The SharePoint Records Center and How to Get Started

The SharePoint Records Center solution addresses many diverse requirements for organizations with identified content retention and compliance policies. The Records Center's purpose is to serve as a central repository where you can store and manage confidential documents. It supports the entire records management process, from records collection through records management to records disposition through a solution, combining rules and workflows with archive records repositories. Today, we will go over the key features of the SharePoint Records Center and learn how to get it started.

Features of the Record Center

• Record Routing: The Records Center includes a Content Organizer that can automatically route incoming records (whether submitted automatically or manually) to their proper location, based on their record type. Content Organizer is enabled as a site feature which helps in automatically routing the incoming records to their destination.

• Auditing: This feature logs events and operations that are performed on files. Auditing records who is viewing and accessing information in the Records Center. 

• Secure Vault: Records added to the record center can be protected from tampering by versioning the changes and auditing them.

• Hold: Record center helps the organization to add the documents that are related to an ongoing legal proceeding on a Hold. By doing this, these documents will be protected from deletion even if an expiration policy has been set on the document. Once the legal formalities are completed the hold can be removed and expiration policy can be enacted upon it.

• Expiration: This feature specifies how long a record should be saved. It also decides what action should occur when the retention period ends. For example, deletion or the initiation of a Disposition Approval workflow.

Start by creating a Records Center

1. Use the out of the box site collection template called Records Center just like any other templates made available in the on-premise SharePoint Central Administration console or the SharePoint Online Admin Center.

2. Once the template is selected specify the site collection administrator(s) and click on Create. This will create the Record Center Site as shown below. And Click OK.

3. Once you navigate to the newly created home page, it will also provide two document libraries by default - Drop Off Library and Record Library. Click on Manage Records Center option to create building out your record center.

4. Once in the Records management page, we can configure the Record Center by adding content types, creating record target libraries, configuring routing rules for record handling, and accessing records reports.

Configure Send To connections for records management

A Send To connection specifies settings for a document repository in a records center. After a Send To connection is created, the Content Organizer can send documents to the predefined location. To create a Send To connection, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to Office 365 with your account and go to the SharePoint admin center.

2. Select records management.

3. Select New Connection in the Send to Connections list.

4. In the Display name text box, type a name for the connection. This name will be displayed in the Content Organizer as an option.

5. Send to URL is the submission point of the destination site. Go to the Content Organizer Settings page and search the URL in the Submission Points section.

6. From the Send To action list, select one of the options as required and add Explanation.

7. Click Add Connection to create the connection.

Create a content type for document routing to a Records Center

You can use content types in SharePoint to create specific types of documents. You can add site columns to content types to define metadata or properties for documents that are based on those content types. Before you begin, make sure that you have already created a Records Center site in SharePoint. Steps are as follows.

Create a site content type for use on multiple SharePoint sites

1. Navigate to the top-level site in the SharePoint site collection and select Site settings from the Settings menu.
2. Go to Site Content Types page and click Create.
3. On the New Site Content Type page, create a new content type with Document Content Types as the parent content type from a drop-down list box, select Document from the Parent Content Type drop-down list box, leave Custom Content Types selected in the Existing group drop-down list box or you can create new group and then click OK.
4. On the Site Content Type page under Columns, click Add from existing site columns and add columns as required.

Associate a SharePoint site content type with a document library

1. Navigate to a site from which you will be moving documents to the SharePoint Records Center and create a document library.
2. Go to the Advanced setting in library settings.
3. On the Advanced Settings page, select the Yes option for Allow management of content types, and click OK.
4. On the Settings page under Content Types, click Add from existing site content types.
5. On the Add Content Types page, select newly created content type in the top level site in the Available Site Content Types list box, click Add, then click OK.
6. Navigate to the document library and create a new document with that content type.

Configure document routing in a SharePoint Records Center

1. Navigate to the SharePoint Records Center. Create a SharePoint document library.
2. Associate the same content type with the SharePoint document library you just created.
3. Go to the Manage Records Center from the Settings menu and click Create content organizer rules.
4. Click new item and assign name the new rule.
5. Select Custom Content Types or the Content type group created from the Group drop-down list box.
6. Select content type from the Type drop-down list box.
7. Select Property to compare if any and select Operator to compare.
8. Type the URL of the SharePoint document library earlier created to which you want to send documents and click OK.

After you have set up the content organizer rule in the SharePoint Records Center you can add additional retention policies based on content types in a document library or you can manually move documents to your Records center. 

We briefly went over some of the features of the SharePoint Records Center and how to get it started. Properly utilizing the Records Center will help your organization manage and collaborate better for all of the records including legal or financial documents. Need help managing and storing records effectively? Give us a call at 833-827-4275 or contact us here.