ISO 23081 Records Metadata

ISO 23081 Records Metadata is the multipart international standard that defines what metadata records need and why. Where ISO 15489 sets out records management principles in general, ISO 23081 focuses specifically on the metadata that gives a record its meaning and trustworthiness throughout its life. It frames metadata not as a one-time label but as something captured at creation and continuously added to as a record is classified, used, moved, and finally dispositioned.

The standard describes metadata about the record itself, the agents involved, the business activities it documents, and the rules and events that act on it. This matters because metadata is what proves provenance, authenticity, and context long after the people and systems that made a record are gone. For example, capturing who created a document, under what authority, and every later action on it lets an organization defend the record’s integrity in an audit, a FOIA request, or litigation. ISO 23081 pairs naturally with functional system standards; note that NARA revoked its DoD 5015.2 endorsement in 2022, steering agencies toward the Universal ERM Requirements and FERMI instead.