{"id":85,"date":"2006-11-06T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-06T22:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.formtek.com\/blog\/?p=85"},"modified":"2006-11-06T14:50:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-06T22:50:00","slug":"records-management-the-meaning-and-importance-of-the-file-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/records-management-the-meaning-and-importance-of-the-file-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Records Management:  The Meaning and Importance of the File Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Records Management\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Records_Management\" target=\"_blank\">Records Management<\/a> systems are becoming ever more important in their role of protecting against risks that might result from litigation or disaster.\u00a0 RM systems are often a key component of a Compliance strategy, such as those mandated by regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, FDA-CRP 21, and others.\u00a0 In the United States and increasingly in other countries, public and private organizations are using Records Management systems that are based on the <a title=\"5015.2\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dtic.mil\/whs\/directives\/corres\/html\/50152std.htm\" target=\"_blank\">5015.2<\/a> standard.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of 5015.2 is the <a title=\"File Plan definition\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?hl=en&#038;lr=&#038;defl=en&#038;q=define:File+plan&#038;sa=X&#038;oi=glossary_definition&#038;ct=title\" target=\"_blank\">File Plan<\/a> concept.\u00a0 This is a taxonomy or a method for classifying documents.\u00a0 File Plans are pre-defined classification schemes that are adopted by an entire organization.\u00a0 Normal users of the RM system are not able to change the structure of the File Plan.\u00a0 This kind of rigid classification is similar to the classification hierarchies for content used by Web Search Engines like <a title=\"Yahoo! directory\" href=\"http:\/\/dir.yahoo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yahoo<\/a>! or <a title=\"Google Directory\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/dirhp\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Within RM, when a document is classified as a record, document classification and retention periods for the record are assigned based on the File Plan.\u00a0 File plans are also often sometimes referred to as Business Classification Schemes (BCS).<\/p>\n<p>The main purpose for having a file plan is to ensure that document\/records are filed in a consistent manner.\u00a0 As a corollary to this, consistent filing should\u00a0 improve the success of being able to retrieve documents managed this way.\u00a0 As part of the File Plan, documents are also assigned document life-cycle retention information.<\/p>\n<p>Typically File Plan information within the electronic RM system is maintained as additional metadata associated with the document.\u00a0 Conceptually the File Plan is laid out hierarchical folders, similar to the directory structure\u00a0for files stored on a\u00a0PC.\u00a0 An example File Plan can be seen <a title=\"EPA example File Plan\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/records\/tools\/toolkits\/filecode\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> as used by the EPA.<\/p>\n<p>Folders within a File Plan represent more than just organizational structure.\u00a0 Documents when declared as records and stored in folders of the RM File Plan will inherit properties of the folder that include user access permissions, business metadata and retention policies.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.db2mag.com\/shared\/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=17602314\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image86\" alt=\"File Plan\" src=\"http:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/contentmgmt_fig1.gif\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Declaring records then is the process of classifying the document within the File Plan.\u00a0 Once classified, documents could then be located by navigating the File Plan directory-like structure or by a full text index search that can be made across all documents in the File 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