Retention assignments are the items and events (disposition actions) for which users are responsible for reviewing or processing. A user can quickly access retention assignments by clicking Records then Approvals from the Top menu. They can also be accessed by clicking My Content Server then My Records Assignments from the Main menu.
This section discusses processing retention assignments, which include reviewing items subject to review and processing disposition actions. It covers the following topics:
The Approvals menu options provide a link to items needing to be reviewed and all pending events needing to be processed.
A disposition is an action taken on content after a triggering event has occurred. For complete details about setting up dispositions, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Setup Guide for Universal Records Management.
This chapter describes how dispositions are processed and what approvals may be needed in order for some specific types of disposition actions to proceed.
This section discusses the following topics:
Content can be subjected to periodic review whether it is managed in a disposition or not. From a DoD perspective, content subject to review are 'vital'. According to NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration in the United States, 'vital records' are essential government agency content needed to meet operational responsibilities under emergency or disaster conditions, or are required to protect legal and financial rights of the Government. and update for any purpose so designated.
Organizations that are not government agencies may have content that is vital to their type of business and therefore subject to review.
Content that is subject to review typically comprise about five percent of content deemed critical to a business. Some examples of content of this type include:
software source code
patents and copyrights
legal documents such as trusts, estates, and wills
regulatory compliance data
Cycling vital content that is subject to review refers to the periodic replacement of obsolete copies of content with copies of current content. Initial reviews are based on the content release date content and the filing date for record folders. The next review date is based on the reviewer's last review date.
To find items awaiting review click Records then Approvals from the Top menu. Click Pending Reviews.
If you are a member of the RmaReviewers alias, click List All on the Table menu on the page. This shows all items awaiting review and the person assigned to do those reviews. Click List Mine to show only those items awaiting the logged-in user's approval.
Some pending triggering events require only approval by the person specified as the Notification Reviewer when the disposition was first set for the category. After the action has been approved, it is marked as such and is processed when dispostions are run, usually overnight. The disposition actions are logged in the audit log and are subsequently removed from the approval list.
Some events require two steps, depending on the event type and the item to be processed. First, they must be approved and after an action has been carried out manually, they must be marked as completed after the required event action has been executed (for example, physical transfer to a different location). See "Multi-Step Disposition Processing" for details.
To view items awaiting disposition click Records then Approvals from the Top menu. Click Pending Dispositions. To also access pending dispositions click My Content Server then My Records Assignments from the Main menu.
After an event has been processed (approved and marked as completed if required) it should automatically be removed from the pending event pages (approval list and/or completion list). If an event remains on these pages there is probably a frozen item or folder preventing its removal.
For example, if a total of ten items are affected by a Destroy event and one of them is frozen, then the event for that one item will remain in the approval list, and the event will move to the completion list for the other nine items. These nine items can then be destroyed and the event marked as completed, but the frozen item cannot be processed until it is unfrozen.
See "Viewing Failed Dispositions" for information about how to find those dispositions that did not succeed.
Use the Retention Step Search Page to screen for disposition steps. For example, a user can screen to discover what actions have been approved, who approved them, and what actions are done. From the screening results, a report can be created that can then be used as a destruction certificate, if needed. To access this page, click Records then Audit then Retention Steps from the Top menu. See "Searching Retention Steps and Actions" for details.
Information can also be displayed about any disposition actions which did not process correctly. The Failed Dispositions Page shows those dispositions actions which did occur as specified. To access this page, click Records then Audit then Fail Dispositions from the Top menu. See "Viewing Failed Dispositions" for more details.
Pending events and review cycles are processed by the system every night on a 24-hour cycle. Notifications are sent daily at midnight.
Use the Batch Services options on the Records menu to process certain actions immediately rather than wait for the scheduled processing time. Options on the Batch menu include:
Run All: processes all events pertaining to reviews or dispositions
Process Dispositions: processes all disposition-related pending events
Process Reviews: processes pending reviews regardless of whether items are in a disposition or not.
Send Notifications: sends any pending notifications relating to dispositions
Run Other: processes other batch services unrelated to disposition processing such as notification of monitoring alerts, scheduled key rotation, and so on.
It may be useful to select another user than yourself to perform review actions and process disposition events, for example when you are out of the office for some time. Alternate reviewers can be specified in your user profile. They will then receive e-mail notifications of any pending actions assigned to you and can act on them.
