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Automated Support of Records Disposition
Bill UnderwoodPrincipal Research Scientist
Georgia Tech Research Institute
NARA BriefingJanuary 6, 2004
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Overview
• Retrospective: Whence it came to be.
• Perspective: What it is. • Prospective: What it can be and
additional research needed.
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In Retrospect
W. E. Underwood and S. L. Laib “The Language of Records Disposition,” AIAI TR 95-01, Army Research Laboratory, Atlanta, Georgia. Prepared under contract DAKF11-93-C-0043, Managing Electronic Records in an Army Office, February 1995.
S. Laib. Program Documentation for a Disposition Language Style Checker and Translator. Technical Note AIAI-TN-94-03, Artificail Intelligence Atlanta, Inc. August 1994.
W. E. Underwood, S. Laib and J. Underwood, Managing Electronic Records in an Army Office: Final Report, AIAI 97-06, August 1997.
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Retrospective
• Analysis of the disposition instructions in the GRS and the US Army’s Record Schedule.
• Synthesis of a grammar for generic and specific disposition instructions.
• Semantics of disposition instructions.• Tools for syntax checking, translating,
and carrying out disposition instructions
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Types of Generic Disposition Instructions
• Temporary Records– Time (Destroy after period)– Event (Destroy after event)– Time-Event (Destroy period after
event)• Permanent
– Permanent – Permanent-Event
• (Permanent. PIF after event)
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Specific Disposition Instructions
Permanent. PIF after completion of Study ACTIVE PIF after completion of Study
INACTIVE Cut off at the end of the year Retire to servicing FRC after 2 years Permanent
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Analysis of Combinations of instructions
Destroy after 5 years, or 1 year after termination of membership, whichever is first.
COFF 31 Dec 1994
Dest Jan 2000, or Dest Jan 1996 if membership was terminated during the year
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Second Alternative Meaning
Destroy after 5 years, or 1 year after termination of membership, whichever is first.
COFF 31 Dec 1994Dest Jan 2000, or Dest 1 year after
termination of membership
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Third Alternative Meaning
Destroy after 5 years, or 1 year after termination of membership, whichever is first.
ACTIVEPIF after termination of membership or Dest Jan
2000, whichever is earlier.
INACTIVECOFF 31 Dec 1994Dest Jan 1996
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Combination of Instructions
1. Destroy after period, or when events [, whichever is earlier (later)]
2. Destroy after period, or period after events[, whichever is earlier (later)]
3. Destroy when events, or after period[, whichever is earlier (later)].
4. Destroy when events, or when events[, whichever is earlier (later)]
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Combinations of Instructions
5. Destroy when events, or period after events[, whichever is earlier (later)]
6. Destroy period after events, or after period[, whichever is earlier (later)]
7. Destroy period after events, or when events[, whichever is earlier (later)]
8. Destroy period after events, or period after events[, whichever is earlier (later)]
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Are combinations of Basic Instructions Needed?
• All the combinations of basic instructions discovered in MARKS, also appear in the GRS.
• The Federal statutes and regulations upon which NARA and Federal agencies base disposition have different retention requirements.
• Different offices within an agency may have different operational retention requirements.
• If its possible to simplify the combinations, it should be done, but was beyond the scope of the original work.
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Combinations of Generic and Specific Instructions
Ex: Destroy 20 years after full production of the prototype takes place. Retire after 5 years in the current files area (FN 702-3b)
ACTIVEPIF after full production of the prototype takes place.
INACTIVECutoff at end of yearRetire to FRC after 3 yearsRetire to FRC after 3 years [Retire to FRC after 5
years]Destroy 20 years after cutoff
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Retain, Hold and Keep
• Cut off annually, hold 1 year in CFA, retire to WNRC with the next regular shipment. Destroy 25 years after cutoff. (FN680-31a)
• Destroy 3 years after case is closed. Keep in CFA until destroyed. (FN 11-3a)
• Destroy after 75 years. Retain 5 years in CFA. (FN: 40-5f)
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Grammar
• Disposition instruction ::= Instructions for temporary records | Instructions for permanent records | Instructions for working files | Do not Destroy. Disposition
authorization pending NARA’s approval
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Grammar
Instructions for temporary records ::= (Destroy|Delete) after period
[, (or ((after|when|upon|on|at) events) | period after events) [, whichever is (earlier|earliest|later|
latest)]]…
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Grammar
period ::= numeral year[s] [and (3|6)
months] | (1|3|6) month[s] | (30|60|90) days
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Grammar for Specific Instructions
• Cut off (at end of (CY|FY|month)) [, or (after|on|when) events, whichever is (earlier | earliest)] |
after period | (when|after|on) event
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Perspective: Tools
• Style Checker• Translate Generic to definite,
dated disposition instructions• Automated Support for Carrying
out Disposition Instructions
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Tool: Style Checker
• Lex – lexical word analyzer• Yacc (yet another compiler
compiler) – syntactic analyzer and translator.
• The grammar was described in Lex and Yacc and used to construct a style checker for disposition instructions
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Example: Style checker
Destroy 5 years after close of fiscal year.
<<* 11. REPHRASE USING Cut off *>>
Destroy after 5 years. Cut off at the end of the FY
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Translating Generic to Specific Instructions
Generic Instruction
Destroy after 30 days
Parameterized Instruction
COFF end_of(month,year)
Dest months_after (1, month, year)
Specific DispositionCOFF Jan 31, 2004Dest Feb 28, 2004
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Tools: Carrying out Disposition Instructions
• Enterprise RMAssistant– Used by Agency to create Records Schedule,
Normalize Disposition Instructions
• Office RMAssistant– Supports creating office file plan from Agency
records schedule, Creating Specific Disposition instructions from Generic, Carrying out Records Disposition, including transfer.
• Filing Assistant– Supports filing, creation of case folders,
retrieval, and indicating disposition events.
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Support of Disposition Actions
• Cutoff• Transfer• Retire• Destroy
– ------------------
• Transferred• Retired
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Prospects
• Standard Syntax and Semantics for Disposition Instructions
• Standard Software Tools for Syntax Checking and Translating Generic to Specific Disposition Instructions
• Standard API to Support Carrying out Disposition Instructions
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Needed Research
• After creation of the grammar, it was realized that media refreshment and prescription of preservation actions might be needed in the disposition language or in a preservation language.
• Additional testing and refinement of the grammar, translation rules and semantics is needed.