What issues have the

greatest impact on Records

Management today?
That is, they are
redefining, even
revolutionizing both the
theory and practice of
records management, and
will continue to do so for
years to come.
While every such list is
inherently arbitrary /
judgmental, here is mine . .
.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

The growing role of RM as a significant issue in

organizational management
RMs role in the transition to the management of electronic
records in the (nearly) paperless office
RMs role in the new environment for regulatory compliance
and litigation risk reduction
RMs role in enhancing enterprise accessibility of information
content
The impact of September 11th and RMs role in enhancing
information protection
Getting to (nearly) perfect in records retention
The role of electronic records retention in improved data life
cycle management
Bringing records management / retention to the desktop,
messaging and backup environments
The significance of the new software solutions for electronic
records management
The role of RM in digital preservation

 With the recent spate of

business scandals, now
for the first time ever
records have become
pivotal in determining the
fate of organizations!
In the case of Arthur
Andersen LLP vs. the
United States, for the first
time ever, a hitherto great
corporation was virtually
destroyed by acts related
directly to records disposal,
in which retention
practices were a major
issue.

 Higher strategic value

Higher customer / client
expectations
Greater technical expertise
required
Much higher rates of growth
Greater accessibility
challenges
Greater consequences of loss
Much shorter life expectancy
and greater preservation
challenges
All of these make RM
more important than ever
before!

 Many records
managers still cling
tenaciously and
irrationally to the
notion that paper will
be with us forever; that
the long-awaited but
hitherto unrealized
paperless office is
and will remain a myth.
I will give you my
opinions and invite
yours!!!

 Just because it hasnt

happened during the last
30 years doesnt mean it
wont happen during the
next 30!
During the last 30 years,
electronic records have
become much more
prevalent and prolific,
relative to their paper
counterparts.
And their importance has
skyrocketed while that of
paper records has
gradually declined.

 The decisive factor in

the transition to the
less-paper office is . . .
. . . Different behavior
patterns on the part of
the next generation of
office workers.
Our children and
grandchildren do not
and will not use filing
cabinets when they
take our places in the
offices of today and
tomorrow!!!

 Since the passage of the

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002 (and the new
regulatory and other legal
initiatives that resulted)
regulatory compliance, ediscovery and litigation risk
reduction have been the
key drivers for new records
management initiatives in
the U.S.
SOX changes executive
perceptions about records
management, as nothing
had ever done before!

 RMs goal should be to

ensure that the
organizations
recordkeeping systems
are being managed
such that the integrity
of their information
content can meet the
tests of authenticity,
integrity and reliability.
In short full
compliance, in letter,
spirit and good faith!

 The presence or
absence of records
can be either
favorable or
unfavorable . . .
. . . exculpatory or
incriminating.

 The best strategy:

Retain only whats
needed to operate
the company,
comply with the
law, and meet
reasonable needs
to retain history!

 Information accessibility: Its

the foundation for world-class
records management!
Wherever records
management is practiced at
an advanced level, the
existence and location of all
information content must be
known, and precise and
timely retrieval must be the
rule rather than the
exception, so that the
organizations recordkeeping
systems effectively support
its larger business objectives.
Information accessibility is a
strategic business issue
and needs to be managed as
such.

 Her real passion in

life was the perfection
of a filing system
beside which all other
filing systems should
sink into oblivion. She
dreamed of such a
system at night.
Source: Agatha Christie,
How Does Your Garden
Grow, 1931.

 An organization
may possess a
single kernel of
information upon
which its entire
future rests, but if
those who seek it
cannot find it, the
golden nugget is
worthless.

1.

The system delivers all the documents /

information requested and no others.
2. The system delivers all the documents desired,
as well as others deemed not relevant.
3. The system delivers some of the requested
documents, but not all.
4. The system delivers some documents, none,
however, are deemed relevant.
5. The system delivers no documents at all and
some are known to exist that are relevant to the
query.
It is the task of RM to ensure that No. 1 occurs
consistently across the enterprise!

 There is a persuasive,
even compelling,
argument that
protecting
organizational
information from loss
due to disaster
whether due to natural,
technical or human
causes is the most
important aspect of
records management.

