How to comply with Records Management requirement „Delete document but keep metadata record“?

Question:
How to comply with Records Management requirement „Delete document but keep metadata record“?

Answer:
In some cases Records Management requires to delete the content of the record (in DocuWare terms: the document) after a certain retention period but keep the metadata (in DocuWare terms: the index data) for a longer retention.

We recommend the following configuration:

• Set the due date for the retention of the document.
• For documents that need to follow these requirements set the status of the document to „Delete document, Keep Index“.
• Define an Autoindex Workflow with the following entries:
  • Source: File Cabinet that contains the Records.
  • Target: Either same file cabinet or a different file cabinet that hosts the index of the disposed records.
  • Matchcode: Unique Identifier of the document, Status.
  • Filter: All documents with due-date = Today() – x days (where x is an optional notification period for the records manager (see below).
  • Options:
    • If no match found: Create new Record.
    • Source record: Change status to „To be deleted“.
• Optional: Define an export workflow for all documents with status = „To be deleted“.
  • Source: File cabinet that contains the Records.
  • Target: File cabinet that shall contain the disposed records.
• Optional: Define a list of all records that are due for deletion and assign it to Records Manager.
  • Status = „To be Deleted“.
  • Due Date within the next x days (where x = notification date for Records Manager).
• Define a Deletion Workflow.
  • Status = „To be Deleted“.
  • Due Date = Today ().

This process deletes a document but keeps it’s index as a new record. Please note that all logging on the original document is also deleted with this process.