Table 15 describes the available Retention fields displayed in Document Manager:
Index Field License Type Description
Retention Policy All Shows the Retention Policy applied to a document.
Purge Date All Displays the date the document is due to be deleted, as set by the purge period defined in the associated Retention Policy.
Start Date Moderate and Complex Only
The Start Date is the date from which auto-move, archive and purge times are calculated. The Start Date is set by one of the following:
• The time a document is created.
• When a condition set on the Start Conditions tab is met (Moderate and Complex licenses only)
• A user-defined field, selected on the Start Conditions tab (Moderate and Complex licenses only).
Archive Date Moderate and Complex Only
Displays the date the document is due to be archived, as set by the archive period defined in the associated Retention Policy.
Purge Status Complex Only
If a Purge Approval Workflow Process has been defined for the Retention Policy applied to the document, this index field shows the status of the document in the Purge Approval Process.
If you have defined your own domain field for use with the Purge Approval Process, the values for that domain will be displayed in this column.
Approval List Complex Only Shows the Approval List selected for the Retention Policy applied to the document.
Auto Move Date Complex Only
If you have configured the Auto Move Period for the policy attached to a document, this shows the date that a document will be automatically moved to a new drawer. The Auto Move Period is set on the Details tab for a policy. See 4.5.1 Details Tab on page 27 for more information.
Table 15: Retention Index Fields in Document Manager
The Retention Policy, Purge Date and Archive Date fields can be edited in the Modify
Document Properties dialog box for a document, providing the user has the required permissions.
See Table 13 in 4.11 Retention User Permissions on page 48 for more on the permissions.
6.4 Applying Policies to Documents
A Retention Policy can be applied to documents when they are created or imported depending on their document type or the drawer in which they are created or imported. A policy can also be applied to individual folders or documents, if the user has the correct permission. In addition, document or folder index fields can be edited so that they meet conditions specified in a policy and, as a result, then have that policy applied to them.
Once a Retention Policy has been applied to a document, the document cannot be moved to a new location in Document Manager, unless the Policy has an auto-move set up (see 4.5.1 Details Tab on
page 27 for how to define an Auto Move Period for a policy). When a Policy is applied to a document, the Cut, Copy and Paste options are not available. If a document that has a Retention Policy needs to be moved (for example, if the Policy was applied in error), the Policy must first be manually removed from the Retention Policy index field by a user with the correct permission.
Once a policy has been applied to a document, you cannot delete it manually. The document must be deleted by a Purge. A document can be deleted if the policy is removed.
6.4.1 Applying a Policy by Document Type
When importing or creating a document, you can apply a policy to it by selecting a document type with an associated policy. See 4.8 Selecting a Retention Policy for a Document Type on page 40 for how to link a policy to a document type. To see how Policies are prioritised when more than one can be applied to a document, refer to 6.2 Priority for Applying Retention Policies on page 57.
If a document has been applied a Policy through its document type and the document type is then changed for that document, the Policy will be removed and the Retention Policy index field cleared. In order to apply a new Policy to the document, a user needs to modify the document indexes so that a new Policy is manually applied or the indexes now meet the conditions in an applicable Policy. The document could also be moved into a new drawer that has a Policy applied.
To apply a policy using the document type:
1. Log in to Document Manager and navigate to the required location.
2. Either click Import on the Folder tab or select New > Document on the Document tab.
• If you selected Import, select the required document and click OK.
3. In the Import Document or Create New Document dialog box, complete the required index fields and in the DocType drop-down list, select a document type that has an associated policy:
4. Click OK to import or create your document.
Once the document is added to Document Manager, the associated policy is applied and the Retention fields update according to the policy settings.
6.4.2 Applying a Policy to Documents by Drawer
You can apply a Retention Policy to documents by importing or creating them in a drawer that has an associated policy. Refer to 4.9 Selecting a Retention Policy for a Drawer on page 42 for how to link a policy to a drawer.
To apply a policy to a document using a drawer:
1. In Document Manager, navigate to a drawer that has an associated Retention Policy.
2. Select a folder, then either click Import on the Folder tab or select New > Document on the Document tab.
• If you selected Import, select the required document and click OK.
