To control retention and disposition of records, you define
and associate a disposition schedule with record containers and record
types. In a disposition schedule, you specify the retention rules
for records and instructions for disposing of them at the end of the
retention period.
Disposition instructions include:
- Review
- Transfer to an archive for permanent preservation
- Export to another location
- Destruction
You define different phases through which a record passes in a
disposition schedule. Each phase has a defined retention period. At
the end of each phase, the specified action is performed on records,
then the records pass to the next phase. The disposition schedule
is interrupted for entities on which a hold is placed. It is resumed
after all holds are removed.
To calculate when records are ready for disposition, you run Disposition
Sweep. For more information, see the sweep processes topic. Disposition
schedules are imported and exported when using the File Plan Import
and Export tool.
Disposition schedule
parameters
A disposition schedule includes any of the following
parameters:
- Event Triggers the commencement of cutoff. Cutoff
means closing entities so that you can start their disposition. Cutoff
ends the active use of old records.
- Cutoff action Action performed automatically on entities
after cutoff is triggered and any specified offset time elapses.
- Offset Time gap between the start of cutoff and launch
of the cutoff action.
- Disposal phases Phases defined to control the retention
of records in a particular state for a specified time period.
- Phase disposition instruction/action Action that
needs to be initiated manually when the retention period of a phase
is over. Each phase has an associated disposition action. Phase disposition
actions can be review, transfer to an archive for permanent preservation,
export, or destruction.
- Disposition workflows Each disposition action has
an associated workflow. When an action is initiated, the system runs
the associated workflow to perform a pre-defined set of instructions
on records.
Disposition schedule
inheritance
You can associate a disposition schedule with a
record category, a record folder, or a record type. A record folder
can have its own disposition schedule or it can inherit the disposition
schedule associated with a parent record category.
By default, a
record inherits the disposition schedule of the folder where it is
declared. However, if you want to associate a different disposition
schedule with the record, then you can create a record type. Then
associate the required disposition schedule with this record type,
and assign this record type to the record. When different disposition
schedules are associated with the category, folder, and type of a
record, the record inherits the disposition schedule from the record
type. If a record is created directly under a record category, the
record inherits the disposition schedule of the record category.
Generally,
the lowest level disposition schedule in a hierarchy of a record is
applicable. The following diagram depicts the inheritance of disposition
schedules by different entities under different conditions:

If you move a record
category or folder, assign a disposition schedule to the container.
Also, specify which entities in the container are affected by your
assignment. For more information about moving entities, see the relocate
topic.
If you do not assign a disposition schedule when relocating
a container, then the following is true:
- If the container inherits the disposition schedule of the parent
entity, the container will inherit the disposition schedule of the
new parent after relocation.
- If the container has a disposition schedule that is different
from the parent entity, the container continues to have the same own
schedule after relocation.
Disposition process
After
you associate a disposition schedule with a record category or folder,
all records created in that container inherit the disposition schedule
by default. When the cutoff action is performed on records, they become
due for disposition and move to the disposition phase. Entities identified
as ready for disposition are marked with the ready for
disposition icon:
.
Authorized users can initiate disposition.
After getting approval from the Records Manager, the system performs
the associated disposition actions on approved entities. You can assign
one of the following disposition actions to a phase in the disposition
schedule:
- Review: An authorized person reviews the disposition
status of entities to determine whether they can proceed to the next
step. You can assign the Review action as many times as necessary.
- Export: Entities are copied or exported to a different
system or object store. Later, in a separate action, you can remove
the records from the previous location.
- Export with mapping: Entities with custom properties
are copied or exported to an organization that uses the DoD V3 schema,
such as National Archives and Records Administration. In a separate
action, you can remove the records from the previous location.
- Two-Step Transfer:Entities are transferred to a specified
location at the end of the retention period. Transfer is followed
by destruction when the records manager confirms that the entities
were successfully transferred and are ready for destruction.
- Two-Step Transfer with mapping:Entities with custom
properties are transferred to an organization that uses the DoD V3
schema at the end of the retention period. National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) is an example of one of these organizations.
Transfer is followed by destruction when the records manager confirms
that the entities were successfully transferred and are ready for
destruction.
- Destroy:Entities are permanently deleted from the
repository. You can assign this action to an entity only one time.
Links associated with a record are deleted along with the record.
- Interim Transfer with mapping:Entities with custom
properties are temporarily transferred to an organization that uses
the DoD V3 schema.
If a destroy workflow fails for any reason, the entity remains
in the Disposition in progress status. You
need to initiate disposition on the entity again. For more information,
see the initiating a disposition schedule topic.
Sweep properties
Some properties are dynamically
updated by Disposition Sweep. If these properties are used as the
retention base for alternate retentions, an update Disposition Sweep
is in a longer retention period. Do not use any of these properties
as the retention base for an alternate retention:
- Current Phase Execution Date
- Current Phase Action
- Last Sweep Date
- Current Phase Decision Date
- Current Phase Review Decision
- Current Phase ID
- Recalculate Phase Retention
- Current Phase Execution Status
- DisposalPhases
- CycleYears
- CycleMonths
- CycleDays
- CurrentActionType
- VitalWorkflowStatus
- VitalSweepDate
- VitalRecordReviewDate
- Vital Record Next Review Date
- CurrentPhaseId
- AlternateRetentions
- RetentionBase
- RetentionPeriodYears
- RetentionPeriodMonths
- RetentionPeriodDays
- CurrentPhaseExportFormat
- ExportFormat
- CurrentPhaseDecisionDate