Document Storage & Control User Manual

Version 1.0.3

About DSC

Document Storage & Control (DSC) provides a secure, organized and auditable repository for an organization's official records, preserving documents, decisions and institutional history across changes in trusted servants.

DSC is organized around records, not folders. A record may eventually contain one or more files or may consist primarily of structured information.

DSC Workspace

DSC provides its operational user layer through the front-end application workspace. Records, Meetings, Motions, Protected Access, Retention Review, Audit Log, System Health, and organization Configuration appear according to the signed-in user's DSC capabilities. WordPress administration remains a site-maintainer function rather than the normal DSC workspace.

Accessing Help

The documentation displayed here is read directly from the DSC plugin package. This means the manual remains matched to the installed version of DSC.

Security Foundation

DSC is designed to use protected document storage outside the public WordPress web root. Controlled records do not depend on the WordPress Media Library for authoritative document storage.

Record Numbers

Every institutional record receives a permanent DSC record number. DSC may store a fixed-width value internally, but presents compact IDs such as DSC-1. A number, once allocated, is never reused.

Support

DSC is developed by Fellowship Systems.

Organization Structure

DSC can preserve records in the context of meeting types, service positions, committees, people, and position assignments defined by your organization. These definitions are maintained by authorized DSC administrators.

Position Assignments

Assignment status is calculated automatically from Start and End dates. Future assignments appear as Upcoming, current assignments as Active, and assignments whose End date has passed as Ended. A future End date can be entered in advance without ending the assignment early.

Assignment History

Position assignments are retained as part of the organization's institutional history. Existing assignments can be corrected by editing them, and their terms can be ended or reopened, but they are not hard-deleted from the Position Assignments register.

DSC Records

The Records area is the working register for DSC institutional records. Authorized contributors can create Draft records using configured Record Types and may identify a responsible Service Position and/or Committee.

A permanent DSC Record ID is assigned the first time a Draft is created. That number is never reused. Incomplete historical records may be entered without a Record Date when the accurate date is unknown.

Drafts can be edited. Authorized records managers can discard a mistaken Draft; discarded drafts are removed from the normal register but remain auditable and their permanent IDs remain reserved.

Documents and File Revisions

A DSC record may contain no files or one or more logical Document entries. Each Document has a role and label, while each actual uploaded file is preserved as an immutable Revision beneath that Document.

Available document roles are Primary Document, Attachment, Supporting Document, Form, and Other. A record may have only one active Primary Document.

While a record is Draft, authorized contributors can add Documents and replace their current files. Replacement creates the next revision; it never overwrites the previous file. If the replacement is byte-for-byte identical to the current revision, DSC creates no unnecessary revision.

Authorized records managers can remove a Document from a Draft without deleting its files or history and can later restore it while the parent record remains Draft.

DSC preserves the original uploaded filename and file format. Older .doc, .xls, and .ppt files are accepted and displayed as Legacy Format.

Each revision receives a SHA-256 checksum. DSC verifies that checksum before serving the protected file. Current PDF, JPG/JPEG, PNG, and TXT files can be viewed through DSC; other supported formats are downloaded for use in appropriate desktop software.

Meetings and Relationships

Use DSC > Meetings to create and browse institutional meetings. After choosing a Meeting Type and Start Date, DSC suggests a consistent meeting title; the suggestion may be edited. Set the meeting status explicitly to Scheduled, Held, or Cancelled.

From either a meeting or record, authorized users can connect records to meetings as Record Of, Presented At, or Relates To. Use Record Of for meeting minutes and similar records whose purpose is to formally document the meeting. Use Presented At for Treasurer, officer, coordinator, committee, and similar reports presented during the meeting.

Records may also be connected to other records as Relates To, Supports, Implements, or Supersedes. DSC automatically presents the inverse wording from the other side of a directional relationship. Removing a relationship removes only the connection; it does not remove either institutional record or meeting.

Record Type Behavior

Authorized administrators can classify each Record Type as Standard, Report, Minutes, or Controlled Document. This behavior helps DSC organize institutional context without depending on a particular organization's naming conventions. Existing Record Types remain Standard until deliberately classified.

Meeting Institutional View

Meeting pages organize related material into Official Record, Reports Presented, Motions & Decisions, and Other Related Records. Minutes-behavior records connected as Record Of appear as the official record; Report-behavior records connected as Presented At appear as reports. DSC suggests these relationship meanings but does not force them.

Motions & Decisions

Use DSC > Motions to browse or create structured motions. Every motion receives a permanent compact ID such as DSC-MOT-1 and belongs to a DSC Meeting. Motion Text and Motion Date are required; Made By, Seconded By, Outcome, Vote Detail, and Notes may be incomplete when the historical source does not provide them. Supported outcomes are Passed, Failed, Withdrawn, and Tabled.

Motions may be connected to other motions as Related To or Follows From / Followed By. They may also connect to DSC records as Relates To, Implements, or Documented By. From the Record side, the inverse wording is Relates To, Implemented By, or Documents. These relationships preserve institutional context without converting a Motion into an ordinary record.

The Motion Register can be filtered by Meeting Type, Meeting, Outcome, and Year and can search motion text. A Meeting page lists the motions associated with that meeting.

