An Instance only operates on one classification level. of a business object (Digital) A discrete instance of data 1) In system/software engineering, a representation of facts, concepts, or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automatic means. 2) Facts, ideas, or discrete pieces of information, especially when in the form in which it was originally collected and is unanalyzed. (i.e. a record, description 1) The process of analyzing, organizing, and recording information that serves to identify, manage, locate, and explain documentary material, and the contexts and systems from which that material was selected. 2) The written representation or products of the above process., etc) intended to be managed by the ERA System.. a transfer shipment both from within the ERA system Includes all of the associated equipment, facilities, material, software, hardware, policy, technical documentation (1). In archival usage, the creation or acquisition of documents to provide evidence of the creator, an event, or an activity. (2). In electronic records, an organized series of descriptive documents explaining the operating system and software necessary to use and maintain a file and the arrangement, content, and coding of the data which it contains., services, and personnel required for operations and support at NARA [of the Electronic Records Archives]. and from a standalone (not connected) environment.

 

Requirements

 

·         A set of files which can be comprised of multiple file See Data File. types must be available on one or more drive(s).

·         An approved Transfer Request A request or offer from a Transferring Official to transfer physical custody of Documentary Material to NARA, either for archival or records center storage.custody Guardianship, or control (Data) To regulate. To control data means to regulate it in a manner that protects it against corruption or unauthorized access., of records, including both physical possession (physical custody) and legal responsibility (legal custody), unless one or the other is specified. of Documentary Material Records (temporary or permanent), non-record material, personal papers or artifacts that refer to all media containing recorded information A collection of data, ideas, thoughts, or memories. Information and data are near synonyms. Where data connotes facts, ideas, or information in its most atomized form, information refers to more complex concepts made up of multiple data elements. Information may take many forms, including words, sounds, images, and formulas., regardless of the nature of the media or the method(s) or circumstance(s) of recording. to NARA, either for archival or records center storage. for which physical custody has not yet been accepted must be available to associate with Transfer Shipments.

 

Create a Transfer Shipment Using the ERA Packaging Tool

This procedure allows a Transferring Official Someone who is responsible for submitting a transfer of records to NARA, either from an agency or from a records center.transfer

 As a noun, the body of records for which physical custody is so transferred. As a verb, the processes supporting the moving of records from one location to another. Usually used to refer to transfer of records from the creato The organization or person responsible for the creation, accumulation, or maintenance of a series of records when in working (primary) use.r or custodian to NARA (including Federal records centers). of records to NARA, either from an agency or from a records center A facility An actual physical location that contains one or more Instances, one or more Federations, and may also contain a SOC. for the storage and servicing of records pending their disposal or transfer to the National Archives. Records centers include NARA-authorized agency records centers and NARA-operated Federal records centers.. to create To make a new instance of a business object.instance An instance comprises the applicable security appliances (firewalls, intrusion detection devices), hardware (servers connected by routers and switches) and softwar Computer programs, procedures, and possibly associated documentation and data pertaining to the operation of a computer system.e (System-level Services) necessary to operate the ERA functionality within a specific Federatio A group of one or more Instances with the same data classification leveln at an individual facility. An Instance only operates on one classification level. of a business object (Digital) A discrete instance of data (i.e. a record, description 1) The process of analyzing, organizing, and recording information that serves to identify, manage, locate, and explain documentary material, and the contexts and systems from which that material was selected. 2) The written representation or products of the above process., etc) intended to be managed by the ERA System.. a transfer shipment A subset of a Transfer Group whose physical transfer is authorized by a single Transfer Request. One or more Transfer Shipments may comprise a Transfer Group. utilizing the ERA Packaging Tool both from within the ERA system Includes all of the associated equipment, facilities, material, software, hardware, policy, technical documentation, services, and personnel required for operations and support at NARA [of the Electronic Records Archives]. and a standalone (not connected) environment.

 

Requirements

 

·         A set of files (which can be comprised of multiple file See Data File. types) must be available on one or more drive(s).

·         An approved Transfer Request A request or offer from a Transferring Official to transfer physical custody of Documentary Material to NARA, either for archival or records center storage.custody Guardianship, or control (Data) To regulate. To control data means to regulate it in a manner that protects it against corruption or unauthorized access., of records, including both physical possession (physical custody) and legal responsibility (legal custody), unless one or the other is specified. of Documentary Material Records (temporary or permanent), non-record material, personal papers or artifacts that refer to all media containing recorded information, regardless of the nature of the media or the method(s) or circumstance(s) of recording. to NARA, either for archival or records center storage. for which physical custody has not yet been accepted must be available to associate with Transfer Shipments.

 

1.      From the top menu select "Tools -- Packaging Tool."  Note, the packaging tool is launched.

2.      Select the Shipment tab, and enter the following contact information A collectio A type of archival Control Group consisting of: 1) An artificial accumulation of Documents brought together on the basis of some characteristic (such as means of acquisition, creator, subject, language, media, form, name of collector) without regard to the provenance of the Documents. 2) The whole of the Documents, regardless of form or media, organically created and/or accumulated and used by a particular person, family, or organizational activity.n of data, ideas, thoughts, or memories. Information and data are near synonyms. Where data connotes facts, ideas, or information in its most atomized form, information refers to more complex concepts made up of multiple data elements. Information may take many forms, including words, sounds, images, and formulas.:

 

·          

·         Name

·         Street (address)

·         City

·         State

·         Zip

·         Phone

·         Email.

