Manage Document Retention and Governance using SharePoint Server 2010 Information Management Policies

Governmental regulation changes in recent years have created more and more burden on organizations to demonstrate business processes for securing and managing information over extended periods of time.   SharePoint Server 2010 provides an important tool for automating the process of how organizations manage and secure documents as they age over time.   This feature is the Information Management Policy ("IMP").  IMPs provide a number of features for managing content, but we'll focus on one specific feature; Enable Retention.

Preparing SharePoint for IMPs

Information Management Policies can be put in place on Content Types, Lists and Libraries.   Generally, deploying IMPs on Content Types will provide more standardization of how documents are managed across the organization.   While IMPs can be created against out-of-the-box Content Types, it's generally a better practice to create custom "Child" Content Types that reflect the characteristics of the organization.   In SharePoint, that means creating site columns and workflows that describe the way the organization organizes its information and how that information is reviewed, approved and processed, then adding these columns and workflows to the Content Type.

The SharePoint Server Term Store is a great way to create a hierarchical representation of the terms an organization uses to describe itself, its information and structure.  Use Managed Metadata site columns to display specific parts of the Term Store based on the entity a Content Type represents.   In this way, updates to how the organization is represented flow through to all SharePoint components associated with the change.

All custom Content Types are based on an existing Content Type.  For example, an "Accounting Document" Content Type would use a "Document" content type as its parent.  Add site columns to the Content type to identify Characteristics of the entity.

Once you have created your new Content Types you can add them to the appropriate lists and libraries in your Site Collection(s).

Setting up an IMP

In the Settings Page of a Content Type, Library or List there is a link for configuration of the IMP (Content Type shown here as an example) called "Information management policy settings"

Clicking this link brings you to the IMP set up page.

Setting up Retention

The key functionality the IMP brings to the implementation of a retention policy is provisioning a  "timer" that automatically starts a series of actions in motion when the item reaches a specific "age".  Click the checkbox next to "Enable Retention" to see the configuration settings.

Based on how you configured "Records" in your SharePoint Site Collection, you will see options to set IMPs for records or non-records (We'll discuss Records at another time).  The configuration options are the same.

IMPS are configured in "Stages".  You need at least one Stage.  Click the "Add a retention stage" link to see the configuration settings.

The IMP can be set from any Date/Time field you set up as a column in your Content Type or Library.  Using a custom column allows you to define a "starting point" for the timer that is different than the Created or Modified dates.  The "Timer" length can be set in days, months or years.

Once you have set the starting point and time period, you can define what the IMP will do when the time period expires.   There are several options available:

The "Start a workflow" option is used frequently to start a custom SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio workflow that automates a review or disposition process. 

Additional stages can be configured to provide a multi-tier approach to how the document is treated.

Once you click OK, the IMP is saved to the Content Type (List or Library) and you are ready to manage organization information over time!