IBM® Enterprise
Records is
an add-on component of the IBM FileNet® P8 suite
of products. IBM Enterprise
Records enables
you to create and maintain accurate, secure, and reliable records
for both electronic and physical information. You can use IBM Enterprise
Records to manage records of any
type, regardless of the storage media or format. Understanding IBM Enterprise
Records depends on understanding
what a record is and why you use a records management system.
Records management
Records
management refers to managerial activities, such as planning, controlling,
and organizing for the creation, storage, usage, retrieval, and disposal
of records. In other words, records management includes all of the
activities that you perform to maintain records throughout their lifecycle
of creation, active use, inactive storage, and disposition.
Need for records
management
To ensure that the organizational information is
accurate, complete, and easily accessible, you need to set up a reliable
records management system. Otherwise, you may invest a significant
amount of time in nonproductive activities, such as manually locating
information or searching for missing or misfiled records.
In the
absence of a records management system, it might become difficult
to locate, interpret, and comply with the record keeping laws and
regulations. This can result in severe fines, penalties, and other
legal consequences. You may also encounter risks associated with litigation,
confidentiality, and safety of critical and vital information if you
do not maintain and manage records properly.
Use IBM Enterprise
Records to mitigate the above-mentioned
risks. You can use IBM Enterprise
Records to
preserve valuable information as records, available when required
using search techniques, while nonessential or inactive records are
either destroyed or archived.
Role of IBM Enterprise
Records in records management
IBM Enterprise
Records enables you to manage
records across the enterprise, independent of the storage media. The
purpose of
IBM Enterprise
Records is
to ensure that:
- Records are easily accessible when needed across the enterprise
- Records are disposed of when they are no longer useful or no longer
required by legal, regulatory, or administrative directive
Using
IBM Enterprise
Records, you
can:
- Create and maintain a hierarchical structure (file plan) for storing
records.
- Manage both electronic and physical records.
- Secure repositories that contain records.
- Create retention and disposal rules for records.
- Force archival or destruction of records based on these rules.
- Control access to records.
- Retrieve records based on search criteria.
- Destroy records that are no longer required by the organization.
Features and benefits
of IBM Enterprise
Records
The
following table lists the features of
IBM Enterprise
Records along with benefits provided
by that feature.
Feature |
Benefit |
Centralized repository for records |
- Widespread use and availability of information across the enterprise.
- Effective decision making due to timely availability of relevant
information.
|
Virtual locations and containers for storing records for electronic
and physical documents in a hierarchy |
- Control over hard copy document collections and electronic files.
- Simulation of real-world office environment.
- Virtual locations and containers model the actual physical storage
structure.
- Cost control through reduced expenditure on office space, equipment,
and personnel required for records management and retrieval.
|
Easy-to-use search features |
- Timely and easy access to required information without the use
of complicated query syntax.
|
Retention and disposal rules for records |
User-defined control over: - Duration for which a record should be retained.
- Treatment of the record at the end of its retention schedule.
- Review of records before they are destroyed.
|
Audit procedures for records, automated tracking of retention
period, and initiation of disposal process for records |
- Records are not accidentally destroyed, altered, manipulated,
damaged, or lost.
- Records are destroyed only according to the disposition schedule
or as part of an audit procedure
- Records that are no longer required are disposed of to reduce
storage requirements.
|
Import and export of records |
- Records that are not frequently required by the organization but
need to be retained in order to comply with government regulations
can be exported to some other location.
- Records can be imported from other records repositories.
|
Appropriate security controls for records |
- Unauthorized users cannot access records.
- Users cannot accidentally delete records. Records can be deleted
by a Records Administrator or as a result of an audit procedure.
- Users can perform only those record-related operations for which
they have appropriate access rights.
|
Integration with IBM FileNet P8 Workplace, Workplace XT, Microsoft Office, and
Microsoft Outlook |
Manual or automatic declaration of records from: - Workplace or Workplace XT
- Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power Point
- Entry templates
|
User roles in IBM Enterprise
Records
IBM Enterprise
Records provides a role-based
user security model, and includes roles for Records Administrator,
Records Manager, Privileged User (DoD and Base) or Records Reviewer
(PRO), and Records User. Each role determines which tasks a user belonging
to that role can perform. For more information, see
FileNet P8 security.
Types of IBM Enterprise
Records installations
Before
installing the
IBM Enterprise
Records application,
you must choose the type of installation (data model) that fulfills
your records management needs. The following data models are available:
- Base: Provides core records management functionality and properties.
