File Plan

  • Updated

To View / Add / Edit Record Categories or Retention Schedules you need to be assigned to either the Application Administrator or Records Manager role.

Introduction

The File Plan is a key component of Records365, and drives your organization’s Records Management outcomes. Each organization typically has its own File Plan and it can change over time, so it’s important to keep it up to date with your organization’s needs. The File Plan in Records365 is made up of Record Categories (referred to as Disposal Classes in some regions).

Each Record Category/Disposal Class has a Retention Schedule associated with it. The Retention Schedule is used to assign a disposition action to the selected record category and all the records categorized under the Record Category/Disposal Class will inherit this disposition action.

Add a Record Category/Disposal Class

  1. In the left-hand navigation menu, click on the Manage section and select File Plan. Click on New Record Category/Disposal Class.
  1. Under Details enter:
    1. Title – The Name of the Record Category/Disposal Class.
    2. Record Category Identifier/Disposal Class Number – Alphanumeric or numeric identifier indicating a unique Record Category/Disposal Class.
    3. Disposition Authority – Generally, the legal authority that empowers an organization to undertake the disposition of its records.
    4. Parent Category/Parent Class – Parent Category/Parent Class in the File Plan Hierarchy.
    5. Description – A brief description of the Record Category/Disposal Class.
    6. Vital Record – Deeming a record as important. This may cover records such as those to meet operational responsibilities under national security emergencies, other emergency, disaster conditions or to protect the legal and financial rights of the Government and those affected by Government activities.
  2. Classification Intelligence (CI) specific Details:
    1. Available for Classification Intelligence – Determines whether a record category/disposal class can be used for training models within Classification Intelligence. Only applies to customers with the Classification Intelligence add-on. Default is Available to Classification Intelligence.
    2. Used in Classification Intelligence Model – Indicates whether a record category/disposal class is currently part of a trained Classification Intelligence model. When it is, then setting the Available for Classification Intelligence field to No will be prevented. Only applies to customers with the Classification Intelligence add-on.
File-Plan-Add-Category.png

Define the Retention Schedule

  1. To create a Retention Schedule for a record category/disposal class, navigate to the Retention Schedule tab of the Record Category/Disposal Class and click on Add Disposition Phase. Click on Select Disposition Action.
rm-fileplan-ret1.png
  1. The disposition actions available are:
    1. Destroy – Records authorized for destruction are permanently destroyed once they are no longer required.
      1. Select Period – The length of time that a record must be kept before it can be destroyed.
      2. Select Event – The trigger that will be used to evaluate when a record is ready for disposal.
    2. Keep Permanently – Records not authorized for destruction are designated for permanent retention.  Records that have been actioned as Keep Permanently will have a Previous Disposal Action set to Retain Permanently, a Previous Disposal Date set to the Date Filed/Declared date.
  2. Select the disposition action that you would like to add for the record category/disposal class and click Save.

Where multiple dates are added for a particular schedule, the following rules apply.

  • When there are 2 or more trigger events, retention schedule is calculated based on the 'latest' date value among these events - i.e. the longest period applies.
  • If the date value is NULL for any of these trigger events, they are ignored and the retention schedule is calculated based on the events with a date value.
  • If all of the trigger events have a NULL value then the 'Next Disposal Due' is also NULL.

 

Edit a Record Category/Disposal Class

  1. From the File Plan, select a Record Category/Disposal Class to be edited. A quick summary panel for the record category is shown. Click More…
rm-fileplan-edit1.png
  1. Modify required fields and click Save:
rm-fileplan-edit2.png

Edit Retention Schedule

  1. From the File Plan, select a Record Category/Disposal Class to be edited. A quick summary panel for the record category is shown. Click More…
rm-fileplan-edit1.png
  1. Click on the Retention Schedule tab. Click on the retention schedule if one already exists and modify the required fields, then click Save.
rm-fileplan-editret1.png

Filter the File Plan

When your organization has a large File Plan, being able to filter to a specific Record Category/Disposal Class comes in handy.

  1. On the right-hand side of the File Plan, locate the Filter box.
  2. Enter part or the full Title of a Record Category/Disposal Class
  3. Click Enter or on the Lookup icon. You will see all the Record Categories that match the query being shown in the results view.
rm-fileplan-filter2.png

You will notice that in the filtered view some Record Categories are shown with chevrons e.g. >…> HR, that means that HR is under a parent record category. You can hover over those Record Categories to see the full path.


The ‘Sort by’ button can sort based on the title and identifier of the Record Category/Disposal Class.

 

You will not be able to delete record categories once they are created. Instead, consider updating the details to the desired values and publishing the updated record category/disposal class. Alternatively, for any categories that will not be actively used, consider creating a new record category/disposal class called "archive" and place all unused categories with parent "archive."

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