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High priority issues emphasize several characteristics of metadata quality including completeness, accuracy, and accessibility. For high priority issues, completeness is measured by a metadata record's compliance with required UMM elements. Any UMM required elements which are missing or incorrect will be prioritized as red. Accuracy is assessed by comparing how well the metadata record describes the the actual data. Incorrect or outdated information will be prioritized as red. Lastly, accessibility is evaluated by any barriers that may occur in accessing the described data. Therefore, broken URLs, broken services and incorrect persistent identifiers are prioritized as red.

In general, high priority issues include (but are not limited to):

• Broken URLs
• Spelling and grammatical errors
• Incorrect usage of controlled vocabulary
• Required fields which are left blank
• Outdated/incorrect information

Issues flagged as red are required to be addressed by the data provider.

Medium priority issues emphasize consistency and completeness. Consistency is assessed by ensuring that similar information is presented the same way across collections. Consistency makes searching for data easier and more reliable for the user. Therefore, consistency issues are prioritized as yellow. For yellow issues, the idea of completeness is expanded to include more information beyond what is required by the UMM. Information which makes the metadata more complete and facilitates discovery for the user is prioritized as yellow.

In general, medium priority issues include (but are not limited to):

• Highly recommended (but not required) content is missing from the metadata
• Recommended revisions to existing content

Data providers are strongly encouraged to address yellow flagged issues. If a yellow flagged issue is not addressed, the data provider will be asked to provide a justification as to why.

Low priority issues also focus on completeness, consistency, and accuracy. Any additional information that may be provided to make the metadata more robust or complete is categorized as blue. Additionally, any minor inaccuracies or inconsistencies are categorized as blue. In general, low priority issues include (but are not limited to):

• Minor errors and inconsistencies
• Informational comments

Blue issues may or may not require action on behalf of the data provider, and are not required to be addressed. Recognizing that the perfect may be the enemy of the good, a blue issue may not be required to be resolved by a data provider as long as a justification is provided as to why the issue was not addressed. This justification is required in order for ARC to resolve issues and to provide updated quality metrics.