The Base installation of Records IBM Enterprise
Records is the recommended installation
for IBM Enterprise
Records because it
adds the minimal number of properties and will fit most needs. Functionally,
the Base installation provides the same capability as the DoD installation.
- DoD: Fulfills the Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.2 Chapter 2
and Chapter 4 standards, which provide implementation and procedural
guidance on the management of records in the DoD. In addition, the
DoD installation of IBM Enterprise
Records defines
specific system interfaces and search criteria, and describes the
minimum records management requirements that must be fulfilled based
on current National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regulations.
- PRO: Fulfills the Public Record Office (PRO) requirements for
electronic record management.
Types of IBM Enterprise
Records entities
In
IBM Enterprise
Records, records are stored in
a hierarchical structure that contains different record management
entities. The following figure depicts the hierarchical structure
of these entities followed by a brief explanation of each entity:

- Object store: Refers to a repository of objects and a suite of
accompanying storage and retrieval services for these objects. An
object store can be:
- File Plan Object Store (FPOS): Contains the file plan, that is,
the entire hierarchy of record management entities that you create.
- Records Object Store (ROS): Contains documents that can be declared
as records in an FPOS.
You are encouraged to configure separate object stores for records
(metadata) and documents that are declared as records. Thus, the FPOS
contains the file plan structure, while the ROS contains documents,
some of which are declared as records. Typically, there would be many
users with access to the ROS who should not have access to the entities
that make up your file plan in the FPOS. You can have more than one
ROS associated with one FPOS.
- File plan: Defines the organization of records. In a file plan,
you store records in a structured hierarchy designed to preserve the
context of records. For example, you can create file plans that reflect
business functions of the organization. You can then catalog records
under these schemes based on these business functions. You can also
associate a naming pattern with a file plan. All entities created
under the file plan will follow the record naming pattern.
- Record category: Categorizes a set of related records within a
file plan. Record categories are created to catalog records based
on functional categories. A record category can contain subcategories
or record folders (but not both). The Base and DoD data models allow
declaration of records directly in a record category; the PRO data
model does not. In addition, you can associate retention and disposition
rules with each category. These rules apply to all record folders
and records that are created within the category.
- Record folder: Serves as a container for related records. It is
used to manage records according to the specified retention periods
and disposition events. You can create electronic, physical, and hybrid
record folders under a category to manage electronic and physical
records.
- Electronic folder: Used for storing electronic records. An electronic
folder can also contain markers. A marker is an electronic entry for
a physical record that cannot be stored in a physical file. Examples
of such records are large building plans, videotapes, or a database.
- Physical folder: Stores records for physical items such as paper
records. A physical folder is a virtual entry for a paper folder.
Based on your organization's physical storage structure, you can model
the hierarchy of physical folders in IBM Enterprise
Records.
- Box: A box provides a mechanism to model physical entities that
contain other physical entities. For example, you might create a "Warehouse"
that contains "Shelves" that contain "Boxes" that contain "Physical
Folders." A box can contain another box, a physical folder, or a record.
- Hybrid folder: Refers to a collection of related electronic and
physical records.
- Volume: Serves as a logical sub-division of a record folder into
smaller and easy-to-manage units. A volume has no existence independent
of the folder. A record folder will always contain at least one volume,
which is automatically created by the system when a record folder
is created. Thereafter, you can create any number of volumes within
a record folder.
- Record: A record provides metadata about a document or physical
object that is placed under control of the IBM Enterprise
Records application. A record
may inherit some of its behavior from the record folder in which it
is created. For example, it may inherit the disposition schedule of
the parent record folder. You can categorize records into:
- Electronic record: Points to an electronic document.
- Marker: Points to a physical object or paper document.
- Vital record: An essential record that is required for meeting
operational responsibilities during an enterprise-wide emergency.
Vital records are periodically reviewed and updated.
- Permanent record: A record that has been identified as having
sufficient historical or other value to warrant continued preservation
by the organization beyond the time it is normally required for administrative,
legal, or fiscal purposes.
- Record types: You can associate a record type with records that
have common features. For example, you might define a record type
to specify a common disposition schedule for records and to aid the
search and retrieval of records. You use record types when a group
of records existing under a record folder should have a disposition
schedule that is different from the one currently associated with
the record folder.
The following is an example of the hierarchy of record management
entities
File plan
General management (category)
Correspondence files (folder)
Program briefings (folder)
2006 Management training conference (volume)
2007 Management training conference (volume)
Information management (category)
Correspondence files (folder)
Operator's number sheets (folder)