Essentially, the metadata should present sufficient information about the  document to classify it appropriately. Figure 3-3 shows what happens to the document’s metadata when a user  declares and classifies it as a record: Its content remains within the host  application’s content repository, and the related metadata is stored in the  Records Manager database. This metadata stored in the Records Manager  database helps Records Manager in locating and managing the record. One highly desirable capability of Records Manager is automatic classification. Automatic classification  eliminates the need for users to manually assign  retention rules (or more accurately select a record component from the file plan  hierarchy the user is permitted to use). Records Manager offers metadata-based  automatic classification, whereby the records administrator can define  classification rules based on metadata of the record. If you plan on using  automatic classification for your e-mail archiving solution, you should understand  the lack (or potential lack) of suitable metadata. In the case of e-mail, it usually  contains the From, To, and Subject fields. To have successful automatic  classification, these fields or other metadata of the e-mail must contain sufficient  information for the system to auto-classify. Automatic classification Figure 3-3 What happens when an e-mail is declared and classified as a record 54  E-mail Archiving and Records Management Integrated Solution Guide  Host application e.g. Content Manager ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- Document metadata Document ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- Records Manager ------- --- ------- --- ------- --- Metadata is sent to  Records Manager. Content stays within  the host application's repository. ------- --- ------- --- ------- ---