Extending Alfresco Governance to Apply to Other Data Stores

[Scott_McCauley]

Is it possible/feasible to extend Alfresco's Governance capabilities to apply to data stores outside of Alfresco itself?

If we get all of our retention policies defined in Alfresco Governance, it would be nice to have that be the *one place* where we manage those policies. Would it make sense to have record keeping systems outside Alfresco "register" their records in Alfresco so that Alfresco can be the one-stop-shop to enforce retention rules and legal holds across the enterprise? Could we make exit calls to the external record keeping systems in response to Alfresco Governance events against these "registered" external records?

I hope this question makes sense. Even more, I hope someone else is doing this and can share their experience.

[Overwerkt]

Hi Scott_McCauley.  I'm very interested in this topic.  Somewhat related, we want to integrate MS 365 SharePoint with Alfresco Governance Services at the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources.  Using Alfresco as the source of truth for your records makes sense.  We are currently working on an Alfresco migration and upgrade, but have started researching integration possibilities.  Here is the response I got from AI Deep Dive in regard to your use case.

"Yes, it's possible and feasible to extend Alfresco's Governance capabilities to manage content in external data stores and effectively use Alfresco Governance as a central hub for retention policies and legal holds across an enterprise. 

Here's how this can be achieved:

• Federation Services: Alfresco offers "Federation Services", an add-on module that facilitates managing content located in different repositories from within Alfresco.
• Manage in Place (MIP): Federation Services' "Manage in Place" functionality allows you to access, control, and govern content residing in various business systems and content management applications, including external ones. This means content can be searched, controlled and governed without needing to be migrated into Alfresco.
• Applying Alfresco Governance Services: With Federation Services, you can apply Alfresco Governance Services (AGS) policies, including retention schedules and legal holds, to content stored in these external systems using the "Manage in Place" feature. This enables you to define and manage all your retention rules and legal holds from a single location – Alfresco Governance Services.
• eDiscovery and Legal Holds: Federated Records Management, powered by Alfresco Governance Services, can support enterprise-wide eDiscovery, enabling you to place legal holds across the enterprise on content located in multiple repositories.  

Mechanism for external record-keeping systems to register and be governed by Alfresco:

• Content Synchronization/Indexing: Alfresco Federation Services allows for the synchronization of metadata and potentially content (or pointers to content) into Alfresco, providing a unified view of information across different systems. This effectively "registers" the external content within the Alfresco ecosystem, making it accessible for governance actions.
• APIs for Integration: Alfresco Governance Services provides APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), such as the GS Core API, that allow external applications to interact with AGS functionalities. These APIs could be used to:
  • Declare existing files in external systems as records within AGS.
  • File records in the AGS File Plan (the structure for managing records and retention schedules).
  • Manage legal holds on content residing in external systems, leveraging AGS' capabilities to define and manage these holds.
• Event-Driven Integration: While the provided context doesn't explicitly detail "exit calls" or outbound events from Alfresco Governance, the API-driven approach implies that integration can be designed to respond to events. For instance, an external system could be configured to listen for events triggered by AGS (e.g., records reaching the end of their retention period or being placed under legal hold) and then initiate corresponding actions within the external system itself (e.g., archiving or destruction of the record in the original data store). This would likely require custom development to connect the external system with Alfresco's event mechanisms or to periodically query AGS for status updates on managed records. 

In summary, Alfresco offers robust capabilities through Federation Services and its Governance Services APIs to enable centralized management of retention policies and legal holds for records stored both within and outside of the Alfresco repository. This approach allows organizations to leverage Alfresco Governance as the single source of truth for their information governance strategy, streamlining compliance efforts and minimizing risk." 

[Scott_McCauley]

Thank you. That's the theory. I'm hoping to find someone who's put it into practice. I'd like to know that this actually works and is practical to support & maintain.