Permissions:
The Admin.PerformActions or Admin.PerformPendingReviews right is required to perform this action. The Admin.PerformActions right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role. The Admin.PerformPendingReviews right is assigned by default to all roles. A user can also ask your Records Administrator to specify an alternate reviewer.Log in and open your user profile. Select an alternate reviewer from the list. The list includes all users who have been specified as default notification recipients as discussed in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Setup Guide for Universal Records Management. The selected person will now receive e-mail notifications of pending actions and events assigned to you.
By default, only the alternate reviewer will receive notifications and not the users. The system can be configured so both the users and the alternate reviewer are notified. To accomplish this, make sure the config.fg configuration file contains the following line:
RmaNotifyReviewerAndAlternateReviewer=true
Restart the content server for this setting to take effect.
The following tasks are performed when processing disposition actions:
Permissions:
The Admin.Audit right is required to perform this action. This right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role.To screen for disposition actions and events, complete the following steps:
Click Records then Audit then Retention Steps from the Top menu.
The Retention Step Search Page is displayed.
Select the criteria for the search from the provided pulldown lists. The options on the lists will vary depending on customizations in place at the site. This list provides some examples of the type of criteria available:
Sources: Select the repository source for the search. Click the Select button to display a list of sources which can be used.
Disposition Criteria: Includes criteria specific to dispositions such as a derived triggering event or location type.
Category Criteria: Includes criteria specific to retention categories such as restrictions (edits, revisions, deletions) and review information (review periods and reviewers).
Records Folder Criteria: Includes criteria specific to folders such as cutoff date, profile trigger, and freeze name for freezes applied to the folder.
Content Criteria: Includes criteria used for content such as author and content type.
Retention Steps Criteria: Includes options for retention actions such as freezing dispositions and action state.
Select sorting preferences in the Results Options area.
Use the defaults or select another option from the Sort By list.
Sort by default descending order or select ascending order.
To view the results of the screening immediately, click Search. Any results matching the screening criteria display in the Retention Step Audit Result Page.
To schedule the retention report to run later, select the criteria for the screening and click the Schedule button.
The Schedule Retention Step Audit Report Page is displayed.
Provide a name for the screening report.
Provide the start date of the screening report. This is the date the scheduled screening report will be generated. If the screening report is recurring, the first screening report will be generated for the first time on this date, and all subsequent reports at the end of each recurring period after this date.
To create a screening report periodically rather than just once, select the Is Recurring box. Specify the interval at which the recurring screening report will be created (for example, every 2 weeks).
Click OK when done.
Permissions:
The Admin.Audit right is required to perform this action. This right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role.Follow this procedure to find disposition actions which have not succeeded and 'replay' those actions as needed.
Click Records then Audit then Failed Dispositions from the Top menu.
The Failed Dispositions Page is displayed.
Use this page to view information about failed disposition actions. The following actions can also be performed:
To restart the disposition, select the checkbox for the item and click Retry from the Table menu.
To create a report of failed dispositions, select the items to include in the report then click Create Reports from the Table menu.
To mark the disposition as complete regardless of whether the action succeeded or not, click the checkbox for the item and click Skip from the Table menu. Use this option with caution because it may have unforeseen consequences when a disposition is skipped.
Permissions:
The Folder.Read right and Record.Read right are required to perform this action. All predefined management roles have this right. The Admin.PerformActions right is required to view your own or pending events of others. This right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role.Follow this procedure to view pending actions to be taken:
Click Records then Approval from the Top menu. Choose the type of pending approval to view: Reviews or Dispositions.
The Pending Dispositions Page or Pending Reviews Page is displayed.
These pages listactions awaiting approval. It lists actions assigned to the logged-in user as well as actions assigned to other users if the logged-in user has permission to see those actions.
Follow this procedure to perform reviews. Use this procedure to review items that have been marked as Subject to Review, or items in a category that has a disposition that is Subject to Review.
Permissions:
The Admin.PerformPendingReviews right is required to perform this action. This right is assigned by default to the Records Officer and Records Administrator role. When performing reviews of items assigned to others, you must also be designated as the main notification recipient.Follow the link in the e-mail sent by the system to notify the reviewer or click Records then click Approvals then Pending Reviews.
The Pending Reviews Page is displayed.
Click the checkbox of the item to be reviewed then click Set Dates and Mark Reviewed from the Table menu. If this is a folder to review, the option Mark Reviewed Recursive can be used to mark all items in the folder as reviewed.
In addition, you can click Set Dates then select Mark reviewed from the Actions menu for individual items.
To perform a different action involving dates (mark the item as expired, canceled, or obsolete, for example), click the item's Action menu then click Set Dates and choose the appropriate menu option.
