Scheduled Disposition Guide
This guide describes the Scheduled Disposition process in Gimmal Physical For this process to work correctly, Retention and Disposition features need to be enabled as part of the configuration when Gimmal Physical is enabled.
This guide focuses on the process for deleting records associated with Records Schedules with a Disposition Action of ‘Destroy’. Records associated with a Records Schedule with Disposition Action of ‘Permanent’ will never enter into a Disposition Batch.
To prevent Records associated with a Records Schedule with Disposition Action of ‘Transfer’ from entering the disposition process, the Schedule itself must be placed on Legal Hold. This will prevent the associated records from entering the disposition process.
This document refers to Gimmal Physical version 3.15 and above only. For questions on earlier versions, please contact support at support@gimmal.com.
Explanation of Dates
The Scheduled Disposition process. uses several dates that are associated with physical items:
Date From | Represents the oldest date of the contents of the physical item. |
Date To | Represents the most current date (or newest) date of the contents of the physical item. |
Cut-off Date | Depending upon the retention schedule, this date will be automatically calculated by Gimmal Physical for a time-based schedule or a specific time + event-based schedule (calendar year) or it can be entered manually by the client. |
Scheduled Destruction Date | The scheduled destruction date is automatically calculated if a retention schedule is selected, and certain conditions are met. Criteria used to calculate the scheduled destruction date are listed in ‘Scheduled Destruction Date Calculation’ |
Actual Destruction Date | The actual date the physical item was disposed based on the final steps of the disposition process. |
Scheduled Destruction Date Calculation
The automated calculation for the scheduled destruction date is determined by the retention schedule (see rules below) unless it meets the following conditions:
If Override is selected, no automatic calculations are performed by Gimmal Physical for the Scheduled Destruction Date. In this situation, the Scheduled Destruction Date must be manually entered.
Note: The Override value does not determine the ‘Cut-Off Date’.
If the item is attached to a Permanent Records Schedule, the Scheduled Destruction Date will never be populated.
Container Calculations: The method of calculation is dependent on the Setting ‘Use Box data to determine Scheduled Destruction Date’ as listed in Admin | Application Settings. This value is set at the time of application configuration and cannot be changed.
If set to ‘No’, only Files will be used as the primary date for the calculation of the Box Scheduled Destruction Date. Absent the above conditions, when an item is a container (e.g., a Box) and has content items with dates (e.g., a File), the dates for the contents (the Files) act as the master to determine the dates of the source container (the Box).
The Scheduled Destruction Dates of the container will be the maximum of the Scheduled Destruction Date of the contents unless otherwise noted below:
If the deletion or transfer of the content items empties the container, the Scheduled Destruction Date will be set to null.
If any content item has a null Scheduled Destruction Date, the container will also have a null destruction date.
Regardless of whether Scheduled Destruction Dates for the content items display a value, other dates will be set as follows to ensure search fidelity:
Date From = Minimum ‘Date From’ of the content items in the container
Date To = Maximum ‘Date To’ of the content items in the container
Cut-off Date = Maximum ‘Cut-off Date’ of the content items in the container
Several actions will force the recalculation of a source container. This includes:
The creation of a new content item within a container
Content items deleted from a container
Content items are transferred into or out of a container.
Note: If a content item is transferred, the container for both the source and the destination will be recalculated to conform to the remaining contents in the container.
If set to ‘Yes’, then the contents of a Box (e.g. Files) and the Box itself are used in calculations of the Scheduled Destruction Date of the Box. Whichever the greater of the Scheduled Destruction Date will be used for disposition. Absent Scheduled Destruction Dates, the calculations will be based on the greater of the Files or Boxes Date To fields.
This option allows for Files without Scheduled Destruction Date to be included without affecting the Box Scheduled Destruction Date.
The greater of a File or a Box Scheduled Destruction Date or Date To will be used.
Users can enter a greater Scheduled Destruction Date or Date To on the Box than the Files entered.
This option is the default. It is very helpful for applications while file contents may not be entered into the system.
Retention Schedules & Dates
Time Based Retention Schedule is a schedule to store data for a specified interval. When a time-based retention schedule is associated with a physical item and the Date From and Date To are entered, the Gimmal Physical application automatically calculates a Cut-off Date. The Scheduled Destruction Date is then calculated based on the listed Year, Month, and Day values of the retention schedule.
