Add a naming pattern

A naming pattern provides a way to automatically name record categories, record folders, and records to meet your conventions. When a user creates one of these entities that has an associated naming pattern, the name is automatically supplied on the Set Properties step. The system does not prevent the user from changing that name.

Incrementing numbers are assigned and used up as soon as the Set Properties step appears. If you cancel before creating the entity, that number will never be used.

Automatically name records

To automatically name records, enter a naming pattern in the Record Pattern field of the parent container. The record pattern is a property of the container. Thereafter, all records declared into that container will acquire the next name in the pattern's sequence and will increment according to the value you enter in the Record Pattern Increment By field. See About naming patterns for help in constructing the pattern.

Automatically name categories and folders

To automatically name categories and folders, follow these steps.

  1. Add a naming pattern in the Configure tab. See To add a naming pattern.
  2. Add pattern levels starting from the confirmation page or later in the information pages. See To add a pattern level.
  3. Assign a naming pattern to a file plan. See To assign a naming pattern to a file plan.

About naming pattern syntax

Your business process might require that folder names should start with the letter A, followed by two digits representing the year, a hyphen, and then a folder number, such as A07-000005. The following pattern creates such names:

A[YY]-[\d\d\d\d\d\d]

In this pattern A is the first character, YY represents the year, and \d is a numeral. The system automatically provides default values for patterns enclosed by square brackets []. Thus, YY is replaced by the last two digits of the current year. \d is replaced by incrementing digits. You specify the increment value in another field when entering the string.

Let us consider another example of a record naming pattern. You want to create a naming rule for folders in series "KX" followed by a 2-digit year, period, 2-digit month, hyphen, and two sets of incrementing numerals, such as "KX07.06-0004-03." The following pattern would fulfill this requirement:

KX[YY.MM]-[\d\d\d\d]-[\d\d]

You can also use custom patterns to create metadata-based patterns. For instance, your organization policies may require that the record folder naming convention should be year, space, subject (metadata) of the record folder, space, and a 5-digit number, such as "2006 Loan 00005." For this, you can create a naming pattern with following specifications:

[YYYY] [THIS.EmailSubject] [\d\d\d\d\d]

or

[YYYY] [Parent.EmailSubject] [\d\d\d\d\d]

The system will provide the default values for year and subject because these are enclosed in []. THIS.EmailSubject is a custom pattern. Therefore, the system will provide the value of the metadata field, EmailSubject that you specify for the parent of the record folder.

You need to specify the symbolic name of the property while creating a custom pattern. Also, if there is no value available for the specified property, an error is generated. This custom pattern is applicable for only those entities at level 2 or below (3, 4, and so on) in the file plan. File Plan Level is another field you complete when adding a pattern level.

TIPS

Do not use any characters that are invalid in names. For example, do not use a slash (/) character when incorporating dates. Invalid characters are:

\ / : * ? " < > |

To ensure that users do not exceed the number of characters that you have specified in the naming pattern, delimit the naming pattern using the ^ and $ symbols. For example, if you create the naming pattern, \d\d\d, append the ^ symbol at the beginning of the naming pattern, and the $ symbol at the end of the naming pattern, as shown below:

^\d\d\d$

This will ensure that when a user enters a value, the number of characters entered does not exceed the number of characters specified in the pattern string.

To add a naming pattern

  1. Sign in as Records Administrator and select the Configure tab.
  2. Click Naming Patterns.
  3. Click Add Naming Pattern.
  4. On the Add Pattern page, enter a name and description for the pattern.
  5. Select Name or Identifier from the Apply to Name or Id drop-down menu. Depending upon the value you select, the name or identifier of the record category or record folder will be automatically generated according to the associated pattern.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Set the security for the naming pattern and click Finish.
  8. On the confirmation page, click Add Pattern Level to add levels to the naming pattern. If you want to add levels later, click OK to close the Add Pattern page. See Modify a naming pattern for information about adding patterns later.

To add a pattern level

A pattern level supplies the details of the pattern to be applied to record categories and record folders. You specify one or more levels in the file plan and the type of entity each applies to. When a new entity of that type is created at the specified level, it is automatically named according to the pattern string and incremental number.

This procedure continues from the confirmation page after you click Add Pattern Level. If you are adding pattern levels later, see Modify a naming pattern.

  1. Enter a File Plan Level Number. The level in the file plan hierarchy is represented by a number, where the first category in the file plan is 1. Its first subcategory is 2. If that subcategory has a record folder, its level is 3.
  2. For the Matching Entity Type, select either Record Category or Record Folder. For example, if you specify 3 as the level and Record Category as the entity type, all record categories that exist at the third level in the file plan will follow the specified naming pattern.
  3. Specify the Pattern String, as described above. See About naming patterns. The pattern string must provide for a numeric character.
  4. Enter a value for the Record Pattern Increment By. Using a value of 1, each new category or folder affected by the pattern will be incremented at the next highest value. An increment of 2 uses every other number. This field must be greater than zero.
  5. Click Add. This lists the pattern at the bottom of the screen and clears the fields so you can add additional patterns for other entities and levels.
  6. Click Exit when finished adding pattern levels.

Example

If you want subcategories of a top level record category to be automatically named, create a pattern for level 2 and select Record Category as the type. If you also want record folders in that subcategory to be automatically named, create a pattern for level 3 and select Record Folder as the type. Having both of these pattern levels in the naming pattern results in subcategories at level 2 and record folders at level 3 being automatically named.

To add or modify pattern levels later

  1. Navigate to the naming pattern (Configure tab, Naming Pattern) and click its Get Info button.
  2. Select Manage Pattern Level in the sidebar.
  3. If adding a pattern level, complete the fields as described in To add a pattern level above. If modifying an existing pattern level, continue to step 4.
  4. Select the radio button of the pattern. This copies existing data into the fields.
  5. Change the fields as required and click Edit.
  6. When finished, click Exit.

To assign a naming pattern to a file plan

This step is required to activate auto naming.

  1. Navigate to the root level of the file plan so that the path shows only the name of the file plan.
  2. Click Get Info for the file plan (just beneath the path). The Naming Pattern field is on the Properties page.
  3. From the Naming Pattern drop-down menu, select the name of the pattern you want to use.
  4. Click Apply and then Exit.