Auto Destruction/Archive Function is a system that can automatically delete old documents or archive documents to an Archive Database. You can set a specified date in the future when documents will no longer required to be kept for tax or other purposes, e.g.: 5 or 7 years.

Documents set to destruct or archive are first checked for VERS compliance. The system will either permanently delete the document from the existing database or move the document to the Recycler.

What happens if they go to the recycler – what action is required?

Once a document is moved to the recycler, the recycler, under a users profile can be emptied.

To Reach the recycler.

Right Mouse click and empty Recycler

Setup/Initialisation

New User-Define Properties

On upgrading to Version 13, these three new User-Defined Property types will be added to Info-Organiser:

New System Settings

In addition, there are two new System Settings, shown below:

Check this box to hide the Destruction/Archive tab in System Settings. This is a useful Admin feature if you decide not to use it, or you want Admins only to use the feature.

If the box is NOT checked – Info-Organiser will only recycle documents and NOT perform an actual delete from the current database when Destructing/Archiving documents.

If the box is checked - documents WILL be deleted from the current database EXCEPT when VERS compliance is auto-checked prior to deletion, in which case documents are Recycled. 

Functionality

How to use the Destruction/Archive Screen 

The Destruction/Archive form is found under System Settings in a tab on the far right named Destruction/Archive, as shown in the above screen shot.

When using for the first time, the grid on the right containing Document Types, No. of Years, etc will be blank.

Destruct/Archive Document Type dropdown

The dropdown box will contain a list of ALL unique Destruct/Archive Document Types setup in the system.

If none exist, then you will need to go back a step and create them first.

Creating Destruct/Archive Document Types

To create Document Types for the dropdown window proceed as follows.

You can update a document and set the User-Defined Property “Destruct/Archive Document Type” to a type of your choosing, In the below example we have added a new type called “Outlook Email”.

Return to the “Destruction/Archive” tab in System Settings and select “Refresh Drop Down” button. The new type is now shown in the drop-down list.

As you can see above, a date was not automatically added to the “Auto Destruct Date” or “Auto Archive Date” Indexes as we had NOT yet added the new doc type to the list.

More on that below under How to add No of Years to add to doc Creation Date below.

Note: When adding a Document Type, it can only exist in the list ONCE for either Auto Destruct or Auto Archive. Duplication checks are carried out when adding new Document Types to prevent duplicates.

How to add No of Years to add to doc Creation Date

After you select the Destruct/Archive Document Type you can change the No of Years to add to doc Creation Date. 

In Info-Organiser the number of years is set to default as 7. Use the up/down arrows to change or type a different number.

The No or Years filed is used to determine the Auto Destruct or Auto Archive Date based on the check box chosen in the next example.

If you keep the No of Years as 7 and check “Auto Destruct”, then click the button “Add Document Type” all this data will be added to the grid on the right-hand side, as shown in the first screenshot above.

Now when you Add and Index a new document with the doc type “PDF Doc” it will automatically add an Auto Destruct Date that is 7 years from today’s date when you Save.

Note: If there is not an existing Archive Database the Auto Archive checkbox below is DISABLED. 

How to Save List

To save a new the list press the Save List button. The following calculation is done and Auto Destruct dates are created for the Document Type

Auto Destruction Date = Doc Creation Date + 7 Years.

How to change Number of Years

If you want to change the Number of Years after you have added a Document Type to the list, you will need to do the following:

• Select the type in the list; eg: PDF Doc
• Select “Remove Document Type”
• Change the number of years
• Select “Add Document Type”

The Document Type will be added back to the list with new setting for No of Years.

Warning: If you do remove a document type and DO NOT add it back in with a Number of Years set all documents with that document type will have the Auto Destruct Date or Auto Archive Date removed from the document. The date will reset for all documents set to the Document Type once you add the Document Type back into the list.

To save the new list you MUST remember to press the Save List button:

Setting up the Info-Organiser Scheduler Service.

The Info-Organiser Scheduler Service must be setup on the SQL Server by installing the Info-Org application.

In the db add NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM as a Windows user (which may already be there) and give it dbowner access to all the databases as the service runs under this account and requires access dbowner access to databases to Re-Index, AutoDestruct and AutoArchive INCLUDING all Archive databases.

The service can be installed through the System Settings menu under Database as per:

The checkboxes “Enable scheduled Auto Destruct of Documents” and “Enable scheduled Auto Archive of Documents” are only used if “Enable scheduled Re-Index of Database” is un-checked and which will hide the following 3 buttons:

The Auto Archive and Auto Destruct days are currently fixed in the database but can be changed by a SQL Database Admin by modifying the table Operation. System Information and changing the ScheduledAutoArchiveTime and ScheduledAutoDestructTime. Make sure the run times are apart by at least 15 minutes to give each function time to complete.