Event+ Time Based Retention Schedule is a schedule to store data for a specified interval after a specified event has occurred. When this type of schedule is associated with a physical item* and the Date From and Date To are entered, the user must enter an Event (aka Trigger or Cut-off) Date. The Scheduled Destruction Date is then calculated based on the listed timespan (the Year, Month, and Day values) of the retention schedule.
*There is an exception to this calculation for known events whose dates are consistently known (e.g. Fiscal Year-End or Calendar Year-End). In this case, the List Value month/day is used to calculate the cut-off date. With that date, the Scheduled Destruction Date is then calculated.
Note: For this known events date calculation to work properly, the Event Code list value for options like Fiscal Year-End must be configured for the correct Month/Day. See the ‘List Values’ section below.Event Based Retention Schedule is a rare schedule that is identical to the Event+Time above, however, the destruction will occur immediately after the event is triggered. The timespan, in essence, is 0.
Gimmal Physical Application Disposition Process
The Disposition Process within the Gimmal Physical application consists of three distinct stages: Identification, Aggregation, and Disposition.
Each one of these stages comes with its own set of reports and a specific set of requirements to be met to proceed through the disposition process.
The Identification Stage comes with the disposition approval reports. There is an Approval Report for each functional unit, department, or organization involved.
The Aggregation Stage comes with the Disposition Picklist Report. There is a Picklist Report for each facility’s housing records.
The Disposition Stage comes with the Certificates of Destruction for each functional unit, department, or organization involved.
Based on conversations during the application configuration, disposition can be run at the container (e.g. box) or contents (e.g. file) level.
Identification Stage
To be included in a disposition batch, an item cannot be on a Legal Hold or already deleted. The specific items must then meet the criteria of the specified Target Date and have a related Organization, Location, or both as chosen by the filters. If the criteria is only a specified Target Date (i.e. no filters are used), this identification will be run across all Organizations and Locations.
In the example below, Boxes will be used.
Ready to Proceed: Boxes Tab > Change > Retention
Proceed to the Boxes Tab.
Select the Retention button to begin the disposition process.
The Box Retention view will open. At this point, batches may or may not have been run. A batch is simply a grouping of the items that meet this disposition criteria. Once a batch has been run, a grid will appear to manage the previously run batches or in process batches.
There is a helpful information bubble up at the top of the page that will highlight the step being activated within the process.
To begin disposition:
Enter the Target Date by typing directly or using the calendar control.
Choose to filter by one or more Organizations (optional).
Choose to filter by one or more Locations (optional).
Please note: only Hub locations are available as a filter option for disposition.Select Execute, then click ‘OK’ on the subsequent verification page
A pop-up will appear to let you know the process is being run.
Once the batch processing is complete, the Box Retention page will be updated with details of the new batch. A new, automated, batch number is assigned for all boxes which meet the disposition criteria.
Note: Boxes can be removed from the batch if they should not be destroyed or need further review. To do so, use the linked queries to show the list of boxes in the batch. Use the update options (single or in bulk) to remove the batch number for the specified boxes.
To proceed to approval, the report can be queried for review from the Query Reports.
To view Query Reports, go to Boxes > Change > Retention.
Batch numbers have been designated on each item and are ready for approval.
Approval Notes
Some clients require a user to access the Gimmal Physical application and approve the disposition of the boxes. They can be approved individually or a selected set via Update or Bulk Update.
Other clients share the reports via email or hard copy to the appropriate personnel for responses. In this case, the Gimmal Physical Administrator manually enters the approvals into the application based on the responses they receive.
Multiple approval levels can be added to the Gimmal Physical application, however, access to the levels cannot be separated out based on role.
Proceed to Admin > List Values > Disposition Approval > Add New Field to force an order for approvals.
We recommend adding a digit with a hyphen (e.g. 1-, 2-, 3)- to the value name, to maintain a logical order, otherwise the list will sort alphabetically.
The boxes that are approved can now move to the Aggregation Stage.
Helpful Tips for the Identification Stage
For more control, or a smaller number of boxes to approve:
Eliminate boxes on Legal Hold
Filter by Organization, Location, or both
If a large backlog of items exists, run batches in years and months for easier management.
