Segmenting documents among multiple data repositories

1. A method for storing electronic documents, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of logical storage locations, with each logical storage location corresponding to a predetermined first set of criteria defining one or more data parameters of electronic documents to be stored in the particular logical storage location;

storing electronic documents in the plurality of logical storage locations, wherein each electronic document is stored in a particular logical storage location having a particular corresponding predetermined first set of criteria based on a particular corresponding first set of data parameters associated with the electronic document, and the electronic document is indexed within the logical storage location based on a second set of data parameters associated with the electronic document; and

dynamically modifying the predetermined first set of criteria corresponding to the particular logical storage location after storing one or more electronic documents by segmenting the predetermined first set of criteria into at least a first subset of the predetermined first set of criteria and a second subset of the predetermined first set of criteria, wherein the first subset of the predetermined first set of criteria corresponds to the particular logical storage location and the second subset of the predetermined first set of criteria corresponds to at least one other logical storage location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each logical storage location stores electronic documents of at least one document type, with each document type for the logical storage location having a third set of data parameters that includes the particular corresponding predetermined first set of criteria.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving a search request including at least one search parameter;

identifying document types having third sets of data parameters that intersect the at least one search parameter; and

limiting a search based on the received search request to one or more logical storage locations storing electronic documents of the identified document types.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the search request includes at least one of the first set of data parameters or the second set of data parameters, and wherein the search request selected based on knowledge of parameters likely to be used to search for electronic documents having a particular document type.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising segmenting the electronic documents into logical groupings using distribution plans that each correspond to the predetermined first set of criteria for a particular logical storage location.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein segmenting the electronic documents comprises:

identifying, for each electronic document, a search plan having criteria that match data field parameters associated with the electronic document; and

identifying a distribution plan for the identified search plan, wherein the identified distribution plan includes a predetermined first set of criteria that match data content parameters associated with the electronic document.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein each pair of a search plan and a distribution plan is mutually exclusive with respect to other pairs of search plans and distribution plans.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined first set of criteria corresponding to each logical storage location is mutually exclusive with respect to the predetermined first set of criteria for others of the plurality of logical storage locations.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each electronic document comprises a set of index data and a set of attachments.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the set of index data and the set of attachments are stored in different logical storage locations for each electronic document.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of data parameters and the second set of data parameters are the same and include at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of data fields, data types, and data content.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of data parameters and the second set of data parameters are different and each include parameters selected from the group consisting of data fields, data types, and data content.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the logical storage locations correspond to physical storage locations.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein each logical storage location corresponds to a directory in a computer storage system.

15. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions for causing one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of electronic documents to be stored;

identifying a selected logical storage location for storing a particular one of the plurality of electronic documents, wherein the selected logical storage location is selected from among a plurality of logical storage locations, with each logical storage location having a corresponding predetermined set of criteria associated with one or more parameters of the plurality of electronic documents, and the predetermined set of criteria for the selected logical storage location matches parameters defined in the particular one of the plurality of electronic documents;

storing the particular one of the plurality of electronic documents in the selected logical storage location, and

dynamically modifying the predetermined set of criteria corresponding to the selected logical storage location after storing the particular one of the plurality of electronic documents by segmenting the predetermined set of criteria into at least a first subset of the predetermined set of criteria and a second subset of the predetermined set of criteria, wherein the first subset of the predetermined set of criteria corresponds to the selected logical storage location and the second subset of the predetermined set of criteria corresponds to at least one other logical storage location among the plurality of logical storage locations.

16. The article of claim 15 wherein:

the particular one of the plurality of electronic documents comprises indexing data and at least one attachment;

identifying a selected logical storage location comprises identifying a first selected logical storage location for the indexing data and identifying a second selected logical storage location for the at least one attachment; and

storing the particular one of the plurality of electronic documents comprises storing the indexing data in the first selected logical storage location and storing the at least one attachment in the second selected logical storage location.

17. The article of claim 15 wherein each logical storage location stores electronic documents of at least one document type, with each document type comprising a set of parameters that includes the corresponding set of predetermined criteria for the logical storage location, with the machine-readable medium storing instructions for causing one or more processors to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a search request identifying at least one search parameter;

identifying document types having sets of parameters that include the at least one search parameter; and

limiting a search performed in response to the received search request to logical storage locations that store the identified document types.

18. The article of claim 15 wherein the corresponding predetermined set of criteria for each logical storage location is mutually exclusive with respect to the corresponding predetermined set of criteria for other logical storage locations.

19. The article of claim 15 wherein identifying a selected logical storage location for storing the electronic document comprises:

identifying a distribution plan that matches data field parameters defined in the electronic document; and

using the identified distribution plan and data content parameters defined in the electronic document to identify the selected logical storage location.

20. A document storage system comprising:

a plurality of data repositories; and

a server operable to store electronic documents in the plurality of data repositories, wherein the server is further operable to:

identify one of the plurality of data repositories for storing each electronic document, wherein each data repository corresponds to a predetermined set of criteria, the predetermined set of criteria defining one or more parameters of the electronic documents to be stored in the particular data repository, and wherein the identified data repository for each electronic document is selected based on the predetermined set of criteria corresponding to the identified data repository; and

dynamically modify the predetermined set of criteria corresponding to the identified data repository after storing one or more electronic documents by segmenting the predetermined set of criteria into at least a first subset of the predetermined set of criteria and a second subset of the predetermined set of criteria, wherein the first subset of the predetermined set of criteria corresponds to the identified data repository and the second subset of the predetermined set of criteria corresponds to at least one other data repository.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the one or more parameters associated with the predetermined set of criteria are selected from the group consisting of data fields, data types, and data content.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the server is further operable to:

identify a distribution plan for each electronic document, with the distribution plan defining the predetermined set of criteria that correspond to a particular data repository, wherein the predetermined set of criteria is mutually exclusive with respect to other distribution plans.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the server is further operable to:

receive a search request identifying at least one search parameter;

identify a subset of the plurality of data repositories storing document types that potentially include the at least one search parameter, wherein the subset is identified based on an intersection between document types that include the at least one search parameter and document types that include the predetermined set of criteria corresponding to each of the plurality of data repositories; and

search for electronic documents that satisfy the search request in the subset of the plurality of data repositories.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined first set of criteria corresponding to the particular logical storage location is dynamically modified based on one of the following: increased data access times for electronic documents stored in the particular logical storage location or limited storage capacity in the particular logical storage location.

25. The article of claim 15 wherein the predetermined set of criteria corresponding to the selected logical storage location is dynamically modified based on one of the following: increased data access times for electronic documents stored in the selected logical storage location or limited storage capacity in the selected logical storage location.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the predetermined set of criteria corresponding to the identified data repository is dynamically modified based on one of the following: increased data access times for electronic documents stored in the identified data repository or limited storage capacity in the identified data repository.