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Machine-readable document

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A machine-readable document is a <a href="Document" title="Document">document</a> whose content can be readily processed by <a href="Computer" title="Computer">computers</a>. Such documents are distinguished from more general <a href="Machine-readable_data" class="mw-redirect" title="Machine-readable data">machine-readable data</a> by virtue of having further structure to provide the necessary context to support the business processes for which they are created.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definition">Definition</h2></div>

<a href="Data" title="Data">Data</a> without <a href="Context_(language_use)" class="mw-redirect" title="Context (language use)">context</a> is meaningless and lacks the four essential characteristics of trustworthy <a href="Business_record" title="Business record">business records</a> specified in <a href="ISO_15489" title="ISO 15489">ISO 15489 Information and documentation – Records management</a>:<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a>

<ul><li>Reliability</li>

<li>Authenticity</li>

<li>Integrity</li>

<li><a href="Usability" title="Usability">Usability</a></li></ul>

The vast bulk of information is <a href="Unstructured_data" title="Unstructured data">unstructured data</a> and, from a business perspective, that means it is "immature", i.e., Level 1 (chaotic) of the <a href="Capability_Maturity_Model" title="Capability Maturity Model">Capability Maturity Model</a>. Such immaturity fosters inefficiency, diminishes quality, and limits effectiveness. Unstructured information is also ill-suited for <a href="Records_management" title="Records management">records management</a> functions, provides inadequate <a href="Evidence" title="Evidence">evidence</a> for legal purposes, drives up the cost of <a href="Discovery_(law)" title="Discovery (law)">discovery</a> in <a href="Litigation" class="mw-redirect" title="Litigation">litigation</a>, and makes access and usage needlessly cumbersome in routine, ongoing <a href="Business_process" title="Business process">business processes</a>.

There are at least four aspects to machine-readability:

<ul><li>First, words or phrases should be discretely delineated (tagged) so that computer software and/or hardware logic can be applied to them as individual conceptual elements.</li>

<li>Second, the semantics of each element should be specified so that computers can help human beings achieve a common understanding of their meanings and potential usages.</li>

<li>Third, if the relationships among the individual elements are also specified, computers can automatically apply inferences to them, thereby further relieving human beings of the burden of trying to understand them, particularly for purposes of inquiry, discovery, and analysis.</li>

<li>Fourth, if the structures of the documents in which the elements occur are also specified, human understanding is further enhanced and the data becomes more reliable for legal and business-quality purposes.</li></ul>

As early as 1983, the U.S. <a href="Government_Accountability_Office" class="mw-redirect" title="Government Accountability Office">Government Accountability Office</a> (GAO) began emphasizing the benefits of machine-readable information.<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> Still sooner, in 1981, GAO began reporting on the problem of inadequate record-keeping practices in the <a href="U.S._Federal_Government" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Federal Government">U.S. federal government</a>.<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a> Such deficiencies are not unique to government and advances in information technology mean that most information is now "born digital" and thus potentially far more easily managed by automated means.<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> However, in testimony to Congress in 2010, GAO highlighted problems with managing electronic records, and as recently as 2015, GAO has continued to report inadequacies in the performance of Executive Branch agencies in meeting records management requirements.<a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a><a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a> Moreover, more than two decades after a major and formerly highly respected auditing firm, <a href="Arthur_Andersen" title="Arthur Andersen">Arthur Andersen</a>, met its demise due to a records destruction scandal, record-keeping practices became a central issue in the 2016 Presidential election.

On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed H.R. 2142, the <a href="Government_Performance_and_Results_Act" title="Government Performance and Results Act">Government Performance and Results Act</a> (GPRA) Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA), into law as P.L. 111-352. Section 10 of GPRAMA requires U.S. federal agencies to publish their strategic and performance plans and reports in searchable, machine-readable format.<a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a>

Additionally, in 2013, he issued <a href="Executive_order_(United_States)" class="mw-redirect" title="Executive order (United States)">Executive Order</a> 13642, Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information in general.<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

On July 28, 2016, the <a href="Office_of_Management_and_Budget" title="Office of Management and Budget">Office of Management and Budget</a> (OMB) followed up by including in the revised issuance of Circular A-130 direction for agencies to use open, machine-readable formats,<a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a> and to publish "public information online in a manner that promotes analysis and reuse for the widest possible range of purposes",<a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a> meaning that the information is both publicly accessible and machine-readable. On January 14, 2019, President Trump signed into law H.R. 4174,<a href="#cite_note-11">[11]</a> the <a href="OPEN_Government_Data_Act" class="mw-redirect" title="OPEN Government Data Act">OPEN Government Data Act</a> (OGDA), which codifies in law the requirement for agencies to make their public data assets available in machine-readable format. On June 28, 2019, in Circular A-11,<a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a> OMB expressed intent to begin complying with section 10 of GPRAMA.<a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a>

