The Hold feature, which is available for the Records Center site template in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, is a records management feature that enables organizations to suspend records from any expiration policies that may be in effect while these records are subject to events such as litigation, audits, or investigations. Organizations can use holds to prevent records that may be relevant to ongoing litigation or investigation from expiring or being destroyed before the event to which they are relevant has been resolved.

How a hold works

Create a hold

Add records to a hold

Search for records to add to a hold

View all records on hold

View all holds against a record

Remove a record from a hold

Release all records from a hold

How a hold works

By default, every Records Center site has a Holds list that records managers can use to create and manage holds for events such as litigation, audits, or investigations. You can create a new hold for a specific event by adding a new entry to the Holds list. The Holds list provides tools for finding and holding relevant records, viewing records that are currently on hold, or releasing a hold when it is no longer required.

When a record is added to a hold, its hold status is updated to indicate that it is on hold, and Office SharePoint Server 2007 prevents this record from expiring or being deleted. After records are added to a hold, they are typically reviewed by the legal staff within an organization to determine whether they are relevant to the event that prompted the creation of the hold. Individual items can be removed from a hold if they are determined not to be relevant.

An organization can have multiple holds in effect at one time. It is also possible for one record to be added to several different holds. If a record is put on multiple holds, it is suspended from its original information management policy until all of the holds to which it has been added are released.

Create a hold

1. On a Records Center site, click Lists, and then click Holds to open the Holds list.
2. In the Holds list, on the New menu , click New Item.
3. In the Title box, type a name for the hold that you want to create. Typically, the title should identify information about the event (for example, the litigation, audit, or investigation) that is prompting the hold.
4. In the Description box, type any additional information about the hold. For example, you can provide additional information about the event that is prompting the hold.
5. In the Managed By box, enter the names of all the records managers who are responsible for managing the hold.
6. Click OK.

Add records to a hold

If you know that a specific record is relevant to a hold, you can add that record to the hold directly from the list or library where it is stored.

1. Open the list or library that contains the record that you want to add to the hold.
2. Point to the record that you want to add to the hold, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Holds.
3. In the Add or remove from hold section, click Add to a hold, and then select the specific hold to which you want to add the record.
4. In the Comments box, type any comments that you want to provide about why you are adding this record to the hold.

    Note    These comments are audited.

5. Click Save.

Search for records to add to a hold

You can use search to find and add multiple records to a hold at one time.

1. On a Records Center site, click Lists, and then click Holds to open the Holds list.
2. In the Holds list, point to the name of the hold to which you want to add records, click the arrow that appears, and then click View Item.
3. In the Hold Status section, click Search for items to add to this hold.
4. In the Search box, type the keywords that you want to use to help you find relevant records, and then click Search.
5. To add the search results to the hold, click Hold.
6. Click OK.

View all records on a hold

Each hold that you create has a hold report that you can use to quickly view all records that have been added to that hold.

1. On a Records Center site, click Lists, and then click Holds to open the Holds list.
2. In the Holds list, point to the name of the hold for which you want to view all records, click the arrow that appears, and then click View Item.
3. In the Hold Status section, click View hold report.

View all holds against a record

If a record has been added to more than one hold, you can view the list of holds that pertain to that record by using the Manage Holds command. This information is also displayed along with the properties for the record.

1. Open the list or library that contains the record for which you want to view the hold information.
2. Point to the record that you want, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Holds.
3. At the top of the Item Hold Status page, view the list of holds that apply to the record.

Remove a record from a hold

You can use the Manage Holds command to remove an individual record from a hold.

1. Open the list or library that contains the record that you want to remove from a hold.
2. Point to the record that you want, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Holds.
3. In the Add or remove from hold section, click Remove from a hold, and then select the hold from which you want to remove the record.
4. In the Comments box, type any comments that you want to provide about why you are removing this record from the hold.

    Note    These comments are audited.

5. Click Save.

Release all records from a hold

If the event that prompted the need for a hold is resolved, and the hold is no longer required, you can release all of the records that have been added to the hold. When you release a hold, normal enforcement of the information management policy resumes for the records that were subject to that hold.

1. On a Records Center site, click Lists, and then click Holds to open the Holds list.
2. In the Holds list, point to the name of the hold from which you want to release all records, click the arrow that appears, and then click View Item.
3. In the Hold Status section, click Release hold.
4. On the Release Hold page, type any comments that you want to provide about why you are releasing the hold.

    Note    These comments are audited.

5. Click Release Hold.

   Important  When you release a hold, normal enforcement of the information management policy resumes for all of the records that were subject to that hold. This means that records are no longer suspended from expiration or destruction. If specific records are subject to more than one hold, these records cannot be restored to normal policy enforcement until all of the holds to which they belong are resolved and released.