APPLYING MULTIPLE DISPOSITION SCHEDULES TO DOCUMENTS

• US 20080154969A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Filenet Corporation (International Business Machines Corporation), International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DeBie, Tod
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,472 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for applying multiple disposition schedules to documents. A file plan includes a plurality of containers, wherein each container is capable of providing management information for documents. A plurality of disposition schedules are defined, wherein each disposition schedule provides rules to use to determine documents in the file plan to dispose. At least two of the plurality of disposition schedules in the file plan are applied to one document in the file plan to determine whether to dispose of the document.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a file plan including a plurality of containers, wherein each container is capable of providing management information for documents;

defining a plurality of disposition schedules, wherein each disposition schedule provides rules to use to determine documents in the file plan to dispose; and

applying at least two of the plurality of disposition schedules in the file plan to one document in the file plan to determine whether to dispose of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein applying each disposition schedule comprises processing the rules of the disposition schedule and document metadata to determine whether the disposition schedule rules are satisfied, wherein the document whose metadata is processed is disposed of only if all the applied disposition schedules are satisfied.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein document metadata is included within the document or included in a record information object representing the document.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining multiple disposition schedules for one container, wherein applying the at least two disposition schedules comprises applying the multiple disposition schedules defined for one container to the document assigned to the container.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining at least two containers to each include at least one disposition schedule, wherein applying the at least two disposition schedules comprises applying multiple disposition schedules defined in the at least two containers to document metadata.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein containers are arranged in a hierarchical relationship, wherein one document is assigned to a first container having at least one disposition schedule, wherein the first container is a descendent of a second container in the hierarchical relationship having at least one disposition schedule, wherein the rules of the disposition schedules defined for the first and second containers are different, and wherein applying the multiple disposition schedules comprises applying the multiple disposition schedules from the first and second containers to the document assigned to the first container.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein record information objects represent documents, wherein the document metadata for one document is stored in the record information object representing the document, and wherein a document is assigned to one container by including the record information object in the container.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of containers are arranged in a hierarchy defining containers as descendants and ancestors of each other, wherein defining the disposition schedules comprises defining disposition schedules for containers at different levels of the hierarchy, and wherein applying at least two of the plurality of disposition schedules to document metadata comprises:

applying at least one disposition schedule from the container to which the document whose document metadata is being considered is assigned; and

applying at least one disposition schedule from each container having at least one disposition schedule and that is an ancestor to the container to which the document is assigned.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising, for each document in the file plan:

setting a flag indicating whether to apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers; and

applying the at least one disposition schedule defined for the container to which the document is assigned and not applying disposition schedules for ancestor containers to the container including the record information object in response to the flag indicating to not apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers, and wherein the at least one disposition schedule defined for each container having at least one disposition schedule and that is an ancestor to the container to which the document is assigned is applied in response to the flag for the record indicating to apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining at least one disposition schedule for one document, wherein applying the at least two of the disposition schedules in the file plan further comprises applying the disposition schedule defined for the document.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple disposition schedules that apply to one record information object provide different disposition schedule rules, wherein the rules of one disposition schedule provide criteria for document metadata comprising at least one of a type of the document and content of the document.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

invoking an application as part of applying the at least two disposition schedules, wherein output from the invoked application is used to determine whether to dispose of the document.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the invoked application processes document metadata to produce the output.

14. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a file plan including a plurality of containers, wherein each container is capable of providing management information for documents;

a records manager executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

defining a plurality of disposition schedules, wherein each disposition schedule provides rules to use to determine documents in the file plan to dispose; and

applying at least two of the plurality of disposition schedules in the file plan to one document in the file plan to determine whether to dispose of the document.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein applying each disposition schedule comprises processing the rules of the disposition schedule and document metadata to determine whether the disposition schedule rules are satisfied, wherein the document whose metadata is processed is disposed of only if all the applied disposition schedules are satisfied.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining multiple disposition schedules for one container, wherein applying the at least two disposition schedules comprises applying the multiple disposition schedules defined for one container to the document assigned to the container.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining at least two containers to each include at least one disposition schedule, wherein applying the at least two disposition schedules comprises applying multiple disposition schedules defined in the at least two containers to document metadata.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein containers are arranged in a hierarchical relationship, wherein one document is assigned to a first container having at least one disposition schedule, wherein the first container is a descendent of a second container in the hierarchical relationship having at least one disposition schedule, wherein the rules of the disposition schedules defined for the first and second containers are different, and wherein applying the multiple disposition schedules comprises applying the multiple disposition schedules from the first and second containers to the document assigned to the first container.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein a plurality of containers are arranged in a hierarchy defining containers as descendants and ancestors of each other, wherein defining the disposition schedules comprises defining disposition schedules for containers at different levels of the hierarchy, and wherein applying at least two of the plurality of disposition schedules to document metadata comprises:

applying at least one disposition schedule from the container to which the document whose document metadata is being considered is assigned; and

applying at least one disposition schedule from each container having at least one disposition schedule and that is an ancestor to the container to which the document is assigned.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the operations further perform for each document in the file plan:

setting a flag indicating whether to apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers; and

applying the at least one disposition schedule defined for the container to which the document is assigned and not applying disposition schedules for ancestor containers to the container including the record information object in response to the flag indicating to not apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers, and wherein the at least one disposition schedule defined for each container having at least one disposition schedule and that is an ancestor to the container to which the document is assigned is applied in response to the flag for the record indicating to apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining at least one disposition schedule for one document, wherein applying the at least two of the disposition schedules in the file plan further comprises applying the disposition schedule defined for the document.

22. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

invoking an application as part of applying the at least two disposition schedules, wherein output from the invoked application is used to determine whether to dispose of the document.

23. An article of manufacture implementing code for records management operations, wherein the code causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

providing a file plan including a plurality of containers, wherein each container is capable of providing management information for documents;

defining a plurality of disposition schedules, wherein each disposition schedule provides rules to use to determine documents in the file plan to dispose; and

applying at least two of the plurality of disposition schedules in the file plan to one document in the file plan to determine whether to dispose of the document.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein applying each disposition schedule comprises processing the rules of the disposition schedule and document metadata to determine whether the disposition schedule rules are satisfied, wherein the document whose metadata is processed is disposed of only if all the applied disposition schedules are satisfied.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein document metadata is included within the document or included in a record information object representing the document.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining multiple disposition schedules for one container, wherein applying the at least two disposition schedules comprises applying the multiple disposition schedules defined for one container to the document assigned to the container.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining at least two containers to each include at least one disposition schedule, wherein applying the at least two disposition schedules comprises applying multiple disposition schedules defined in the at least two containers to document metadata.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 27, wherein containers are arranged in a hierarchical relationship, wherein one document is assigned to a first container having at least one disposition schedule, wherein the first container is a descendent of a second container in the hierarchical relationship having at least one disposition schedule, wherein the rules of the disposition schedules defined for the first and second containers are different, and wherein applying the multiple disposition schedules comprises applying the multiple disposition schedules from the first and second containers to the document assigned to the first container.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein record information objects represent documents, wherein the document metadata for one document is stored in the record information object representing the document, and wherein a document is assigned to one container by including the record information object in the container.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein a plurality of containers are arranged in a hierarchy defining containers as descendants and ancestors of each other, wherein defining the disposition schedules comprises defining disposition schedules for containers at different levels of the hierarchy, and wherein applying at least two of the plurality of disposition schedules to document metadata comprises:

applying at least one disposition schedule from the container to which the document whose document metadata is being considered is assigned; and

applying at least one disposition schedule from each container having at least one disposition schedule and that is an ancestor to the container to which the document is assigned.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein the operations further comprise, for each document in the file plan:

setting a flag indicating whether to apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers; and

applying the at least one disposition schedule defined for the container to which the document is assigned and not applying disposition schedules for ancestor containers to the container including the record information object in response to the flag indicating to not apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers, and wherein the at least one disposition schedule defined for each container having at least one disposition schedule and that is an ancestor to the container to which the document is assigned is applied in response to the flag for the record indicating to apply disposition schedules from ancestor containers.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining at least one disposition schedule for one document, wherein applying the at least two of the disposition schedules in the file plan further comprises applying the disposition schedule defined for the document.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein multiple disposition schedules that apply to one record information object provide different disposition schedule rules, wherein the rules of one disposition schedule provide criteria for document metadata comprising at least one of a type of the document and content of the document.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein the operations further comprise:

invoking an application as part of applying the at least two disposition schedules, wherein output from the invoked application is used to determine whether to dispose of the document.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 34, wherein the invoked application processes document metadata to produce the output.