In support of such policy direction, technological advancement is enabling more efficient and effective management and use of machine-readable electronic records. <a href="Document-oriented_database" title="Document-oriented database">Document-oriented databases</a> have been developed for storing, retrieving, and managing document-oriented information, also known as semi-structured data. Extensible Markup Language (<a href="XML" title="XML">XML</a>) is a World Wide Web Consortium (<a href="W3C" class="mw-redirect" title="W3C">W3C</a>) <a href="World_Wide_Web_Consortium#W3C_recommendation_.28REC.29" title="World Wide Web Consortium">Recommendation</a> setting forth rules for encoding documents in a format that is both <a href="Human-readable" class="mw-redirect" title="Human-readable">human-readable</a> and machine-readable. Many <a href="XML_editor" title="XML editor">XML editor</a> tools have been developed and most, if not all major information technology applications support XML to greater or lesser degrees. The fact that XML itself is an open, standard, machine-readable format makes it relatively easy for application developers to do so.

The W3C's accompanying XML Schema (<a href="XSD" class="mw-redirect" title="XSD">XSD</a>) Recommendation specifies how to formally describe the elements in an XML document. With respect to the specification of XML schemas, the <a href="Organization_for_the_Advancement_of_Structured_Information_Standards" class="mw-redirect" title="Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards">Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards</a> (OASIS) is a leading <a href="Standards-developing_organization" class="mw-redirect" title="Standards-developing organization">standards-developing organization</a>. However, many technical developers prefer to work with <a href="JSON" title="JSON">JSON</a>, and to define the structure of JSON data for validation, documentation, and interaction control, <a href="JSON#JSON_Schema" title="JSON">JSON Schema</a> was developed by the <a href="Internet_Engineering_Task_Force" title="Internet Engineering Task Force">Internet Engineering Task Force</a> (IETF).

The <a href="Portable_Document_Format" class="mw-redirect" title="Portable Document Format">Portable Document Format</a> (PDF) is a file format used to present documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of the presentation of the document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it. <a href="PDF/A" title="PDF/A">PDF/A</a> is an ISO-standardized version of the PDF specialized for use in the archiving and long-term preservation of electronic documents. PDF/A-3 allows embedding of other file formats, including <a href="XML" title="XML">XML</a>, into <a href="PDF/A" title="PDF/A">PDF/A</a> conforming documents, thus potentially providing the best of both human- and machine-readability. The W3C's <a href="XSL-FO" class="mw-redirect" title="XSL-FO">XSL-FO</a> (XSL Formatting Objects) <a href="Markup_language" title="Markup language">markup language</a> is commonly used to generate PDF files

<a href="Metadata" title="Metadata">Metadata</a>, data about data, can be used to organize electronic resources, provide digital identification, and support the archiving and preservation of resources. In well-structured, machine-readable electronic records, the content can be <a href="Repurposing" title="Repurposing">repurposed</a> as both data and metadata. In the context of electronic record-keeping systems, the terms "management" and "metadata" are virtually synonymous. Given proper metadata, records management functions can be automated, thereby reducing the risk of <a href="Spoliation_of_evidence" class="mw-redirect" title="Spoliation of evidence">spoliation of evidence</a> and other fraudulent manipulations of records. Moreover, such records can be used to automate the process of <a href="Audit" title="Audit">auditing</a> data maintained in <a href="Database" title="Database">databases</a>, thereby reducing the risk of single points of failure associated with the <a href="Machiavellianism_in_the_workplace" title="Machiavellianism in the workplace">Machiavellian</a> concept of a <a href="Single_source_of_truth" title="Single source of truth">single source of truth</a>.

<a href="Blockchain" title="Blockchain">Blockchains</a> allow to create and maintain continuously-growing lists of records secured from tampering and revision. A key feature is that every node in a decentralized system has a copy of the blockchain so there is no <a href="Single_point_of_failure" title="Single point of failure">single point of failure</a> subject to manipulation and <a href="Fraud" title="Fraud">fraud</a>.

<ul><li><a href="Budapest_Declaration_on_Machine_Readable_Travel_Documents" title="Budapest Declaration on Machine Readable Travel Documents">Budapest Declaration on Machine Readable Travel Documents</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_XML_editors" title="Comparison of XML editors">Comparison of XML editors</a></li>

<li><a href="Four_corners_(law)" title="Four corners (law)">Four corners (law)</a></li>

<li><a href="Integrity" title="Integrity">Integrity</a> and particularly <a href="Data_integrity" title="Data integrity">Data integrity</a></li>

<li><a href="Linked_data" title="Linked data">Linked data</a></li>

<li><a href="Machine-readable_passport" title="Machine-readable passport">Machine-readable passport</a></li>

