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Automated Support ofRecords Disposition

Bill UnderwoodPrincipal Research Scientist

Georgia Tech Research Institute

NARA Briefing

January 6, 2004

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Overview

Retrospective: Whence it came to be.

Perspective: What it is.

Prospective: What it can be andadditional research needed.

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In Retrospect

W. E. Underwood and S. L. Laib The Language ofRecords Disposition, AIAI TR 95-01, Army ResearchLaboratory, Atlanta, Georgia. Prepared under

contract DAKF11-93-C-0043, Managing ElectronicRecords in an Army Office, February 1995.

S. Laib. Program Documentation for a DispositionLanguage Style Checker and Translator. TechnicalNote 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 instructionsin the GRS and the US Armys 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 DispositionInstructions

Temporary Records Time (Destroy after period)

Event (Destroy after event) Time-Event (Destroy periodafter event)

Permanent

Permanent Permanent-Event

(Permanent. PIF after event)

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Specific Disposition Instructions

Permanent. PIF after completion of Study

ACTIVEPIF 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 ofinstructions

Destroy after 5 years, or 1 year aftertermination 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 aftertermination of membership, whichever

is first.

COFF 31 Dec 1994

Dest Jan 2000, or Dest 1 year aftertermination of membership

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Third Alternative Meaning

Destroy after 5 years, or 1 year aftertermination of membership, whichever is first.

ACTIVEPIF after termination of membership or Dest Jan 2000,

whichever is earlier.

INACTIVECOFF 31 Dec 1994

Dest 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 periodafterevents[, whichever is earlier (later)]

3. Destroy when events, or after period[,

whichever is earlier (later)].4. Destroy when events, or whenevents[, whichever is earlier (later)]

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Combinations of Instructions

5. Destroy when events, or periodafterevents[, whichever is earlier (later)]

6. Destroy period after events, or after period[,whichever is earlier (later)]

7. Destroy periodafter events, or whenevents[, whichever is earlier (later)]

8. Destroy periodafter events, or periodafterevents[, whichever is earlier (later)]

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Are combinations of BasicInstructions Needed?

All the combinations of basic instructionsdiscovered in MARKS, also appear in the GRS.

The Federal statutes and regulations uponwhich NARA and Federal agencies basedisposition have different retentionrequirements.

Different offices within an agency may havedifferent operational retention requirements.

If its possible to simplify the combinations, itshould be done, but was beyond the scope of

the original work.

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Combinations of Generic and SpecificInstructions

Ex: Destroy 20 years after full production of theprototype takes place. Retire after 5 years inthe current files area (FN 702-3b)

ACTIVE

PIF after full production of the prototype takes place.

INACTIVE

Cutoff at end of year

Retire 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 yearsin 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 NARAs approval

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Grammar

Instructions for temporary records::=

(Destroy|Delete) after period

[, (or ((after|when|upon|on|at) events) |

periodafter events)

[, whichever is (earlier|earliest|later|latest)]]

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Grammar

period::=

numeralyear[s] [and (3|6) months] |

(1|3|6) month[s] |

(30|60|90) days

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Grammar for SpecificInstructions

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 outDisposition 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 andYacc 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.

Destroy after 5 years. Cut off at the endof the FY

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Translating Generic to SpecificInstructions

Generic Instruction

Destroy after 30 days

ParameterizedInstruction

COFF end_of(month,year)Dest months_after

(1, month, year)

Specific DispositionCOFF Jan 31, 2004

Dest Feb 28, 2004

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Tools: Carrying out DispositionInstructions

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 Dispositioninstructions 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 forDisposition Instructions

Standard Software Tools for SyntaxChecking and Translating Generic toSpecific Disposition Instructions

Standard API to Support Carrying outDisposition Instructions

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Needed Research

After creation of the grammar, it wasrealized that media refreshment and

prescription of preservation actionsmight be needed in the dispositionlanguage or in a preservation language.

Additional testing and refinement of thegrammar, translation rules andsemantics is needed.