To provide a count of boxes that are ready for deletion before initiating the retention process, search the Boxes Tab based on the following criteria:
Not deleted (Deleted set to false),
Not on a legal hold (Legal Hold set to false)
Enter a particular scheduled date with the appropriate comparison operator (usually less than <).
To see box level details, like the Disposition Notice showing the current Stage/Batch and the Disposition Approval checkbox, simply view the Box. Please note that changes to this information are recorded in history.
If a File belongs in a Box but is checked out when the Box is destroyed through a Disposition Batch, the File is not deleted, but its Home Location is removed. The file will inherit a new Home Location based on the next Box it gets put into.
Aggregation Stage
Ready to Proceed: Boxes Tab > Change > Retention
Select the radio button on the Identification Stage and click Execute to move to the Aggregation Stage for the selected batch.
All boxes approved for disposition should be physically moved from the shelves and set aside to a Disposition Staging Location. To facilitate this activity, the Disposition Picklist Report can be used.
Transfer boxes to the Disposition Staging Location within the Gimmal Physical application. This can be accomplished by a barcode scanner or by manually updating the system.
If you are using off-site storage vendor (and not using any Gimmal Off-Site Storage Connectors), you should provide this information to your off-site vendor for disposition.
Helpful Tips
A barcode scanner can be used to transfer the boxes to the Disposition Staging Location. This is an opportunity to confirm that all the correct boxes have been pulled for destruction.
There is a helpful information bubble up at the top of the page that will highlight the step being activated within the process.
A Disposition Staging Location needs to be created within the application under Locations and the checkbox “Is Disposition Staging Location” needs to be enabled for the chosen Location(s).
Disposition Stage
Ready to Proceed: Boxes Tab > Change > Retention
Select the radio button on the Aggregation Stage for the batch you wish to dispose of, then click the ‘Execute’ button to move to the Disposition Stage.
Gimmal Physical uses the settings on the ‘Auto-fill Actual Destruction Date’ option at the top right of the Retention page to manage how it Actual Destruction Date value:
When this stage is initiated, if the ‘Auto-fill Actual Destruction Date’ is:
Enabled
Any items with Actual Destruction Date fields that do not contain a value will be stamped with the current date as the Actual Destruction Date.
Items that have valid values for Actual Destruction Date fields will not be changed.
All approved items in the selected batch will be deleted from the system.
All approved items in the selected batch will be included in the Certificate of Destruction.
Disabled
Only approved items with an Actual Destruction Date with a valid value (i.e. not empty) will be marked ‘Deleted’.
Values for Actual Destruction Date fields will not be changed.
Other items which did not have an Actual Destruction Date:
Will remain in the batch
Will not be included in the Certificate of Destruction.
Can be disposed of once they have an Actual Destruction date, but each set will generate a separate Certificate of Destruction.
The execution date/time or item deletion date/time can be matched with the batch number and report to locate the specific Certificate of Destruction to the items run step.
If a completely new batch is run, the leftover items (i.e. those which do not have an Actual Destruction Date to qualify for the earlier batch) will be included with the new batch. They will need to go through the process again, including approvals.
The default for the ‘Auto-fill Actual Destruction Date’ value can be changed on the Administrator | Application Settings page. However, the processing will follow whatever is set on this retention page.
Depending on the volume of data being disposed of, this process can take a significant amount of time.
Once the disposition process has been completed, the Certificate of Destruction can be accessed via the ‘View Reports on Home Page’ link which accesses the Disposition Notices Tab.
Reports are in PDF format and are time-stamped when the process is complete.
Only items with Actual Destruction Dates are included with the Certificate of Destruction (whether manually entered or automated).
Scheduled and actual destruction dates are shown in separate columns.
Adding List Values
Certain Event Codes require additional information which is stored as part of the list value entry. List Values are managed in Admin > Data > List Values.
To add values to the Event Code, select the appropriate ‘Event Code’ from the "List to modify" drop-down box.
To modify an existing value, select it from the ‘Values already in the list’ control.
Type the name of the value you wish to add in the 'Value to Add' text box.
If the Event Code value has an associated Month and Day, enter them into the Month/Day text column in a MM/DD format (where MM = the static month of the event and DD = the specific static day of the month for the event)
Finally, click the 'Add' button or press the enter key.
Questions
Please contact Gimmal Support at support@gimmal.com with any questions.