A processing plan lays out the work needed for a collection to be accessible and usable at a determined processing level. Not all collections will require plans for processing; this is often dependent on the size of the collection and the level of description. Processing plans should be kept permanently according to the General Records Schedule.
A processing plan is a project planning document, a communication tool that records the rationale for work performed on a collection, an important piece of internal documentation, and a resource to provide continuity in times of staff change. They can assist in the project management of work on a particular collection, especially a large one where work is shared among staff. In many cases, research done for processing plans can be used in a finding aid to provide transparency.
In addition to basic information about the size, provenance, and physical condition of a collection, the processing plan can include proposed arrangement and description work. Technical services staff can record the level of description they feel is appropriate to each collection, or to each part of the collection. Staff must also assess restriction needs within the collection, if any, and suggest reasonable practices or methods to balance access to the material with the needs of the donor(s), repository, and institution. A processing plan can also incorporate other documentation created during collection development considerations, accessioning, etc.
A processing plan should be a living document. It can be revised during the course of the processing project if necessary, and good practice includes returning to the processing plan at the end of the processing project to record additional decisions made, time spent, or lessons learned. Copies of processing plans should be kept in a collection control file for future review.
The Processing Toolkit provides templates and real-world examples of processing plans from Harvard University repositories.