As a UK based Brit I will refer to “Centre” rather than “Center”, apologies to overseas readers…
The Records Centre capability in SharePoint 2010 provides relatively straightforward, easy to use, ERM capability. It may lack the sophistication of some specialist high end solutions, but it lacks the price tag as well. For all but the largest, most complex of ERM scenarios, SharePoint 2010 is a product worthy of consideration. In this article, the capabilities and features of SharePoint 2010 Records Centre are reviewed. The target audience is information officers, records managers and similar, who are interested in finding out a bit more about how Records Centres work in SharePoint 2010.
SharePoint 2010 provides two options for ERM, namely Records Centres and In Place Records Management. The latter is suitable for content that is already in SharePoint, and it does not allow for implementation of a fileplan. This article gives an overview of Records Centres in SharePoint 2010.
The home page of an out-of-the-box Records Centre is shown below.
Records can be added by users clicking the “Submit a Record” button, or if content is already in SharePoint there is an option to “Send to Records Centre”, which can be configured to leave a link to the record in the original location. Multiple Records Centres can be configured if required.
Records added to the Records Centre are initially placed in a document library named “Drop Off Library”. At this point they are subject to Content Organizer rules. Content Organizer rules determine the final location of a record, based on its content type and metadata. If a matching Content Organizer rule is found for an incoming record, it is automatically moved to its final destination. If no Content Organizer rules are applicable then the record will remain in the drop off library until correctly classified by a records manager. An overview of Content Organizer rules is given below.
Incoming records are also assigned a unique document ID, which is retained even if the document moves location. This ID can be used to search for the record in future.
The Records Centre Management page is shown below.
Content Organizer Rules
Content Organizer rules specify the target location for records, based on their content type, and metadata. The target location may be a document library or a folder within a document library. A sample rule is shown below.
Rules need to be set for each content type and if multiple conditions are set on metadata then they must all match for the rule to be applied.
Retention Schedules
Retention schedules can be set for content types, or for document libraries and folders. Retention schedules comprise one or more stages, with each stage being triggered by an event (typically a certain amount of time elapsing since the record was created or last modified). When an event occurs the actions that can be performed are
- Move to Recycle Bin
- Permanently Delete
- Transfer to Another Location
- Start a Workflow
- Skip to Next Stage
- Delete all Previous Drafts
- Delete all Previous Versions
The page for setting up a stage is shown below.
Holds
Holds can be used to retain content related to litigation, investigation or other content. Holds are created by searching for content, as shown below.
It is also possible to manually add or remove items from a hold, subject to having appropriate permissions.
Summary
Overall the Records Centre capability in SharePoint 2010 provides relatively straightforward, easy to use, ERM capability. It may lack the sophistication of some specialist high end solutions, but it lacks the price tag as well. For all but the largest, most complex of ERM scenarios, SharePoint 2010 is a product worthy of consideration.
Of course, there is far more to implementing ERM than the technology, and investment in requirements gathering, information audit, RM policy, file plan and project management is essential. The key, as with all ERM implementations, is to ensure that this work is done thoroughly, and that the fit with the chosen technology platform (SharePoint 2010 or other) is validated.
