To configure a Records Center in SharePoint 2010, you
begin by defining the content types that will be used to classify
records throughout your enterprise. You then create a site based on the
Records Center site template and configure the methods you will use to
route documents to this site after they have been classified. Finally,
you create information policies on the record libraries within the site
to apply the rules dictated by the file plan. The following is a summary
of the steps you should follow to implement a Records Center.
Create content types at the enterprise level using MMS.
Create a new Web application and use the Records Center template for site collection.
Create a records library in the Records Center for each content type.
Define required metadata on the document libraries or content types.
Define Information Management Policies to implement the File Plan rules.
Create content organizer rules to route documents to the correct records library.
1. Creating and Managing a Content Type
A content type is a reusable
collection of settings that can be applied to a document to categorize
its content. Content types are essential to the proper functioning of
your Records Center because documents submitted to the Records Center
are automatically organized by content type. To ensure that all records
are routed correctly, it is important to configure your enterprise
content types strategy before implementing your Records Center.
In a traditional file plan, record
classifications are tracked by using identification keys or codes that
organize the records files for easy browsing. For example, a file may be
given a “Document ID” such as ACCT-DOC-001 that you would interpret as
file number “1” of the “DOC” format in the “Accounting” division. These
classification designators are often used to create a hierarchical
structure of folders for organizing files. In SharePoint 2010, the
recommended classification approach is to apply a specific content type
to each document before it is submitted to the Records Center.
For every record type in your
file plan, create a corresponding content type that users can apply to
documents. Content types support inheritance, which allows you to base a
new content type on an existing content type. In this way you can
define a single content type with specific attributes and create a
derived content type based on it. You can then add new attributes to the
new content type to extend the definition. In some cases you may want
to create several derived content types from the same parent type to
distinguish different documents that otherwise have the same attributes.
For example, the Financial Statement and Fiscal Report content types
might be two subtypes of the parent type Finance Document, created to
distinguish two specific types of documents in the same general
category. Each type could then be routed into a different records
library in the Records Center or they could be grouped together.
Inheritance for content types works only within site collections, not between them. You can create parent and child relationships between content
types either within the same site or between a parent site and a child
site. However, if you have several source sites that will submit
documents to the Records
Center, then you will need to re-create the content types in every site
collection. A more efficient approach might be to create the content
types using the Managed Metadata Service application service provided in
SharePoint 2010. This service allows you to publish your content types
to all site collections contained within any Web application consuming
from the Managed Metadata Service. This ensures that the content types
are uniform across the environment and are only deployed to the
appropriate site collections.
For content to be
correctly routed and stored in the Records Center, it is essential that
users apply the appropriate content types to documents before they are
submitted to the Records Center. If users upload existing documents to a
document library, and the library is configured with multiple content
types, then users will be prompted to select a content type for the
document. Alternatively, users can create new content directly from
content type templates by selecting the content type from the New menu
in the document library. In both cases, the user must provide values for
any required data fields associated with the content type. Content
managers for each site collection should review documents periodically
to ensure that they are being assigned the appropriate content types as
defined in the file plan.
2. Creating the Records Center
The Records Center site is
used in conjunction with content types in SharePoint 2010 to implement
the file plan. The Records Center site template has been designed for
use as the storage location for the “official” copies of all records in
your organization. That does not mean that the file will be the only
copy; there might also be other copies of a document in other sites, but
the copy in the Records Center can be configured to prevent it from
being changed.
Note:
BEST PRACTICES You should create the Records Center on a separate Web application with the Records
Center template selected as the root site collection to ensure that
there is complete security separation between the center and any other
sites. The security on the Records Center should be more restrictive
than on other sites, set so that very few users have document edit
privileges. Another advantage of using a separate Web application for
the Records Center is that it will use a separate SQL Server database
for all data stored in the application. This allows you to back up and
restore the repository on a different schedule from other sites.
Additionally, having the repository in a separate application makes it
easy to set up indexing of content on a separate schedule.
The Records Center contains a
number of specialized features that make it easy to use as a records
management site. The Records Center contains the following Records
Center–specific features.
Figure 8-16
shows a site created from the Records Center site template with two
additional records libraries created and the site collection Document ID
feature enabled. Records are added to the Record Center using the
Submit A Record button on this page or using a farm-wide Send To Records
Center option. By default, this page contains four Web Part zones,
making this page easy to customize to provide additional information.
When a record is sent to the
Records Center, it is placed in the Drop Off Library until the Content
Organizer rules are assessed, at which point, if there is a destination
available based on content type or metadata, it is sent to that records
library. If there is not a Content Organizer rule for the document, it
will remain in the Drop Off Library until a records manager determines
where the record should be placed. The document can be routed to the
correct location by locating the document in the Drop Off Library and
then populating the properties required by a Content Organizer rule that
will route it to the appropriate location.
When users or
workflows submit items to the Records Center, it is the job of the Web
applications application pool to communicate and submit the record,
rather than the user. There is a special group created in the Records
Center site called Records
Center Web Service Submitters, and this group allows you to define the
various other application pool IDs to allow all of them to submit items
using the Officialfile.asmx Web service.
After creating the Records Center site, you can access the configuration page shown in Figure 8-17
by clicking Site Actions and then selecting Manage Records Center. The
Records Center Management page outlines the tasks you should perform to
complete the configuration of the Records Center. Notice that by default
this page contains three Web parts that assist you in completing the
configuration of your Records Center: Setup Tasks And File Plan
Creation, Common Records Management Tasks, and Content Organizer Rules.
2.1. Setup Tasks And File Plan Creation
In the Setup Tasks And File Plan Creation section of the Records Center Management page shown in Figure 8-17,
you will notice that the Records Center is not fully configured, and
this section suggests you contact your site collection administrator and
request activation of the In Place Records and the Document ID Service
site collection features. Furthermore, there is a list of four steps you
should take to complete the configuration of the Records Center, along
with a brief description of each step. Upon completion and testing of
these tasks, you can return to this page and remove this Web part.
2.2. Common Records Management Tasks
To the right of the Setup Tasks And File Plan Creation Web part, you will find another Web part that lists the common
tasks that you can access from the Records Center Management page. Each
task listed contains a hyperlink to the page that it references,
providing you with easy access to those pages. Notice that this section
provides other quick access points to create a new Content
Organizer rule and to create a new records library. You will use some
of these options more during the initial configuration of the Records
Center; others you will not need to use until after you have completed
the configuration of your Records Center.
2.3. Content Organizer Rules
The third section on this page
provides another location for you to create new Content Organizer rules
by clicking Add New Item. This displays a list of the Content Organizer
rules that you have created, allowing you to quickly access the rules
you have defined and, if necessary, make changes to those rules. Figure 8-18
contains a partial display of the Content Organizer Rules: New Rule
configuration page you use to create new Content Organizer rules.
This page allows you to
provide a name for the rule and to set a priority for the rule of 1 to
9, with 1 the highest priority. This priority setting is used by the
Records Center when a submitted record matches multiple rules. The
router will choose the rule with the highest priority to determine where
to route the record. After choosing the appropriate content type, all
properties associated with that content type are available for defining
the conditions that must be met for it to be routed to the specified
target location. If there are multiple conditions defined in this rule,
all conditions must be met for it to be routed to the destination
library.
Figure 4 shows the Records Center Management page after activating the site collection features it suggested (shown in Figure 8-17), including the Document ID feature now shown. The Content Organizer Rules list now contains two rules.
