Chapter 1, Records Management, describes the importance of Records Management and provides an overview of the general principles and the benefits that can be derived from implementing Records Management. Both Records Management standards, ISO 15489 and DoD 5015.2, are introduced.

Chapter 2, Getting Started with the Alfresco Records Management Module, narrows the discussion of Records Management to the Alfresco Records Management implementation. This chapter describes in detail how to install Alfresco Share with the Records Management Module, and then how to create the Alfresco Share Records Management site. In the latter part of this chapter, we discuss technical details of Alfresco webscripts and some of the underlying implementation of the Records Management dashlet.

Chapter 3, Introduction to the Alfresco Share Records Management Site, describes the basic framework of an Alfresco Share site, describing Share dashboards and collaboration features. The chapter also gives an overview of the File Plan and Records Search pages, which are unique to the Records Management site. At the end of this chapter, we examine some of the internal workings of Share site dashboards and the dashlets contained within them.

Chapter 4, Metadata and the Alfresco Content Model, introduces the Content Model structure used by Alfresco for defining document types and for specifying the metadata properties that are associated with document types. This chapter discusses in great detail how to define and extend document types and aspects of the Alfresco Content Model. Specifically the Records Management content models are looked at in detail.

Chapter 5, Creating the File Plan, describes best practices for developing a File Plan that uniquely fits the needs of your organization. We then see how to take the File Plan design and implement it within Alfresco. The chapter describes the mechanics of the File Plan implementation which involves creating the DoD 5015.2 foldering hierarchy of Series, Category, and Folder container. In the latter part of the chapter, we look at the internals of the File Plan page within the Records Management site. We note that this page is similar to and shares code with the Document Library page used by standard Share sites.

Chapter 6, Creating Disposition Schedules, describes how record retention and lifecycle information is defined within the disposition schedule. This chapter shows how a disposition schedule is created and applied at the Category level within the File Plan. The end of the chapter examines how the disposition page in the web client is constructed and interacts with the Alfresco repository using AJAX. We also see in detail how and where disposition information is stored within the repository.

Chapter 7, Filing Records, shows that methods other than the Alfresco Share web browser interface can be used to file records. The chapter describes how records can also be filed from an e-mail client, like Microsoft Outlook, or directly from the file system, using, for example, Windows Explorer in the Microsoft Windows operating system, or via FTP or batch loading programs. At the end of the chapter, we examine the low-level details of how files are uploaded and stored in the repository, and we also look at the internals of the upload form that allows multiple files to be selected for upload from the browser client.

Chapter 8, Managing Records, covers how to perform operations on records once the records have been filed into the File Plan. The operations discussed include copy, move, delete, the creation of links between records, and the viewing of a record's audit history. The latter part of the chapter discusses some of the internal implementation details of the built-in web preview capability.

Chapter 9, Following the Lifecycle of a Record, walks through the possible steps of the record lifecycle, typically from filing to destruction. The discussion includes record transfer and record accession, and describes how and why records might need to be frozen. The difference between the destruction and deletion of records is also described. The discussion on implementation internals looks at e-mail notifications and how background scheduled jobs automatically process steps of the record lifecycle.

Chapter 10, Searching Records and Running Audits, describes how to perform basic and complex searches for records in the File Plan, and how frequently used searches can be saved and later recalled and reused. The chapter describes the Audit Tool within the Records Management console and shows how reports can be run to audit actions and events that have occurred in the records system. At the end of the chapter, the internal implementation of the repository webscripts that are used to implement search and audit capabilities are discussed.

Chapter 11, Configuring Security and Permissions, explains how to create and modify users and groups that will have access to the Alfresco Share Records Management site. It describes how to create and modify Records Management roles and then how to assign permissions to those roles. The chapter also discusses how to set access rights for areas within the File Plan. The end of the chapter describes how webscripts are used to retrieve user, group, and role information from the repository.

Chapter 12, Configuring Records Management Parameters, discusses a number of useful administrative features that are available in the Records Management console. One of these tools allows the user to add custom metadata properties to extend the standard Alfresco Records Management content model. Other administrative tools are used to create custom events and to specify relationship types between records. In the implementation discussion for this chapter, we look in detail at how Alfresco implements dynamic metadata extensions to the content model.

Appendix A, Records Management Standards discusses the ISO 15489 and DoD 5015.2 standards in greater detail than covered in Chapter 1.

Appendix B, The Records Content Model, shows the detailed structure of the content model for Records Management in Alfresco.

Appendix C, Records Management Terms, lists and defines commonly used terms used in Records Management.

The focus of this book is on the Alfresco Records Management module and requires only the following Alfresco software and Alfresco software stack elements:

The primary target audience of this book includes individuals who will be implementing Records Management programs for their organizations. It will be particularly relevant to Records Managers, Business Analysts, and Software Developers.

Alfresco Share Developers will also be interested in some of the implementation details which are discussed here and which can be applied generally to other Alfresco Share development projects.

Alfresco Share is built on the Spring-Surf framework which extensively uses client and server-side Javascript and the FreeMarker templating language. At the end of many of the chapters are sections which are aimed at developers and which discuss the implementation details of Records Management within Alfresco Share. An understanding of Javascript, FreeMarker, and HTML would be useful when reading those sections of this book. Readers not interested in the details of the implementation should feel free to skip over those sections of the book.

No prior knowledge of Alfresco Share software is required to follow this book.

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "Objects of the type disposition action, or rma:dispositionAction, are being tracked."

A block of code is set as follows:

## Title
header.fileplan=File Plan
## Filters
label.transfers=Transfers
label.holds=Holds

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

C:\>net config workstation

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "We can click on Next and then on Finish to create the new e-mail account".

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book — what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[email protected]>, and mention the book title via the subject of your message.

If there is a book that you need and would like to see us publish, please send us a note in the SUGGEST A TITLE form on www.packtpub.com or e-mail us at <[email protected]>.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.