Alfresco, provider of an open source enterprise content management solution, announced the availability of the Alfresco Records Manager preview release. This release offers an unobtrusive, simple to use, drag-and-drop approach to records management. A shared drive interface behind Alfresco's Intelligent Virtual File System supports the necessary rules to implement the file plan, archival, disposition and scheduled events.

File plans and records are a perfect example of the power of Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) offering the ability to extend ordinary folders and files as well as add new records management capabilities. Functionality offered in the Alfresco Records Manager preview release includes:

-- Fileplans - Automatically classify and schedule records based upon pre- existing plans and standardized structures.
-- Drag And Drop Entry - Providing a file system view, records can be dragged and dropped using the standard Windows Explorer interface with metadata and disposition assigned according to fileplans and workflow handling.
-- Automated Lifecycle Change - Enables schedule, content and metadata change activation based upon simple scripting rules. An important feature for managing retention dates and managing document disposition.
-- Retention and Archival Policies - Manage archival of obsolete records, recovery of archived records or complete destruction of records based upon retention policies.
-- Disposition - Provides controlled and scheduled handling of archiving, holds, transfers, accessions and destruction using rules and automated processing.
-- Pre-Population Of Metadata - Using predefined templates and definitions, automatically file and handle records entry.
-- Screening Records - Pre-defined reports and metadata type definitions to search and screen records due for handling and exceptional cases.
-- DOD 5015.2 Requirements - Templates designed to support US Department of Defense records and filing requirement for metadata definitions, fileplans and functionality.
-- Metadata Validation And Workflow Handling - Ensures the integrity of records using model-driven validation and handling of newly entered records.
-- Automatic Conversion -Converts from proprietary office formats to long- term vendor neutral formats such as Open Document Format (ODF) and Portable Document Format (PDF).

"Our goal was always to deliver a full ECM suite and this is another significant step in that direction," said John Newton, chief technology officer, Alfresco, Inc. "Our success in Government, where open source is becoming the delivery model of choice, drove us to support DOD 5105.2 requirements. Through the power of open source we are dramatically reducing the cost of records management while delivering a simple-to-use, enterprise class system, where records managers and business analysts, rather than developers, can set-up and implement records requirements such as DOD 5015.2 and other regulatory standards."

"Our focus on Production Ready Open Source and the extension of the suite, further enhances our position as the only open source ECM alternative," said John Powell, CEO, Alfresco Software Inc. "This is the first step to filling out the major ECM suite components of document management, records management, imaging and web content management."