3. In the Import Document or Create New Document dialog box, select a document type in the DocType drop-down list and complete the required index fields.
4. Click OK to import or create your document. Once the document is added to Document Manager, the associated policy is applied.
5. Select the document and click the View Index button on the Document tab. The
Document Properties dialog box displays and shows the Retention fields updated with the policy settings:
6.4.3 Applying a Policy to a Folder
If you have a number of documents in a folder that need to have a Retention Policy applied to them, you can apply the policy to the folder. New documents added to the folder will also have the policy applied. Folder policies can only be applied to top-level folders; any sub-folders will use their parent folder’s policy.
To see how Policies are prioritised when more than one can be applied to a document, refer to 6.2 Priority for Applying Retention Policies on page 57.
To apply a Retention Policy to a folder:
1. In Document Manager, navigate to and select the required folder.
2. Click Edit Index on the Folder tab. The Modify Folder Properties dialog box displays:
3. Select the required policy from the Retention Policy drop-down list:
• To ensure the selected policy is applied to existing documents in the folder, select the Apply chosen policy to all documents in this folder checkbox:
4. Click OK to save your changes and apply the selected policy to the folder. The Modify Folder Properties dialog box closes.
You can also select a policy when creating a new folder, which will apply to all new documents in the folder.
6.4.4 Applying a Policy to a Document
You can apply a policy to an existing document by editing the document properties, if you have the required permission. If you select a policy for a document in a folder or drawer with a policy
already applied, the document policy takes priority. A document policy will also override a policy set at the system level or by document type. To see how Policies are prioritised when more than one can be applied to a document, refer to 6.2 Priority for Applying Retention Policies on page 57.
To apply a policy to an existing document:
1. Navigate to and select the required document in Document Manager.
2. Click the Edit Index button on the Document tab. The Modify Document Properties dialog box displays:
3. Select the required policy from the Retention Policy drop-down list:
4. Click OK to save and set the policy for the document. The Modify Document Properties dialog closes and the document Retention fields update with the policy settings.
When a Retention Policy is selected for a document, it overrides all associated policies at the system, drawer, document type and folder levels.
6.4.5 Applying a Policy through Conditions
The System Administrator can configure a Retention Policy so that it is applied to a document when a value entered in an index field for the document meets conditions that are specified in the Policy. The condition can also be defined for a folder index field so that the Policy is applied to the documents it contains. See 4.5.2 Start Conditions Tab (Moderate and Complex Only) on page 32 for how to define conditions for a Policy.
As an example, a document index field called ‘Invoice Status’ could be created for a drawer. The field could be a domain field so that a drop-down list is presented to users when completing the index field with the options ‘Invoice Received’, ‘Awaiting Payment’, ‘Paid’ and ‘Verified’. The administrator could then create a Retention Policy that purges invoice documents that have their
‘Invoice Status’ field set to ‘Verified’, a specified time after the field is completed. In the example below, a Policy called ‘Invoice Purge 7 Years after Payment’ is created with this condition.
Example Procedure for Matching a Document Index to Policy Conditions
This example shows how a user could ensure a document meets the conditions specified in the
‘Invoice Purge 7 Years after Payment’ Policy:
1. When a user wants to specify that the invoice has been paid and verifies that it has been checked, the user simply navigates to the invoice document, selects it and then clicks Edit Index on the Document tab.
2. In the Modify Document Properties dialog box displayed, the user clicks in the Value column for the ‘Invoice Status’ field and selects ‘Verified’:
The selected value is displayed in the Invoice Status field:
3. The user clicks OK to save the change.
The invoice document now meets the conditions specified in the relevant policy. When the Retention Service next updates the database, the policy is applied to the document and the Retention Dates are calculated. See Table 5 on page 23 in 4.2 Accessing Database Retention Settings for how to configure the Retention Service updates. The updates to the Retention Settings for the document are shown in the document list columns and also in the Modify Document Properties dialog box:
In the image above, the Retention Policy ‘Invoice Purge 7 Years after Payment’ has been applied to the document and the Start Date and Purge Date have been set.