 

3.      Select a Transfer Method, either:

 

·          

·         VLAN Transmission (1GB)

·         DVD-ROM (4GB)

·         CD-ROM (650MB)

 

4.      Enter the search criteria in the "Associated Transfer Request" section.

5.      Select the Search button to start the search or the Reset button to clear all fields. The connected version A copy A duplicate or reproduction of documentary material. of documentary material that has some variation from the original in content, structure, or presentation. of the Packaging Tool will:

 

·          

·         Invoke the search process (1) A sequence of steps performed for a given purpose; for example, the software development process. (2) An executable unit managed by an operating system scheduler. (3) To perform operations on data..

·         Return the selected Transfer Request.

 

Note:  The standalone version of the Packaging Tool will allow the user to enter the Transfer Request, but the user will not be able to search.  

 

6.      Select a Transfer Request by highlighting a row. Note, the system will only allow the selection of one Transfer Request ID.

7.      Select "Associate" to select the Transfer Request or the "Reset" button to start over.

8.      Click on the Data 1) In system/software engineering, a representation Information accompanying a digital object, or sequence of bits, that is used to provide additional meaning. It typically maps the bits into commonly recognized data types such as character, integer, and real, and into groups of these data types. It associates these with higher-level meanings that can have complex inter-relationships that are also described. of facts, concepts, or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automatic means. 2) Facts, ideas, or discrete pieces of information, especially when in the form in which it was originally collected and is unanalyzed. Files Tab.

9.      Expand the “C:\” folder (or the designated folder) under the File System Structure The physical and logical format of a record and the relationships among the data elements..

10.  Drag and drop the selected files from the C:\ folder into the "Shipment" folder in the Shipment Structure frame.

11.  If a file is "associated documentation Additional documentation associated with a business object.documentation (1). In archival usage, the creation or acquisition of documents to provide evidence of the creator, an event, or an activity. (2). In electronic records, an organized series 1) An aggregate of documentary materials consisting of file units or items arranged in accordance with a filing system or maintained in a unit because they result from the same accumulation or filing process, the same function, or the same activity; have a particular form; or because of some other relationship arising out of their creation, receipt, or use. 2) The fundamental level of description as defined by NARA, which describes the above aggregate. of descriptive documents explaining the operating system and software necessary to use and maintain a file and the arrangement 1) The results of the intellectual and physical processes of organizing records in accordance with the Entity Of Origin's business needs, accepted records management practices, or archival principals. 2) The intellectual and physical processes and results of organizing Documentary Material in accordance with accepted archival principals, particularly provenance and Original Order., content The information that a document is meant to convey (Society of American Archivists Glossary). Words, phrases, numbers, or symbols comprising the actual text of the record that were produced by the record creator., and coding (1) In software engineering, the process of expressing a computer program in a programming language. (2) The transforming of logic and data from design specifications (design descriptions) into a programming language. of the data which it contains. associated with a business object." rather than record material, select "Move to Associated Documentation" by right-clicking in the Shipment Structure frame.

12.  Select "File --Save."  Note the "Save" screen will appear

13.  Select a location (Save In)

14.  Select a File Name to save the file

15.  Select the Save button.  Note: an ERA Message screen with status The state or condition of a business object, system object, file or record within the system. May also be referred to as 'State.' will appear

16.  Select the OK button

 

In order for the packaging tool to save its current state to disk for later re-initialization it serializes different components within the tool.  

For example:

·         the shipment tree is serialized to disk in order to keep track of files the user moved to the shipment tree

·         the Associated Documentation table is serialized to disk to keep track of files moved to associated document

·         the Shipment Cache is moved to disk to keep track of file uniqueness within the tool.

In addition other files are written to the users machine in different situations:

·         contact information is written to a file

·         log information is written to a file during any processing within the tool.

 

Each serialized object becomes a file and there are 5 serialized objects created. From the user's perspective within the tool, only a single file is saved a .PKT file. When the user presses save he/she names the file and when the user presses open he/she navigates to the location of that file to open.

 

It also is possible to generate a Container Listing (see separate Help file)

 

Generate a Container

The procedure below starts after a shipment has been created and the files have been saved  A ".ERA" container and Transfer As a noun, the body of records for which physical custod Guardianship, or control, of records, including both physical possession (physical custody) and legal responsibility (legal custody), unless one or the other is specified.y is so transferred. As a verb, the processes supporting the moving of records from one location to another. Usually used to refer to transfer of records from the creato The organization or person responsible for the creation, accumulation, or maintenance of a series of records when in working (primary) use.r or custodian to NARA (including Federal records centers). Shipment manifest will be created

 

1.      Select "Build -- Generate Container."  Note the Save screen will appear.

2.      Select a location (Save In) to save the file See Data 1) In system/software engineering, a representation of facts, concepts, or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automatic means. 2) Facts, ideas, or discrete pieces of information, especially when in the form in which it was originally collected and is unanalyzed. File.

3.      Select the Save button.  Note an ERA Message screen with status The state or condition of a business objec (Digital) A discrete instance of data (i.e. a record, description, etc) intended to be managed by the ERA System.t, syste (ERA) Includes all of the associated equipment, facilities, material, software, hardware, policy, technical documentation, services, and personnel required for operations and support at NARA [of the Electronic Records Archives].m object, file or recor 1) A unit of recorded information created, received, and maintained as evidence or information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business. 2) All books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the U.S. Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of data in them.d within the system. May also be referred to as 'State.' will appear

4.      Select the OK button