A single record means little on its own. A name on a register, a date on a filing, an entry in a directory: each is a fact, but the meaning of the fact is supplied by the context in which it sits. The work of an assessment is, in large part, the work of supplying context.
Context is partly chronological. A filing made before another filing implies a sequence; a filing made simultaneously with another implies coordination; a filing made after a known event implies a response. Reading the record without attention to the dates loses the most important information about it.
Context is partly relational. A name that recurs across several filings is a single person (or a closely linked group). An address that appears across several entities binds them. A professional firm that signs at multiple steps is the same firm at each.
Context is partly contextual to the field. A reader who knows the customary patterns of a particular industry can recognise what is ordinary in a filing and what is unusual. A reader who does not know the patterns cannot distinguish the routine from the significant.
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The desk's work begins with the records but does not end there. The reading depends on the context, and the context is supplied by years of reading similar records across many situations. An assessment without context is a list of facts; an assessment with context is an understanding.
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