Patent ID: 8180743

Claim:
A method of managing an object stored in an information management system, the method comprising: retrieving the object from the information management system; evaluating content of the object to determine a classification level, wherein evaluating the content of the object includes determining a type of the object from metadata associated with the object, using the type of the object to evaluate the content of the object, and finding a selected element in the content of the object, wherein the classification level is determined from the metadata associated with the object; associating the object to an information group relating to the classification level, wherein the information group is serviced according to the classification level; associating the object to the classification level, wherein the classification level indicates importance of the object; associating the classification level with an information management policy based on the importance of the object, wherein the information management policy manages a lifecycle of the object, wherein the information management policy includes an action to be performed relating to the object, wherein the information management policy indicates at least one parameter selected from the group comprising performance, latency, bandwidth, security, availability, backup frequency, level of encryption, number of copies, compression, media type, data migration, retention period, or access control, wherein the lifecycle of the object includes at least one from the group of quarantine, protection level, workflow management, service level, security, availability, and provisioning; updating metadata for the object, wherein the updated metadata includes the classification level; storing the updated metadata for the object in the information management system; performing the action using the at least one parameter to perform the action on the object; and changing the association of the classification level from the information management policy to a second information management policy, without changing the association of the object with the classification level of the object stored in the updated metadata associated with the object.