Enter a comment for the action (review, expiration, and so on) or leave that field blank if a comment is not needed.
The current date is inserted to indicate the date on which the action happened. This date can be changed by typing a new date or selecting one from the calendar icon.
After inserting the information, click OK. The item is then removed from the list of pending reviews.
Permissions:
The Category.EditReview right or Folder.EditReview right is required to perform these actions. This right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role.Follow this procedure to edit retention category or record folder review information:
Find the Retention category or folder to use.
Click Edit then Edit Review from the page Action menu (if editing a category review) or the item's Action menu (if editing a folder review).
The Edit Review Information for Retention Category/Folder Page is displayed.
To change a review category to non-review category, clear the Subject to Review box. The remaining fields become gray and unavailable. To change a non-review category to a review category, select the Subject to Review box.
Tech Tip:
Remember the review setting is inherited. If items or record folders should stay as subject to review, make sure to set the review information for the child record folders that no longer inherit review status from their retention category. Any content filed directly into retention categories are directly affected by review status changes.To select, remove, or change a reviewer, select the reviewer from the Reviewer list. Select the topmost blank to remove the reviewer and allow the system default to designate the reviewer.
To edit or enter the review period, enter an integer and select a review period in the Review Period box and list.
Click Submit Update. An update message is displayed, and the Retention Category Information Page displays the review information that was entered.
When editing folder review information, keep the following points in mind:
The Folder.EditReview right is required to perform the action. This right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role.
Follow the same procedure to change folder review information as that used to change an item's review information. Remember the review setting is inherited, and if any child folders should stay as subject to review, make sure to set the review information for record folders that no longer inherit it from a parent folder or category.
The selected reviewer must have the Records Administrator or Records Officer role because users assigned the Records User role cannot mark a record folder as reviewed.
This section contains procedures for processing pending events.
In the following event descriptions, all events are accessed by clicking Records then Approvals and selecting Pending Review or Pending Disposition or by clicking the link in the email notifiying a user of dispositions or reviews to be performed.
Events for yourself are listed. To view assignments to other users, you must be added to the RmaReviers alias. Then click List All on the Table menu on the Pending Dispositions Page or Pending Reviews Page.
The following list describes common functionality regardless of the type of action being processed:
The Admin.PerformActions right is required to perform these actions. This right is assigned by default to the Records Administrator role.
For most events, when the disposition event is processed, an audit log file is created automatically. A screening can be done for that audit log and it can be checked in as a content item if needed. An audit log is not created for a Move event or a No Action event.
Most actions are run automatically with the batch services that are run nightly or when a Batch Services option is selected by clicking Records then Batch Services.
The following persons may receive notifications of events triggered by disposition rules, depending on the system configuration:
the author or "filer" of a retention category
members of the RmaReviewers alias group
the additional notification reviewer, if specified when the disposition rule was set up for the category
The pending events appear in both the other notification recipient's approval list and the filer's own approval list. If the main recipient processes the event, the event is removed from the author's approval list and vice versa. Some events only require approval. After approval of these events, their associated disposition actions are executed when the dispositions are run, usually nightly, unless otherwise processed by selecting an option from the Batch Services menu. The processed events are subsequently removed from the approval list.
Some events require multiple steps, depending on the event type and the item to be processed. First, they must be approved and after approval they must be marked as completed. Items marked as completed often must be physically moved to complete the action (for example, transferring an item to different location).
When an event must be marked as complete, it still appears on the Pending Dispositions Page and the name of the event is changed to indicate it must be marked complete (for example, Mark Transfer Complete). To mark the item as complete, check the box for the item then click Approve from the Table menu.
To mark multiple items as reviewed, click the checkbox for the item and choose Mark Reviewed from the Set Dates menu on the Pending Reviews Page. A prompt appears to enter any review comments.
The current date is inserted as the review date. This date can be changed by typing a new date or selecting one from the calendar icon.
After inserting the review information, click OK. The item is then removed from the list of pending reviews.
Disposition actions can be divided into two types: those requiring one step for completion and those requiring multiple steps. This section describes each type of disposition processing.
Dispositions are grouped and held in batches. They are automatically scheduled and executed at the same time as other batch processes, normally at midnight or later.
To execute dispositions immediately, click Records then Batch Services from the Top menu. Select the type of action to process (dispositions, review, notifications, and so on). See "Using Batch Processing" for information about the options on the Batch Services menu.
