Terminology

The following table lists the terminology that is used within the guides.

For Physical Records Management terminology, see Physical Records Management Terminology.

Term	Description
Unclassified Document	Any file, document, or other type of information that has been registered into Records Management. Records Management is aware of the metadata and the document is subject to Legal Holds. If an Unclassified Document cannot be assigned to a Record Class, it remains unclassified and is assigned to the Undefined Record Class.
Record (Classified Document)	Any file, document, or other type of information that has been classified to a Record Class. When a Record Class is given a Lifecycle, all classified items will adhere to the policies of the Lifecycle. All classified documents within Records Management are considered Records for the purposes of having a Lifecycle.
Declared Record (Immutable)	Any record (Classified Document) that has been automatically or manually declared a record. Declared records are made immutable (locked) by Records Management and are not editable by users. The property "Declared Record" is marked as "Yes".
Administration Records	Administrative Records are time-based records. A record is made up of one document. The retention and disposition are based on the date from each individual record.
Case Records	Case Records are based on a person, place, or thing. A record is made up of one or more documents. The retention and disposition are based on a future event (event-based records). All of the documents have a common Case ID and all belong to a Case Record Class.
Vital Records	Any record that has been automatically or manually declared as vital. Vital Records are made immutable (locked) by Records Management and are not editable by users. The property "Vital Record" is marked as "Yes".
Classification	The process by which an Unclassified item gets associated to a Record Class. Classification can happen manually or automatically. Automatic classification is accomplished by specifying a set of Classification Rules.
Rules	A set of simple expressions that define how an action will take place. Rules are used for Classification, Rule Triggers, and Legal Holds.
Rule Sets	Provides the ability to create pre-defined rules that can be used when creating Classification Rules, Rule Triggers, and Legal Hold Rules. This enables a set of rules to be re-used.
Undefined Record Class	A pre-defined Record Class that contains items that cannot be classified to another Record Class because the item did not match any of the rules defined for automatic classification.\
Record Class	The central entity that makes up the File Plan. A Record Class is a node in the hierarchical File Plan. It contains records that have related activity. The Record Classes are all linked via a parent/child relationship. This is often referred to as the "Category" in the Retention Schedule.
Trigger	Represents a re-usable entity that defines the structure of how a retention period begins. Triggers are a building block for defining another type of entity called Retentions. There are four types of Triggers supported: Date Property Triggers, Event Triggers, Rule Triggers, and Special Triggers.
Retention	Represents a reusable entity that defines a time period from an associated Trigger. It is used to represent a regulation or policy that refers to some duration. A Retention is used to build a Lifecycle.
Lifecycle	Brings together the existing Triggers and Retentions to define what action should happen to an item at specific points in time. Each of these points in time is represented within a Lifecycle by a Phase. The Lifecycle ensures an item is guided through the defined phases so that they carry out each Action indicated by the Phase at the time specified by the Retention. Once a Lifecycle has been created, it can be assigned to any number of Record Classes. When an item is assigned to a Record Class, it will take on the associated Lifecycle.
Inbox	There are several Inbox types: An Action Item Inbox and a Requests Inbox. Action Items Inbox - Provides a single location where Record Managers and Approvers will go to approve and submit Action Items. Action Items can be Automatic or Manual, dictated by the specific Lifecycle Phase that is being approved. Requests Inbox - This is for physical records; it is where the fulfillment of Record Requests take place.
File Plan	A comprehensive outline for how records will be organized (classification, retention, permissions, settings, etc.). The File Plan is based on the client's Retention Schedule.
Retention Schedule	A Retention Schedule is a policy that defines how long records must be retained in order to meet the legal, regulatory, or operational requirements of an organization. A Retention Schedule typically contains the following elements: Records Categories, Description, Retention Period and Event Trigger, Disposition Authority/Citations. It typically does not specify where the information is located or specify the event or property that starts retention. To create a File Plan in Records Management, you must have a Retention Schedule. The Retention Schedule is either imported during the project implementation or it is manually entered into Records Management.
Managed Properties	Provides the ability to map multiple metadata properties to a single property name that can be used in Rule Sets, Classification Rules, Legal Hold Rules, Event-Based Triggers, and Event Targeting conditions.
Approval Groups	Represents users that are required to approve retention in the Action Items inbox. A Record Class can have multiple Approval Groups and each Approval Group may be assigned multiple users.
Archive	A separate location to send record information to, after the record is disposed. The Archive contains Record Details, Record Properties (Connector metadata included), and the Record Audit Trail. The Record Details will always be included, while the Properties and Audit Trail are optional. The Archive options are set by Record Class. The Archive is considered permanent; it does not have a Retention.
Legal Cases	Represents litigation or an audit in which items are placed on Legal Hold as part of a Discovery process.
Legal Holds	Suspends the Lifecycle of a record(s) and prevents any disposition or modifications of the document from occurring. Each Legal Case will have one or more Legal Hold rules.