Using envelopes in Central Data Repository

Why envelopes ?

The principal underlying CDR is that an envelope contains the files for one delivery in response to a reporting obligation. Depending on the requirements of the reporting obligation, sometimes there will only be one file in the envelope and on other occasions there will be many. The envelope provides transparency and traceability for a particular delivery. The envelope is the unit processed by the data handlers when merging national data into the European data set.

When to re-open an envelope

The possibility to re-open envelopes in CDR has been provided in order to allow countries to make corrections during the delivery process – a missed file or a wrong file loaded.

Revising Data

If a country wishes to revise their data at a later date, a new envelope should be used. Each new envelope should contain the complete national delivery, not only the revised tables. Envelopes should have an appropriate title and description, which will be useful to users - for example:

Envelope date	Envelope title	Envelope description
2003-09-26	Austria_Questionnaire_lsc_2003
2003-11-06	Austria_Questionnaire_lsc_2003 rev 1	table x has been revised
2003-12-03	Austria_Questionnaire_lsc_2003 rev 2	table y has been revised

Audit Trails

Countries will in future be able to see how their data delivery has been used at international level by using Reportnet tools to follow audit trails between the national deliveries and Agency products.

The audit trail for a version of the European data set should show the CDR envelopes that have been used in its construction.

The audit trail for an indicator or report should show which version of the European data set has been used for to make the assessment.