File plans and record series
What this page is — the rulebook of Records Management: record series that say how long a class of record is kept and what happens afterwards, and file plan mappings that tie repository folders to a series.
What it is for — so retention is a property of a class of record, decided once, instead of a judgement made per document and then forgotten.
The problem it solves — retention is decided document by document, inconsistently, and then forgotten.
Route: /org/papers/records → File Plan · Permissions: View file plans, record series, retention status, legal holds, disposition and vital-review queues. to look
(Show the Records Management sidebar entry. for the sidebar); Manage record series/file plans, apply/release legal holds, execute disposition and stamp vital reviews. or Set retention policies and legal-hold defaults.
to change anything.
Unlike documents, obligations and the repository, this screen ignores the project split. A record series applies across every project, because retention and disposition are organisation-level compliance functions.
1. What it is
Records Management governs a document's life after authoring:
| Step | Where | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Define the series | File Plan (this page) | "Keep this class N years, then do X" |
| 2. Classify documents | Repository or the document workspace — or automatically by folder | A keep-until date is set |
| 3. Retention runs | Retention & Holds | Documents wait; legal holds freeze them |
| 4. Retention elapses | Disposition | A person destroys, keeps or defers |
| Ongoing | Vital records | Vital series are reviewed on a cycle |
How the keep-until date is computed — only for series whose trigger is Time:
keep-until = the document's validity expiry, or its creation date when it has none, plus the retention period.
It is not counted from the day you classify. Classifying a contract created in 2019 into a five-year series today gives it a keep-until date in 2024 — it goes straight to the disposition queue.
2. Why you would use it
- Retention becomes a policy, not a habit. Keeping everything forever is a storage cost and a discovery liability; deleting on instinct is worse.
- Filing does the classifying. Map a folder to a series and every unclassified document moved into it is classified automatically.
- The Documents column shows which rules are real. A series with zero documents is a rule nobody follows yet.
- Vital records get a review cycle from the same definition, instead of a separate list somebody keeps.
3. How classification happens
| Route | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Assign record series on a document | Any time, by hand |
| Moving a document into a mapped folder | Only if the document has no series yet, the folder has exactly one mapping, and the document is not on legal hold |
The Records help drawer describes folder mappings as "documentation of intent", but moving an unclassified document into a mapped folder classifies it in the same step. A folder with two mappings is treated as ambiguous and classifies nothing.
Assigning a different Time series replaces the date rather than keeping the later one. Moving a document from a 10-year series to a 2-year series cuts eight years off its retention without a warning.
4. Step by step
- New series → name, description, retention years, trigger, disposition action.
- Tick Vital record series and set a review cycle, if it applies.
- Save.
- Add mapping → name it, pick the series, optionally pick a folder. The button is disabled until a series exists.
- Classify existing documents — or move them into the mapped folder.
5. Field reference
Record series
| Field | Rules | Refusal |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Required, up to 255 characters | name is required · name exceeds 255 characters |
| Description | Free text — say what belongs here and why | — |
| Retention period (years) | 0 to 500. 0 means disposable at the cutoff — a real policy | retention_years must be between 0 and 500 |
| Trigger (cutoff) | Time, Event, Time + event, Superseded | invalid cutoff_basis: use time, event, time_event or superseded |
| Disposition action | Destroy, Transfer, Keep permanently, Review before action | invalid disposition_action: use destroy, transfer, permanent or review |
| Vital record series | Checkbox | — |
| Review cycle (months) | 1 to 600; shown only when Vital is ticked | review_cycle_months must be between 1 and 600 |
| Trigger | Keep-until date |
|---|---|
| Time | Computed automatically on classification |
| Event, Time + event, Superseded | Not computed. Whoever handles the event sets the document's retention date by hand |
| Disposition action | On the Disposition tab |
|---|---|
| Destroy | A red badge; executed with Destroy |
| Keep permanently | Executed with Keep permanently |
| Review before action | The safe default — a person decides |
| Transfer | Shown, but no Transfer button exists — there is no archive integration; export by hand and Mark reviewed |
File plan mapping
| Field | Rules | Refusal |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Required | name is required |
| Record series | Must exist | record series not found |
| Folder | Optional repository folder | folder not found |
Delete a series — documents keep their data but lose the classification and its scheduled disposition, and mappings pointing at it are removed. Prefer editing (lengthening retention) over delete-and-recreate.
Remove a mapping — documents already classified keep their series.
6. Worked example
A finance compliance lead sets up three series:
| Series | Retention | Trigger | Action | Vital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance — invoices | 7 | Time | Destroy | — |
| Legal — contracts | 10 | Event | Review before action | — |
| Insurance — policies | 6 | Time | Review before action | Every 12 months |
They map folder Finance/Invoices → Finance — invoices. An invoice created on 12 March 2026 is moved into that folder and is classified automatically: keep-until 12 March 2033.
A supplier contract with a validity expiry of 31 December 2027 goes into Legal — contracts. No date is computed — the trigger is Event. When the contract terminates, the records manager sets its retention date by hand.
Someone later re-classifies a 2021 invoice from Legal — contracts to Finance — invoices to "tidy up". Its new keep-until date is 2028 — and would have been in the past for anything created before 2019. The lead adds a rule to their process: re-classification needs a second pair of eyes.
7. The admin contract
| Must be true | Where | What breaks without it |
|---|---|---|
| The role holds Manage record series/file plans, apply/release legal holds, execute disposition and stamp vital reviews. or Set retention policies and legal-hold defaults. | Role editor | The page is read-only |
| At least one series exists | This tab | No other tab can ever show anything |
| Documents are classified | Repository, workspace, or a mapped folder | Nothing has a keep-until date |
| Each mapped folder has exactly one mapping | This tab | Moves into that folder classify nothing |
| Event-triggered series have an owner who sets dates | Your process | Those documents never reach disposition |
8. Downstream
| When you… | Then |
|---|---|
| Classify into a Time series | A keep-until date appears on Retention & Holds |
| Lengthen a series' retention | New classifications use it; existing dates are not recalculated |
| Delete a series | Its documents are unclassified and leave the retention and disposition queues |
| Mark a series Vital | Its documents enter the vital review queue when their cycle is overdue — immediately if never reviewed |
9. Don't confuse this with…
| Retention advice | AI advice on one document's retention. This is your policy |
| Obligations | Things to do by a date. Retention is how long to keep |
| Repository folders | For finding documents. A mapping gives a folder governance meaning |
| Archiving | A lifecycle state. Retention decides when a record may be destroyed |
10. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| A series shows 0 documents | Nothing classified — mappings only apply to documents moved in afterwards |
| Moving into a mapped folder did not classify | The document already had a series, the folder has two mappings, or it is on hold |
| An Event series never produces dates | By design — set them by hand |
| A new classification went straight to disposition | Retention counts from expiry or creation, not from today |
| A document's keep-until date got shorter | It was re-classified into a shorter series |
| No Transfer button | Transfer cannot be executed in this version |