The term Alcoa is an Acronym, which stands for Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original and Accurate. Alcoa was then expanded to Alcoa Plus (Alcoa +), by the addition of a few more concepts which are; Complete, Consistent, Enduring and Available
Attributable — Who recorded the data or performed an action and when
Legible — Records are readable and permanent assists with its accessibility throughout the data lifecycle.
Contemporaneous — Documented or recorded at the real-time of the activity.
Original — A first written record, printout or observation or any reports.
Accurate — free from errors or editing without documented amendments.
Complete — All thoroughgoing data including any repeat or reanalysis performed on the sample.
Consistent — All elements of the analysis such as the sequence of events follow on and are date or time stamped in the expected sequence.
Enduring — Not recorded on the back of envelopes, cigarette packets, sticky notes, or the sleeves of a coat but in notebooks or electronic media in the data systems of instruments.
Available — Can be accessed for review and audit or inspection over the lifetime of the record.
