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 should pass
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 has been placed. It will
be resumed after all holds are removed.
To calculate when records are ready for disposition, you run Disposition
Sweep. See Sweep processes. 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:
- 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 once cutoff is triggered and any specified offset time has
elapsed.
- 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 launches
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, 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 record category, record folder, and record
type of a record, then 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.
As a general rule, the lowest level disposition schedule
in a record's hierarchy 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,
you can assign a disposition schedule to the container and specify
which entities in the container are affected by your assignment. For
more information about moving entities, refer to Relocate a category or folder.
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 if they can proceed to the next step.
You can assign the Review action as many times as necessary.
- Export Entities will be 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
will be copied or exported to an organization that uses the DoD V3
schema, such as National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
In a separate action, you can remove the records from the previous
location.
- Two Step Transfer Entities will be 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 will be transferred to an organization that uses the DoD
V3 schema, such as National Archives and Records Administration (NARA),
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.
- Destroy Entities will be permanently deleted from
the repository. You can assign this action to an entity only once.
Links associated with a record are destroyed along with the record.
- Interim Transfer with mapping Entities with custom
properties will be temporarily transferred to 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. See Initiating a disposition schedule.
Best Practices
Some properties are dynamically
updated by Disposition Sweep. If these properties are used as the
retention base for alternate retentions, an update Disposition Sweep
could 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