The role of the evidence descriptor entity is similar to that of the case header. Where the case header entity contains the information standard to maintaining a case in the system, the evidence descriptor entity contains the information necessary to maintain a piece of evidence in the system, e.g., the evidence record status and the received date.
The evidence descriptor entity stores a summary of common evidence information in a single database table. This simplifies the process of retrieving evidence information since the system can read a summary of all evidence using this table, rather than having to read the individual evidence type database tables.
Including common evidence information in the evidence descriptor entity also reduces repetition as there no longer the need to model this information in each of the evidence entities. For example, information regarding the status of an evidence record is stored as part of the evidence descriptor entity. This eliminates the need for including a status code in every custom evidence entity.
The following table describes each of the attributes in the evidence descriptor entity:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Evidence Descriptor ID | Unique identifier of the evidence descriptor record. This is the primary key used to identify the evidence descriptor record in the system. |
| Case ID | Identifier of the case associated with the evidence. Evidence can be associated with either an integrated case or a product delivery case. When associated with an integrated case, it can be shared across all product delivery cases within the integrated case. |
| Participant ID | Identifier of the participant to whom the evidence relates; this could be the primary client of the case or a member of the integrated case. By recording a participant ID for each evidence record, evidence can be maintained from the participant perspective. For example, a person's evidence can be identified and canceled or transferred to an alternative case. |
| Status Code | Status of the evidence descriptor record. When an evidence record is inserted, its status is in edit. In edit evidence becomes active when a user selects to activate it by applying evidence changes. If a user modifies an active evidence record, an additional evidence record with an in edit status is created. This ensures that active evidence remains in tact until the evidence changes are fully ready for activation. When pending evidence updates are activated, the status of the active evidence becomes superseded and its in edit evidence becomes active. |
| Received Date | Date the organization received the evidence; this is a user entered field. |
| Correction Set ID | Identifier used to track all corrections to a piece of evidence. When evidence is captured, it is assigned a correction set ID. That same piece of evidence can be corrected resulting in any number of new evidence records; however, the correction set ID for each of these records is carried through thereby grouping evidence in a correction set. |
| Effective From | Date from which a piece of evidence is effective. This date is stored to support a change of circumstance to a piece of evidence over time. |
| Succession ID | Identifier of the set of evidence records that collectively represent a real world item of evidence and the changes made to it over time. |
| Related ID | Identifier of the evidence record related to the evidence descriptor record. Each time evidence is captured, an evidence descriptor record and an evidence record are created. The evidence descriptor record contains all the information described in this table; the evidence record contains all the business information modeled for the evidence entity. The related ID and the evidence type link these two records. |
| Evidence Type | Type of evidence that the evidence descriptor record relates to, e.g. "income evidence", "income usage evidence". This is a code table value. The evidence type and the related ID link the evidence descriptor record to its evidence record. |
| Pending Removal Indicator | Indicator used to flag an active evidence record for logical deletion. This indicator is set when active evidence record is selected for deletion by the user. |
| Pending Update Indicator | Indicator used to flag pending updates for an active evidence record. This indicator is set when an active evidence record is updated resulting in a new evidence record. This new evidence record shares the same correction set ID as the active evidence record, but has a status of in edit. If this indicator is flagged, the system will supersede the active evidence record when the in edit version is activated. |
| New Indicator | Indicator used to flag a new instance of evidence. When new evidence is created, this indicator is automatically flagged. The indicator is unset when the evidence is activated. Once unset, it cannot be set again, as the evidence is no longer considered new. |
| Approval Requested Indicator | Indicator used to flag evidence which requires approval from a supervisor. When a user activates evidence, the system checks if approval is required. If approval is required, this indicator is flagged until the supervisor approves or rejects the evidence. |
| Shared Instance ID | Unique identifier that will be common to all evidence records which have been shared from the same initial piece of evidence. |
| Shared Indicator | Indicates that this evidence record has been shared from another case. |
| Change Received Date | Date on which evidence changes have been received. When a user modifies an evidence record, this date defaults to the current date on the system, i.e., the date on which the modifications are saved. |
| Evidence Activation Date | Date on which evidence has been activated. The system sets this date when evidence changes are applied. |
| Shared Unchanged Indicator | Indicates that the shared evidence record has not been changed since being accepted onto the case and before being applied. This indicator is used by the evidence broker when deciding whether the evidence should be rebroadcast back to the original source case. |
| Source Case ID | The unique identifier of the case from which this evidence has been shared. |
| External Source Case Indicator | Indicates if the source case is from an external system. |
| Change Reason | This attribute indicates the reason for record correction. |