If a processed event does not become available to mark as complete, then affected items (for example, content in a folder) are frozen and cannot be processed. Use the List Disposition Folders and Content option from the item's Action menu to view the contents of the folder. The frozen items will not be processed until they are unfrozen. It is also possible the disposition failed. See "Viewing Failed Dispositions" for information about checking on a disposition status.
The follow disposition events require multiple steps for processing. For complete details about disposition events, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Setup Guide for Universal Records Management:
Accession: An accession is one of the last actions in a disposition sequence. Files for accession are stored in a directory (typically in the weblayout_dir/groups/secure/rm/RmaAccessionApp directory) and a user can then choose how to hand off the files to the final archive institution.
The option also is available to destroy the items while retaining their metadata or to destroy items without retaining metadata. This option is selected when the category's disposition is created. An accession event consists of two steps: it must be approved first and then, after the action has been carried out, it must be marked as completed.
Archive: The Archive action creates a zip file of the content and folder. Within each zip archive, there is a copy of each item and its metadata. The meta files contain the item metadata in the format specified by the Archive Meta Data Format setting on the Configure Retention Settings Page (hda, xml, or csv). An archive event consists of two steps: it must be approved first and then, after the action has been carried out, it must be marked as completed. The .zip file is stored in a location on the computer. To see the location, click Archive Location from the Action menu of an Archive action on the Pending Dispositions Page.
Move: A move action does not leave a copy of internal (electronic) items on the system. This action should not be confused with moving retention items within the retention management system, which is accomplished with the Move command within the retention schedule (Browse Content menu). A move event consists of two steps: it must be approved first and then, after the action has been carried out, it must be marked as completed.
Transfer: A transfer action leaves a copy of internal (electronic) items on the retention management system. A transfer event can be considered complete when an organization sends the items to another organization. A transfer event consists of two steps: it must be approved first and then, after the action has been carried out, it must be marked as completed. A terminal transfer action is when the transfer disposition action is the last action for a disposition schedule. If the Transfer action is the last step (rule) in a disposition action, the items must be destroyed before the step can be marked as completed.
One aspect of these events is the ability to destroy items in conjunction with the processing. For example, you can choose to transfer items and destroy the metadata after the transfer, or you can retain the metadata. Another example is to move content and either destroy or keep the metadata. These actions are chosen when the disposition for the category is set up initially. See the Oracle Fusion Middleware Setup Guide for Universal Records Management for details.
The number of disk scrubbing passes that accomplish the destruction can be configured by setting the following parameter in the config.cfg environment file:
RecordsManagementNumberOverwriteOnDelete
Restart the content server after setting this variable. By default, the number of scrubbing passes on the hard disk is set to 2.
The destroy process can consist of one or two steps. For electronic (internal) items, multiple actions are carried out automatically by the system. If metadata was to be destroyed with the items, that is done as well.
For physical (external) items, which are managed using Physical Content Management, two steps are required: the event must be approved first and then, after the external items have been destroyed manually, it must be marked as completed.
The name listed in the ID column is the name of the category involved in the disposition followed by a step number. Note that numbering begins with step 0.
Click Records then Approvals from the Top menu. Click Pending Dispositions or click the link in the notification email.
The Pending Dispositions Page is displayed.
To view information about the disposition action, click the action name. The Disposition Information Page is displayed. To view what items are included in this action, click List Disposition Folders and Content from the Actions menu of a disposition action. An individual disposition can also be approved from this menu.
Click the checkboxes of the actions to approve and click Approve on the Table menu.
The Disposition Parameter Dialog is displayed.
Enter a reason for the action and click OK. To abort the entire action, click Cancel.
The action is approved. After processing (either during the scheduled processing time or after a batch service is run) the event appears on the Pending Dispositions Page and is available to mark as completed if needed.
After an item has been marked as approved and is processed, it remains on the Pending Dispositions Page but the name of the action is changed to Mark action Complete (for example, Mark Accession Complete).
Internal items are completed as needed automatically. This action is transparent to users but the system approval steps are listed in the disposition.
Follow these instructions to mark an action as completed:
Click Records then Approvals from the Top menu. Click Pending Dispositions or click the link in the notification email.
The Pending Dispositions Page is displayed. Note that all disposition actions awaiting approval are displayed, not just those actions awaiting completion.
To view information about the disposition action, click the action name. The Disposition Information Page is displayed. To view what items are included in this action, click List Disposition Folders and Content from the Actions menu of a disposition action. An individual disposition can also be approved from this menu.
Click the checkboxes of the actions to approve (mark complete) and click Approve on the Table menu.
