Systems and methods for controlling access to electronic records in an archives system

• US 20080072290A1
• Filed: 05/04/2007
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Performance Systems, Fenestra Technologies Corp., Leidos Innovations Technology, Inc., Electronic Data Systems Corporation (Perspecta, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Business Performance Systems, Fenestra Technologies Corp., Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation), Electronic Data Systems Corporation (Perspecta, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bedford, Kenneth, Metzer, Richard, Grant, James, Jackson, William, McKennirey, Matthew, Isaac, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,726,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2308 Concurrency control transaction processing G06F9/466
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/948 Product or catalog
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Systems and/or methods for controlling access to a plurality of records and/or documentary materials to be persisted in an electronic archives system are provided. The plurality of records and/or documentary material and all preserved information may be stored and accessed on the basis of user and/or object attributes. The user attributes include group affiliation, ownership, and state (e.g., workflow step and time of day). The object attributes include group affiliation, business role, clearance or access level, and network address from which access is requested. Access to the plurality of records and/or documentary material can be obtained both from within a single security domain as well as across more than one security domain.

Claims

1. A system for establishing and maintaining a plurality of records and/or documentary materials to be persisted in, and accessible from, an electronic archives system, comprising:

safeguarding programmed logic circuitry configured to safeguard each said record and/or documentary material throughout its entire lifecycle by monitoring and recording both intended changes to each said record and/or documentary material and its corresponding status, as well as unintended changes to each said record and/or documentary material;

extracting and preserving programmed logic circuitry configured to extract and preserve context and structure associated with each said record and/or documentary material;

custody programmed logic circuitry configured to establish and preserve substantially uninterrupted proof-of-custody including at least a source for each said record and/or documentary material throughout its entire lifecycle;

essential characteristic programmed logic circuitry configured to capture and preserve essential characteristics of each said record and/or documentary material throughout its lifecycle in dependence on one or more changeable definitions of essential characteristic;

at least one storage location configured to store the plurality of records and/or documentary materials and all preserved information; and

access control circuitry programmed to allow a user access to the system based on one or more user attributes and/or one or more object attributes.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said user attributes include group affiliation, business role, clearance or access level, and network address from which access is requested.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said object attributes include required clearance level, group ownership, and state which includes workflow step and time of day.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said object attributes include required clearance level, group ownership, and state which includes workflow step and time of day.

5. A computer-implemented method tangibly embodied by at least instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium for establishing and maintaining authenticity of a plurality of records and/or documentary materials to be persisted in, and accessible from, an electronic archives system, the method comprising:

safeguarding each said record and/or documentary material throughout its entire lifecycle by monitoring and recording both intended changes to each said record and/or documentary material and its corresponding status, as well as unintended changes to each said record and/or documentary material;

extracting and preserving context and structure associated with each said record and/or documentary material;

establishing and preserving substantially uninterrupted proof-of-custody including at least a source for each said record and/or documentary material throughout its entire lifecycle;

capturing and preserving essential characteristics of each said record and/or documentary material throughout its lifecycle in dependence on one or more changeable definitions of essential characteristics; and

storing the plurality of records and/or documentary materials and all preserved information, and

accessing the plurality of records and/or documentary materials in accordance with user attributes and object attributes,

wherein the archives system is scalable essentially without limitation, and

wherein the authenticity of the plurality of records and/or documentary materials is comprehensively storable and maintainable over an indefinite period of time in a substantially obsolescence-proof manner despite changeability of the records and/or documentary materials, record and/or documentary material custody, and/or essential characteristic definitions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said user attributes include group affiliation, business role, clearance or access level, and network address from which access is requested.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said object attributes include required clearance level, group ownership, and state which includes workflow step and time of day.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said object attributes include required clearance level, group ownership, and state which includes workflow step and time of day.

9. A computer-implemented method tangibly embodied by at least instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium for establishing and maintaining authenticity of a plurality of records and/or documentary materials to be persisted in, and accessed from, an electronic archives system, the method comprising:

inspecting transfer media from a transferring entity to ensure that said transfer media contains at least one record and/or documentary material to be ingested;

storing the at least one record and/or documentary material to be ingested in a temporary storage location;

ensuring that the transfer media is mounted for upload into the system;

performing at least one security and/or integrity check on the transfer media;

performing at least one validation check on the at least one record'"'"'s and/or documentary material'"'"'s bit-stream;

storing the at least one record and/or documentary material to at least one managed storage location;

resolving any outstanding verification issues with the transferring entity;

persisting necessary metadata for the at least one record'"'"'s and/or documentary material'"'"'s lifecycle; and

accessing the at least one record and/or documentary material in accordance with user attributes and object attributes,

wherein the archives system is scalable essentially without limitation, and

wherein the authenticity of the plurality of records and/or documentary materials is comprehensively storable and maintainable over an indefinite period of time in a substantially obsolescence-proof manner despite changeability of the records and/or documentary materials, record and/or documentary material custody, and/or essential characteristic definitions.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said user attributes include group affiliation, business role, clearance or access level, and network address from which access is requested.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said object attributes include required clearance level, group ownership, and state which includes workflow step and time of day.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said object attributes include required clearance level, group ownership, and state which includes workflow step and time of day.