Controlled Documents

Record Types classified as Controlled Document receive clearer supersession presentation. DSC shows recorded Supersedes / Superseded By context without inferring approval, effective dates, lifecycle state, or current-policy status from the relationship itself.

Finalizing and Controlling Records

While a record is Draft, authorized users can edit its metadata and manage its documents normally. A Records Manager or DSC Administrator can choose Finalize Record to review the record and establish it as an institutional record. After finalization, ordinary Edit Draft, Replace, Remove from Draft, and Restore to Draft controls are no longer available.

A Final record can still be corrected without erasing history. Correct Metadata changes descriptive information such as title, date, Record Type, responsibility, or notes and requires a reason. Correct Final Document is used only when the preserved file itself was wrong; DSC creates a new immutable revision and keeps the earlier one in Revision History.

If additional historical material is discovered later, a Records Manager or Administrator may choose Add Supporting Document on the Final record. DSC labels the new material as having been added after finalization. This does not replace the Primary Document.

A Final record may be Archived in DSC when it remains valid history but is no longer active working material. It may later be restored to Final. A record may instead be Removed from Use when DSC should preserve it but users should no longer rely on it as valid institutional material. Removal and restoration both preserve the control history; removal/restoration from use require explanatory reasons.

Supersession is separate from lifecycle. A Supersedes relationship does not automatically archive or remove the earlier record. Relationships may continue to be maintained after finalization when new institutional context is discovered.

Finalized records include a Record Control History showing controlled lifecycle and correction actions.

Protected Records

DSC records may be Standard, Restricted, or Confidential. Standard records follow ordinary DSC role permissions. Restricted and Confidential records are visible only to users explicitly authorized for that record. If you are not authorized, the protected record is omitted from normal registers, relationship displays, selectors, and related-record counts.

Confidential record and file access is audited. Restricted record viewing is not audited merely because the record was opened, although changes continue to be audited normally.

Records Search & Filters

The DSC Records register includes a collapsible Search & Filters panel. Search remains record-centered: results are DSC records rather than individual files.

Keyword search examines the record Title, Description / Notes, and searchable text extracted from the current active document revision. Multiple unquoted words must all be present somewhere across those searchable sources. Put words in quotation marks to search them as a phrase. Search results remain records, not files. Confidential document contents are never extracted or full-text searched.

Records can also be filtered by permanent Record ID, Record Family, Record Type, Lifecycle Status, Access Classification, Record Date range, Responsible Service Position, Responsible Committee, and whether the record has an active document. Filters may be combined.

Search results can be sorted by Relevance, Newest Record Date, Oldest Record Date, or Record ID. Results are paged at 25 records per page.

Protected-record authorization applies before DSC calculates result counts or pages. A Restricted or Confidential record that your account is not authorized to view contributes nothing to the displayed search results or result count.

Retention Policy and Review

Each DSC record carries a retention-policy snapshot established when the record is created. A policy may be Permanent, Review after N years, or Policy Pending. Review timing may be based on Record Date, Finalization Date, or an Explicit Date. Retention is separate from lifecycle: becoming due for review does not automatically archive, remove, or destroy a record.

DSC Records Managers and DSC Administrators can use Retention Review to work with Due and Upcoming records they are authorized to see. Completed review decisions are preserved as immutable review history and do not rewrite the record's original retention-policy snapshot. Ordinary outcomes are Continue Retention, Make Permanent, and Remove from Use. Continue Retention requires a future Next Review date and a reason.

Authorized Destruction is deliberately narrower. It is available only to a DSC Administrator when the record's retention policy explicitly permits destruction after review. It requires a reason and deliberate typed confirmation. Successful destruction removes controlled document content and derived search content while preserving the permanent DSC record shell, relationships, retention history, and audit trail. Destruction fails safely if DSC cannot verify that controlled content can be disposed of safely.

Front-end DSC Workspace

The DSC Dashboard is the normal starting point for operational users. Navigation is capability-aware, so users see only the workspaces and actions their role permits. The common workspace includes Records, Meetings, Motions, Help, and the Account menu. Higher-trust roles additionally receive Protected Access, Retention Review, or Administration functions as authorized.

The Administration menu is also capability-aware. DSC Records Managers can use the Audit Log. DSC Administrators can additionally use Configuration and System Health. Configuration contains Record Types, Meeting Types, Service Positions, Committees, People, and Position Assignments. System Health reports plugin/database status and protected-storage health.

Audit Log times are displayed using the WordPress site's configured timezone and date/time formats even though durable timestamps may be stored internally in UTC. Protected-record authorization is applied to audit presentation so an audit viewer does not gain record information merely by having access to the log.

WordPress Profile and Administration Boundary

Accounts whose operational role is DSC Administrator, DSC Records Manager, DSC Contributor, or DSC Reader use the DSC front-end application rather than ordinary WordPress administration. Direct visits to ordinary wp-admin screens are redirected to the DSC Dashboard. Account → My Profile remains available for the user's own WordPress profile; on that permitted screen the administration sidebar is reduced to Profile only.

WordPress Administrators/site maintainers are not subject to DSC containment. Site-level WordPress maintenance, plugin management, and host/storage settings remain available to those accounts. DSC forms may use WordPress's secure admin-post.php transport internally without exposing the WordPress administration interface to operational DSC users.