All the objects you can access in an object store belong to a class. The class determines the properties and behavior of the object. For example, all folders belong to the Folder class, all documents belong to the Document class, and all custom objects belong to the Custom Object class. The behavior and properties for a folder are different from the behavior and properties for a document or custom object. For example, you can check out documents, but you cannot check out custom objects and folders.
Your system administrator defines the properties for a particular class, and can create new subclasses of a class. For example, the Document class always includes the system property Date Created. If your site needed a project account code for all documents, the system administrator could add the property "Project code" to the base Document class. If your site needed to apply some properties to some types of documents but not to others, your administrator could define one or more new subclasses to handle the additional properties. For example, your expense report documents might need properties for account codes, while your marketing documents might need properties for project codes, project release dates, and management approvals. When users add or check in a document, they select the appropriate class for the document, and then fill in the property values.
You cannot define classes or properties. You can select a class for objects that you add or check in, and you can set the values for the properties for items that you have appropriate access rights to. You can set the property values during an initial add procedure, when checking in a document, or from the Properties view of the object's information page in Workplace.
NOTE The document lifecycle policy is assigned to a document class and is used by your administrator. The lifecycle policy must grant Link rights on the Content Engine for you to use this policy. However, you cannot set the rights from. Your administrator can modify the rights.
Some property values are created by the system and cannot be modified directly. System properties such as Creator and Date Created are set at the time the object is added to an object store. Other properties, such as Last Modifier and Date Last Modified, are updated by the system when the object, its properties, or its security are modified. System Properties are always read-only properties and their names can be customized by your administrator.