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Question

Transfer of Active Files - Best Practice

Presales Records Management
Updated August 16, 2017
asked on August 6, 2017 • Show version history

Hello all,

I'm looking at an RM scenario for a prospect which has the following requirement:

1. A case is opened to complete a task for my customer's customer. It's not an application for Royal Guard at the Danish palace, but for argument's sake, it is.

2. The palace collects the application (can be paper or eform), scan of a utility bill, and the original passpport from the applicant. The passport is scanned into the system and sent to a secure location for the duration of the application process.

3. In the mean time, the applicant has be informed they need to send in a "Proof of Royal Guarding" training certificate.

4. The palace scans the training certificate, stores it in the same LF folder as the passport and application scans, and puts is aside to be sent off to secure storage.

5. During processing, the palace discovers that the name on the certificate is "Nienke" but the name on the passport is "Åsa" so a retrival request - to double check the authenticity of the passport - is created.

6. The passport is transfered from the secure storage location to the processing office and checked. All checks out OK (these Nordic folk often use their middle names). So the passport and training certs are sent back to the secure storage location and the processing continues.

7. An the application process progresses, the case folder in Laserfiche continues to collect a mixture of digital and physical records (but mainly digital).

7. The application was successful and the the "Trusted Palace Guard" certificate is generated and issued. All physical records are retrived from storage and sent to Åsa, along with the new certificate.

8. The case folder, containing a mixture of physical, digital and electronic records, enters its final disposition cycle.

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That's the basic process, and there are additional requirements:

a. The case folder must store all physical, digital and electronic records.

b. The precise location of the physical records must be record in Laserfiche

c. The physical locations must be managed within Laserfiche. Barcodes, LF Forms, workflow and SDK scripts are all allowed.

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Potential Solutions:

  • Option A: The case folder is an RM file/folder: To use "transfer" a cutoff must occur. One a folder has been cuttoff, no more records can be added until it has been un-cuttoff. One records have begun transerferring (I don't mean accessioning) they can no longer be un-cutoff (and no more records can be added), so that rules out this option, I believe.
  • Option B: The case folder is an RM file/folder: Instead of cutting-off the folder, I use workflow to immediately set the Event Date on the folder. Then Workflow will set the cuttoff on the passport record (and other physical records, once the scan has been verified). That way, I'll be able to transfer individual records as soon as they have been scanned. The case folder will be finally cutoff once the application process has completed. The drawback here is, once the record has been assigned to the RM folder (with the event date set), I won't be able to change any metadata, but I will be able to transfer it between locations. This is an because an issue because there is a requirement to be able to reclassify the record.  It would not be an issue if I just keep scanned imaged out of the file plan until the process has completed. I plan to assign the metadata automatically and place the record in the RM folder via Workflow. I was hoping to keep all information assests in a the same RM folder and applicaton folder. With TRM, I can at least keep assets in the same application folder and only send the pysical records to the file plan immediately. It will work but add an extra layer of complexity.
  • Option C: The case folder is a standard LF folder and physical location is recorded in dynamic fields (or just regular fields). Upon completion of the application, worklow created an RM folder, moves everything there and begins the disposal cycle. Whilst I'd prefer to the use the RM interface and management of Option B, this option gives the most amount of flexibility for editing medadata, if I still need to.

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Option B is my preferred design.

Additionally, I place to use the barcode reader of LF Forms (on mobile devices) to record the transit of physical records between storage locations and the processing offices.

My questions are:

  • Can the SDK script (running in workflow) perform all of the operations listed above? I'm OK with the SDK and Workflow required to manage all other aspects but am not experienced in RM functions of the SDK.
  • And, is Option B the best approach or is there another way to use RM that is best for this?
  • Any ideas, hints, tips, would be appreciated! I expect to build this as a TRM system.

 

(this is a sample configuration for Option B)

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on August 15, 2017

OK, I've decided to go with Option C. That will allow me to far more tracking options, such as "In Transit" "At Rest" "Travelling From" "Travelling To" and the like. I'll just use regular metadata and update it with forms.

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Replies

replied on August 15, 2017

Hello Ben,

 

I think some variation of your "B" is the best approach to take.

 

Keep in mind that closing a record folder, setting a final event date, or cutting off a record folder will all result in record folder closure. If a folder is closed, users are not able to edit the metadata of entries within the folder, for example, to keep track of record location. To work around this, you should consider how you are building your cutoff instructions. Cutoff instructions are meant to represent when the point up until which the entries would be in active use; after a retention period begins, no one should need to alter the entries. If there are situations where users will need to alter the entries or their metadata after they are cutoff, it may be that you need to revisit how you are building the cutoff instructions. One other approach you can consider is to apply different cutoff instructions for those documents that might need to be altered during the retention period.

 

Laserfiche has not provided Records Management-related activities for Workflow as DoD certification requires these actions to be manual. If you don't feel this type of requirement needs to be followed by your client, RM functions are handled using the RepositoryAccess portion of the Laserfiche SDK (as mentioned here). There is an example of cutting off record folders through RepositoryAccess in the section on record management in the LF SDK documentation. If you have more specific questions about how you might use the SDK for this purpose, feel free to post your question in the general area of LF Answers.

 

I noted that you added physical locations to the Retention Schedule instructions. While you may be able to use this as a way to denote which physical location the documents reside in, please keep in mind this paragraph in the LF Admin Guide: "When a transfer is performed on a record folder, the records within that folder will be transferred as long as they are cutoff and have not already be transferred to that location. Records within the folder that have not been cutoff, or that have already been transferred to that location, will not be transferred. In addition, records within the record folder that do not have the same retention schedule as their parent folder will not be transferred unless they are also eligible for transfer under their own retention schedule. When a transfer is performed on an individual record, only that record will be transferred."

 

You may also be interested in this integration offered by Infolinx WEB which provides advanced physical records disposition process support.

 

Hope this helps!

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replied on August 15, 2017 • Show version history

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your reply.

I noted that you added physical locations to the Retention Schedule instructions.

Yes. Actually, this is the main purpose of the solution I'm asking for advice on building. During the records' lifecycle, they will move between the office and the vault, several times, before finally being destroyed or returned to the applicant. I suggested an immediate "event" on the folder *but* a cut-off insruction, on the record *only*, in order to make use of physical locations, and shifting the records between locations, prior to permament placement (similar to but not quite, accession) or destruction.

"When a transfer is performed on a record folder, the records within that folder will be transferred as long as they are cutoff and have not already be transferred to that location.

I don't think this is relevent to Option B because I'm suggesting to Event the folder BUT to perform a cuttoff and transfer on individual records only. What brought this to mind?

I'd rather not use Infolinx because my goal is to keep users within Laserfiche products only.

-Ben

 

 

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replied on August 16, 2017

As you noted in your later response, metadata can be used instead of the locations in the Retention Schedule in order to denote where the entry is residing. I think this will be a better approach in your situation because entries might go back and forth a couple times before finding their final resting place.

 

This brings me to my next point and the reason I copy/pasted from the Admin Guide - I meant to highlight the next bit of text as it is particularly relevant: "When a transfer is performed on a record folder, the records within that folder will be transferred as long as they are cutoff and have not already be transferred to that location." Since your entries might go back and forth between locations, you might have difficulty tracking them using this feature.

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