Event Driven Disposition

• US 20090328070A1
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: PAKNAD, Deidre, POGODIN, Andrey, RAYNAUD-RICHARD, Pierre
• Granted Patent: US 8,327,384 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

This disclosure relates to systems, methods and apparatuses for managing the retention and disposition of data for an event consumer using an Enterprise Retention Management System wherein the management is driven by business events.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of managing the retention and disposition of data in an Enterprise Retention Management System comprising:

providing at least one event consumer, wherein data is stored in the at least one event consumer;

providing at least one event producer, wherein at least one business event message originates in the at least one event producer, wherein the at least one business event has an intended effect on at least a portion of the data within the at least one event consumer;

providing an Enterprise Retention Management System;

propagating the at least one event message from the at least one event producer to the Enterprise Retention Management System;

identifying a portion of the data within the event consumer affected by the business event message;

translating the business event message into a data disposition request;

propagating the data disposition request to the at least one event consumer; and

disposing of at least a portion of the data within the event consumer based on the disposition request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the event consumer is selected from among:

file systems;

content management systems;

document management systems;

structured applications;

email servers and archives;

file archive;

electronic discovery databases;

court record databases and proprietary information management systems.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one event message is propagated by any of web service requests, electronic mail communications, peer-to-peer transfers, instant messaging communications, and native API calls.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Enterprise Retention Management System stores at least one retention schedule for the data stored in the at least one event consumer, wherein the at least one retention schedule contains information relating to the rules regarding the data'"'"'s retention.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Enterprise Retention Management System stores a reference to the at least one event producer.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Enterprise Retention Management System stores a reference to the at least one event consumer.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Enterprise Retention Management System stores reference to at least one relationship between at least one event consumer and at least one retention schedule, wherein the relationship defines a type of records stored in the at least one event consumer and defines what retention schedule is to be applied to the records.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of propagating the event message from the at least one event producer to the Enterprise Retention Management System comprises the Enterprise Retention Management System communicating with the at least one event producer, and wherein the Enterprise Retention Management System receives business event messages from the at least one event producer.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the event producer pushes a business event message to the Enterprise Retention Management System.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the Enterprise Retention Management System pulls a business event message from the at least one event producer.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprises establishing a standard protocol for exchanging business events between the at least one event producer and the Enterprise Retention Management System.

12. The method according to claim 8, further comprises establishing at least one connector between the at least one event producer and the Enterprise Retention Management System, wherein the at least one connector comprises a proxy for translating the event message to be understood by the Enterprise Retention Management System.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of propagating the event message from the at least one event producer to the Enterprise Retention Management System comprising a user manually entering the event message into a user interface to the Enterprise Retention Management System.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a configuration step comprising:

polling the at least one event producer about what type of events are produced by the at least one event producer;

receiving from the at least one event producer information about what type of events are produced by the at least one event producer, wherein each type of event declares at least one event parameter;

polling the at least one event consumer about the at least one event consumer'"'"'s capabilities;

receiving from the at least one event consumer information about the at least one event consumer'"'"'s capabilities, wherein the at least one event consumer'"'"'s capabilities are represented by at least one type of disposition request containing at least one parameter;

choosing one event type from said producer and one disposition request type from said consumer and relating said event type and said disposition request type; and

identifying at least one parameter within said event type that corresponds to at least one parameter within said disposition request type, wherein linked parameters are formed; and

optionally choosing at least one retention schedule and optionally choosing at least one document type from said consumer and associating said retention schedule and said document type with an instructional route.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the event consumer comprises a user interface for manual execution of disposition.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of receiving information from the at least one event consumer about the at least one event consumer'"'"'s capabilities includes receiving information that the at least one event consumer is a simple consumer, wherein a simple consumer is not capable of managing a disposition based on a retention schedule for the data contained therein.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

managing a retention schedule within the Enterprise Retention Management System, wherein the step of propagating the data disposition request to the at least one event consumer comprises sending a delete request.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of receiving information from the at least one event consumer about the at least one event consumer'"'"'s capabilities includes receiving information that the at least one event consumer is a retention-capable consumer, wherein a retention-capable consumer is capable of managing a disposition based on a retention schedule for the data contained therein.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of propagating the data disposition request to the at least one event consumer comprises sending the disposition request to the at least one consumer, said disposition request comprising parameters for identifying data which is subject to disposition, said parameters comprising a retention schedule and, optionally, a document type;

wherein said disposition request is sent to said consumer as soon as possible after an event is received from a producer.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of propagating the data disposition request to the at least one event consumer comprises sending a separate API call for each particular retention schedule contained within the event consumer.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of propagating the data disposition request to the at least one event consumer comprises sending a full detailed record of the retention schedule and disposition instructions.

22. The method according to claim 14, wherein the configuration step further comprises manually creating a retention schedule for at least one consumer during the configuration step.

23. The method according to claim 14, wherein the configuration step further comprises providing a user with a list of event categories to facilitate linking event types in a producer with disposition request types in a consumer.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the categories are presented to the user in a hierarchal format.

25. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

providing a Filter Application that comprises conditional logic for determining whether a business event affects an Event Consumer based on the event parameters, wherein the Filter Application filters types of disposition requests based on the event parameters.

26. The method according to claim 14, further comprising calling a Parameter Resolver to provide additional information that is missing from an event coming from an event producer.

27. An enterprise retention management apparatus comprising:

at least one event producer, wherein the at least one event producer produces at least one event message, wherein the event message relates to a business event;

at least one event consumer data source containing electronically stored information, wherein the electronically stored information has an associated retention schedule;

an enterprise retention management (ERM) application stored on a computer-readable medium, wherein the (ERM) application accepts event messages from the at least one event producer and alters the retention schedule of the electronically stored information.

28. The enterprise retention management apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the event consumer is selected from among:

file systems;

content management systems;

document management systems;

structured applications;

email servers and archives;

file archive;

electronic discovery databases;

court record databases and proprietary information management systems.

29. The enterprise retention management apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the at least one event producer is configured to send and the enterprise retention management application is configured to receive any of web service requests, mail server requests, peer-to-peer transfers, instant messaging protocols, and native API calls.

30. The enterprise retention management apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising at least one event producer ERM connector comprising an interface for communication between the at least one event producer and the enterprise retention management application.

31. The enterprise retention management apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising at least one consumer ERM connector comprising an interface for communication between the at least one event consumer and the enterprise retention management application.

32. The enterprise retention management apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising a Configuration Application stored on a computer-readable medium and a Graphical User Interface coupled with the Enterprise Retention Management application.