Defining Retention Periods

Use

Using this function, you define periods in which records or completed cases are stored for access by the initiating organizational unit in the system.

These retention periods are defined in two date fields - Retention Period from and Retention Period to and are saved as attributes for the record and case.

The recorder usually defines the retention periods after consultation with the processor of the record or case in accordance with any legal regulations or other requirements.

The retention times defined in Customizing are used to define the retention periods. These retention times are grouped together in the storage catalog. The retention time describes a period of time in years, weeks or months for which records and completed cases are to be stored (for example, 10 years for construction records).

Integration

You can dispose of cases once their retention period has expired.

For more information on the disposal process, see Disposal.

Prerequisites

The storage catalog with the different retention times must be defined in Customizing of Record Managements Public Sector.

You define the retention times as default values in the record plan items of the record plan.

You can find more information in the implementation guide of Record and Case Management under Start of the navigation path Basic Settings Next navigation step Disposal Define Retention Time for Disposal End of the navigation path .

Features

Retention time and retention period are saved as attributes for records and cases in the fields Retention Time, Retention Period from, and Retention Period to. The super-ordinate cases pass the retention time and period on to the documents, which means that the documents do not have their own retention time and period. Retention periods can be defined at different times:

When a new record is created
When a case is sent to the records
Using the report Defining Retention Periods (RMPS_CHECK_STORAGE_PERIOD)

How the attributes are connected in the record, case, and document

Activities

When a new record is created, the system determines the retention time from the record plan item in the reference number.

If a retention time is defined in the record plan item, it appears as a default value that you can copy. In the field Retention Period from, the system automatically copies the creation date of the record and calculates the end date for the Retention Period to using the retention time. You can overwrite these default values.
If no retention time is defined in the record plan item, no default values appear for the retention time and you can enter the data for the storage.

Note

Note that the retention period you enter must be longer or the same as the retention time entered.

When you create a new case in a record, the retention time is copied from the record as a default value, which you can overwrite. The retention period is not automatically calculated by the system, you can enter it at this stage.

When the case is sent to the records, the system automatically copies the retention time of the corresponding record, and copies the date it is sent to the records as the start date of the retention period. The end date of the retention period is the calculated using the retention time and the start date of the retention period, then it is copied to the field Retention Period To. You need authorization to overwrite these default values.