<li><a href="Markup_language" title="Markup language">Markup language</a></li>

<li><a href="Reliability_(statistics)" title="Reliability (statistics)">Reliability (statistics)</a>, <a href="Data_integrity" title="Data integrity">Data integrity</a>, <a href="Reliability_(computer_networking)" title="Reliability (computer networking)">Reliability (computer networking)</a>, and <a href="Reliability_(research_methods)" class="mw-redirect" title="Reliability (research methods)">Reliability (research methods)</a></li>

<li><a href="Strategy_Markup_Language" title="Strategy Markup Language">Strategy Markup Language</a> (StratML)</li>

<li><a href="Structured_document" title="Structured document">Structured document</a></li>

<li><a href="Tag_(metadata)" title="Tag (metadata)">Tag (metadata)</a></li>

<li><a href="Universal_Business_Language" title="Universal Business Language">Universal Business Language</a> (UBL)</li>

<li><a href="XBRL" title="XBRL">XBRL</a> (eXtensible Business Reporting Language)</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/policy/managing-web-records.html">"NARA Guidance on Managing Web Records"</a>. National Archives. August 15, 2016.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/140/139925.pdf">"Better Use Of Information Technology Can Reduce The Burden Of Federal Paperwork"</a> (PDF). gao.gov. 1983-04-11. Retrieved 2019-07-25.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gao.gov/products/PLRD-81-2">"FEDERAL RECORDS MANAGEMENT: A History of Neglect"</a>. gao.gov. 1981-02-24. Retrieved 2016-09-08.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/activities/hiddencollections/borndigital.pdf">"Defining "Born Digital": An Essay by Ricky Erway, OCLC Research"</a> (PDF). oclc.org. 2010-11-30. Retrieved 2016-09-08.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10838t.pdf">"INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: The Challenges of Managing Electronic Records, Statement of Valerie C. Melvin, Director, Information Management and Human Capital Issues"</a> (PDF). gao.gov. 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2016-09-08.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-339">"INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: Additional Actions Are Needed to Meet Requirements of the Managing Government Records Directive"</a>. gao.gov. 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2016-09-08.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160413110418/http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/PL111-532StratML.htm#SEC10">"GPRAMA SEC. 10. FORMAT OF PERFORMANCE PLANS AND REPORTS"</a>. congress.gov. 2011-01-04. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://stratml.us/references/PL111-532StratML.htm#SEC10">the original</a> on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2016-09-08.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205305/http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/carmel/EOOMRDwStyle.xml">"Executive Order 13642 in open, standard, machine-readable Strategy Markup Language format"</a>. <a href="White_House" title="White House">White House</a>. 2013-05-09. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/carmel/EOOMRDwStyle.xml">the original</a> on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-09-08.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://stratml.us/carmel/iso/A130wStyle.xml#_3f7d15f0-5799-11e6-8d37-8523b3fa12e0">"StrategicPlan Circular No. A-130, Managing Information as a Strategic Resource, Objective d.5.a: Interoperability, APIs & Machine-Readability"</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://stratml.us/carmel/iso/A130wStyle.xml#_3f7d449e-5799-11e6-8d37-8523b3fa12e0">"StrategicPlan Circular No. A-130, Managing Information as a Strategic Resource, Objective e.2.a: Publication"</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFRyan2019" class="citation web cs1">Ryan, Paul D. (January 14, 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174/text">"Text - H.R.4174 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018"</a>. www.congress.gov.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a11.pdf">"PREPARATION, SUBMISSION, AND EXECUTION OF THE BUDGET"</a> (PDF). <a href="White_House" title="White House">White House</a>. 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2019-07-25.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://stratml.us/carmel/iso/A11-240wStyle.xml#_aada4d70-a90a-11e9-a082-d69e4d1a686a">"StrategicPlan Circular No. A-130, Managing Information as a Strategic Resource, Objective Machine-Readability"</a>.</cite>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://stratml.us/carmel/M-13-13wStyle.xml#_78e85ef4-b91c-11e2-bf2b-79d279ad226c">OMB M-13-13</a>, Open Data Policy: Managing Information as an Asset, which requires agencies to use open, machine-readable, data format standards</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/policy/managing-web-records.html#1.0">NARA Guidance on Managing Web Records</a>, January 2005, which outlines the characteristics of trustworthy records.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ambur.net/CaponeConsultancyMethod.pdf">Driving a Stake in the Heart of the Capone Consultancy Method of Records Management: Best Practices for Correcting Non-Records Non-Policy Nonsense</a>, March 9, 2015</li>

<li>The U.S. Code, which includes the term "machine-readable" <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://uscode.house.gov/search.xhtml?searchString=machine-readable&pageNumber=1&itemsPerPage=100&sortField=CODE_ORDER&action=search&q=bWFjaGluZS1yZWFkYWJsZQ%3D%3D%7C%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3Afalse%3A%7C%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3Afalse%3A%7Cfalse%7C%5B%3A%3A%3A">over 50 times</a> as of September 10, 2016</li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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