Changing record disposition

It depends on a number of factors which disposition options are available for a record. For example, Set the disposition of the Record to is unavailable entirely when the record is in a Hold that has Only prevents changes to the disposition of Records selected.

Commonly in Records Management, all records would have retention schedules applied, which govern when records should have their disposition changed. You would then search for those records regularly by using the Retention and Disposal search methods to identify the records for disposal action, and apply the options in this dialogue box.

There is also an advanced disposal processing feature in Content Manager, which you can activate by using the Administration - System Options - Features page and selecting Advanced Disposal Processing. It gives you additional tools to the dialogues described below to manage record disposal more easily. See Advanced disposal of records.

To change the disposition of a record, right-click it and on the Archiving menu, use one of the commands below, select the required options for the change and click OK in the next dialogue box.

  • Make Inactive - displays the Make Record Inactive dialogue to change the record disposition status from Active to Inactive. Inactive usually means that the record is no longer active and you should not make any changes to it.
  • Make Active - reverses a record's disposition status from Inactive to Active, using the Make Record Active dialogue. Active is the default disposition for new records.
  • Undispose - reverses a record's disposition status Disposed to Inactive, using the dialogue Revert disposal metadata for the selected Records
  • Dispose - changes the record's disposition status to Disposed. Choose your disposal options in the Disposal action for selected Records dialogue box described below.
    Dispose is only available for single and container records that have:
    • All electronic documents checked in
    • No records in a Hold
    • All records at their Home Location

    NOTE: Electronic records can be disposed of when they are not "at home".

    • All records in their containers
    • No records already on a destruction consignment

When using some of the commands, you can decide whether Content Manager should ignore processing errors for items and continue with the other items, or not, with the option When processing contents, continue processing when items fail.

  • Change disposition to - to change the record disposition to a Disposed status. By default - depending on the configuration of the Record Type - Content Manager applies the Active disposition to new records.
    When you click OK to apply the new disposition to the record, Content Manager checks that the disposition change is in line with other requirements, for example, whether the Retention Schedule applied to the record allows the action. If not, then Content Manager will not carry out the change.
    • Archived (Keep Forever) - the record is stored in the organisation's own archive facility.
      Sets:
      • Disposition to Archived (Keep Forever)
      • Date of Disposal to the current date
    • Archived (Custody Transferred) - the record is or will be stored by a different organisation in their archive facility. This other organisation will also take over custody of the record. Content Manager deletes the attached electronic document and it will not be recoverable.
      Sets:
      • Disposition to Archived (Custody Transferred)
      • Date of Disposal to the current date
      • Home and Owner Location to the destination agency
      • Assignee to At Home
      Additionally, this action destroys the electronic record.
    • Destroyed - the record has been fully sentenced and has been destroyed.

      Sets:

      • Disposition to Destroyed
      • Date of Disposal to the current date
      Additionally, this action destroys the electronic record.

      A warning message will appear: This Record has an electronic attachment that will be destroyed and you can use Cancel to not carry out the action, or OK to confirm.

      It is recommended to perform a search in Content Manager immediately before destroying records to ensure that they have been reviewed and that nobody has added documents to them since they were last reviewed.

    • Remove record metadata on destruction - select this option to remove the record's metadata when it's disposition is changed to Destroyed.

    • IMPORTANT: If the record being destroyed is a part, if the option Remove record metadata on destruction is enabled, the Destroy disposition change will fail for all parts other than the first part in the series. To delete part records, the first part must be deleted first and then the parts must be deleted in sequence. That is, the first part must be deleted, then the part volume, and so on. You will not be able to delete later part s while there is an earlier part still in the Content Manager dataset.

  • Change the consignment number to - type to set the consignment number for the selected records
  • Automatically enclose any contents - select for Content Manager to automatically enclose records in a container when the container's disposition is changed
  • Continue processing the contents even when items fail - select to ignore errors when applying the new disposition
  • If the record is in a container then - choose what Content Manager should do with records that are contained by the records that you are applying the new disposition to:
    • Remove this Record from its Container - removes the contained records from their container
    • Cancel the disposition change - makes no changes to the contained records
    • Proceed with disposition change regardless - applies the same disposition to the contained records
  • New Home when making Custody or Container changes - use when a record is being re-located to a different storage site.
    For example, when you change its disposition to Archived (Custody Transferred), and it is to be permanently stored in a new site, changing the record's Home Location represents transferring it to the new record custodian.
    • Set to Location - changes the Home Location to the selected Location
      • Use Custody Transfer location from trigger if available - if applicable, select this option to use the specified location from the Transfer Custody trigger.
    • Set to Space - changes the Home Location to the selected Space management level
    • Leave Home unchanged - will not modify the Home Location

    To change the record's Assignee Location as well, use right-click - Locations - Assignee.

  • View Disposition Schedule - shows the schedule events that will be applied
  • Set Date Closed to - to specify a closing date for the record, select one of the following options:
    • Last Action Date - the date that the record last had an action on it.

      In this case, action refers to any modification of the record's details - for example, record movements, title changes etc.

    • Date Created of last content - only applies to container records.

      It is the last date a record was added to the container.

    • Specified Date - sets a specific date that the record was closed.

      Type in the date/time or use the calendar to select a date or you can select from the drop-down list values, for example, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

  • Set Last Action Date To - you can change the last action date of a record.

    Select from the following options:

    • Date Created of last content - only applies to container records.

      Will set the last action date to the last date a record was placed in the container.

    • Specified date - sets a specific date that the record was closed.

      Type in the date/time or use the calendar function to select a date or you can select from the drop-down list values, for example, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

The Advanced tab enables you to export the records and their attached documents to an external file folder for sending to an archive.

You can also set the more complex disposition change options:

  • Export contents
    • Select a directory for all exported Records and documents - the target folder to hold the record metadata details - in XML format - and their attached documents
  • Choose the type of contained documents you wish to export - refines the selection of documents:
    • Only documents declared as final - exports only contained documents that have been finalised
    • All documents - exports all contained documents
  • Remove contents from the container - select this option to set how records in containers should be handled.
    • Remove them - remove all contents from their containers.
    • Remove those records that are older than - select this option to set a date limit as to which contained records should be removed.

      From the drop-down list, select the date type:
      • Date Created
      • Date Closed
      • Date Registered
      • Date Modified
      • Last Action Date

      Using the calender button to set the date that the records must be older than to be removed.

  • Finalise contents - select this option to finalise all contained records.

When you change the disposition for an electronic record to Destroyed:

  • Content Manager may show error or warning messages when:
    • Uncompleted Actions exist
    • The destruction date based on a schedule is later
    • When prevented by the Record Type properties setting Defaults page Prevent Disposition Change If No Schedule
    • The schedule has no destruction date
    • There are outstanding requests
    • The container disposition is different
    • The record is an original that was redacted
    • It is related to another record
    • It has an electronic attachment
    • It is associated with an Content Manager workflow
  • When a record's disposition is set to Destroyed, many record tasks become unavailable, like moving it to a container with the disposition Active, or change Actions, Retention Schedules or Additional Fields
  • When a record's disposition is set to Destroyed, then a note appears in the Assignee, Owner and Home fields in the view pane
  • Destroyed records in the Space management system - if you have records located in Space management that have a disposition of Destroyed, you will be unable to change their Locations. Instead, use Recalculate and click Yes when Content Manager prompts you whether to reclaim Space for records that have been destroyed. All records within the Space that have been destroyed will have their Home Location set to Destroyed. It is advisable that you move the records out of the Space management system before destroying them.

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