The Disposition Parameter Dialog is displayed. Enter a reason for the disposition action and click OK. Click Cancel to abort the entire action.
If the action requires a decision involving destruction (that is, to detroy or keep metadata associated with the action), choose a destruction method from the pulldown menu in the Disposition Parameter Dialog. Disposition actions that involve such a choice are Accession, Archive, Move, and Transfer.
The action is removed from the Pending Dispositions Page. If further approvals are needed (that is, if another action must be taken to complete the disposition) that action will appear on the Pending Dispositions Page after processing (either during the scheduled processing time or after a batch service is run.
The following dispositions require single step processing:
Classified Records Actions
Review Classification: This action indicates it is time to review the security classification status of an item.
Upgrade Classification: This action indicates it is time to increase the security classification of an item. Classifications can be increased as high as the classification of the user applying the classification.
Declassify: This action indicates it is time to declassify content.
Downgrade Classification: This action indicates it is time to lower the security classification of an item.
Dispose Actions
Delete Previous Revision: This action indicates it is time to delete the revision before the content item revision that triggered the disposition action. The revision that activated the trigger may be the latest revision of a content item, but does not need to be.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 5 (the latest revision), then only revision 4 is marked for deletion.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 3, then only revision 2 is marked for deletion.
Delete Revision: This action indicates it is time to delete the content item revision that triggered the disposition action. This revision may be the latest revision of a content item, but does not need to be.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 5 (the latest revision), then only revision 5 is marked for deletion.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 3, then only revision 3 is marked for deletion.
Approve Deletion: This action indicates it is time to approve record folders or content for deletion.
Delete All Revisions: This action indicates it is time to delete the content item revision that triggered the disposition action and all earlier revisions. The revision that activated the trigger may be the latest revision of a content item, but does not need to be.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 5 (the latest revision), then revisions 1 through 5 are marked for deletion (effectively removing the content item altogether).
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 3, then revisions 1 through 3 are marked for deletion.
If the DoD Config module is enabled, all revisions can be deleted and the metadata destroyed or kept, or only old revisions destroyed. Metadata cannot be retained unless the DoD Config module is enabled.
Delete Old Revisions: This action indicates it is time to delete all revisions before the content item revision that triggered the disposition action. The revision that activated the trigger may be the latest revision of a content item, but does not need to be.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 3, then revisions 1 and 2 are marked for deletion.
If a content item has 5 revisions and this disposition action is activated for revision 5 (the latest revision), then revisions 1 through 4 are marked for deletion.
Delete Working Copy: This action deletes the working copy of a cloned content item. It first deletes the direct working copy of the clone. Then all previous revisions of the working copy are deleted until a revision of the fixed clone itself is found. The deletions stop at that point.
Delete Previous Clones: This action deletes the previous clone of a content item.
Other
Check in New Revision: This action indicates it is time to take the latest revision of the affected content items and check a copy of this revision as a new revision. This may be useful to process a content item revision based on changed historical information, "refresh" an expired document, or enter a content item into a criteria workflow for disposition processing.
Activate: This action indicates it is time to activate record folders or content.
Close: This action indicates it is time to close record folders.
Cutoff: This action indicates it is time to cut off content or record folders from further processing. Cutoff refers to changing the status of items to prohibit further processing.
Cutoff and Create Volume: This creates a volume folder, content is placed inside, and the volume is cut off.
Expire: This action indicates it is time to expire record folders or content.
Obsolete: This action indicates it is time to mark content as obsolete.
Mark Related Content: This action marks any content linked to the current content.
No Action: This action indicates there is no action to take currently. This action usually found mid-disposition. A No Action action acknowledges a disposition milestone has passed, and the next step in the disposition begins processing.
Notify Authors: This action indicates it is time to notify the author of the affected category that disposition actions are due for the category.
Supersede: This action indicatesthat new content will be checked into the category or folder, superseding the original content item. The superseded item is indicated by a strikethrough on its name.
Click Records then Approvals from the Top menu. Click Pending Dispositions or click the link in the notification email.
The Pending Dispositions Page is displayed.
To view information about the disposition action, click the action name. The Disposition Information Page is displayed. To view what items are included in this action, click List Disposition Folders and Content from the Actions menu of a disposition action. Individual items affected by the current action can also be approved using this menu.
Click the checkboxes of the actions to approve and click Approve on the Table menu.
The Disposition Parameter Dialog is displayed.
Enter a reason for the action and click OK. To abort the entire action, click Cancel.
The action is approved and is removed from the Pending Dispositions Page.