 Most organizations
could lose all their
paper records and
survive.
No so for computer
records!
A large-scale data
loss would likely be
cataclysmic and
irrecoverable!

 Organizations should adopt the long-term goal of

converting to digital format every paper-based
recordkeeping system of mission-critical
importance as soon as resources and priorities
allow.
Records managers should survey all such
applications, and develop a plan for conversion
from paper to digital format that can be
implemented over a period of several years.
This will permit the records to be backed up offsite.
For all mission-critical recordkeeping systems, we
recommend that organizations give themselves 5
years to get out of paper.

 Sadly, most records

retention programs
are not organized
around success.
Most have no longterm management
plan or strategy for
achieving success.
So, just like every
self-fulfilling
prophesy, success in
retention remains
elusive!

 1. Active paper records at

departmental workstations
2. Inactive paper records in
storage facilities
3. Personal working papers
kept in desks, credenzas
and bookcases
4. Data in computer
applications managed by
IT
5. Electronic records in
desktops, controlled by
their creators

 Organizations should
establish a 5-year goal
of applying retention
rules in all 5
recordkeeping
environments.
Poorly managed
warehouse storage
and IT-managed
system applications
will require at least 3
years.

 Regardless of whether they

used for the storage of
paper or electronic
records, every storage
repository must be
managed such that the
content is fully accessible,
readily retrievable, and
safe and secure.
Moreover, the life cycle of
the content in all
repositories must be
properly managed under
approved retention rules
and policies.

 What happens to computer

data as it ages?
Does the value of data
increase or decrease as
time passes?
Do storage management
requirements change as
data ages through its life
cycle?
In the world of paper, these
are questions that records
managers have addressed
for decades!
But not in the world of IT,
where retention has not
been widely practiced.

1. A largely invisible
problem no
physical / visible
manifestations.
2. In some situations, its
cheaper to retain than
purge.
3. For decades, IT had
carte blanche to buy
all the storage they
wanted no questions
asked!
4. No strong advocate
among key
stakeholder groups.

 IT departments Data
retention not a priority;
no methodology or
expertise.
Vendors Driven by
customer priorities.
Data retention not
historically an issue. But
this is changing!
Data owners Usually
content to take whatever
data they can get.

 The total cost of

managed storage now
rivals or exceeds the
investment in systems
and servers, and often
accounts for 50% or
more of total IT
spending.
Data storage costs will
rise to three-quarters
of all IT spending over
the next few years.
Source: Storage Inc.

 In most organizations, the

desktop is an records
management basket case
generally under-managed
or mismanaged.
But this is where most of
the work of organizations is
done!
Approx. 56% of all digital
content resides here.
To bring better records
management to the desktop
is one of the biggest records
management challenges
today.

 Many e-mail users

retain hundreds, even
thousands, of e-mails,
in their messaging
environment. This is
not best but worst
practice!
A top records
management priority is
to ensure that the
messaging system is
not morphed from an epost office into an
unmanaged archive!

 When you go home tonight,

youll get your mail out of
your mailbox.
There will be bills,
magazines, and junk mail.
Youll discard the junk mail,
put the magazines on the
coffee table or night stand,
and put the bills in the
pending file for payment.
But you wont put any
mail back in the mailbox!
Well, thats exactly whats
happening in the digital
environment!!!

 Asking users to classify 30 to

60 or more e-mails per day
in accordance with a
taxonomy and save them to
an ERMS or ECM solution is
not practical aint gonna
happen!!!
Therefore, a simpler
strategy, one which
minimizes user involvement
and decision-making, is
required.
The only practical, realistic
solution:
A uniform maximum
retention period,
accompanied by
aggressive daily
management by users!

 . . . A uniform maximum retention period, of predetermined length, is established by policy.

It is effectuated by automatically transferring,
without user involvement or decision-making,
all e-mail remaining in employees mailboxes
when the messages have aged 90 days to a
dedicated e-mail archival repository, where they
will remain for the duration of the approved
uniform maximum retention period.
When the messages have aged to the duration
of the uniform maximum retention period, they
will be purged, again without user intervention
or decision-making.
To operationalize this strategy, youll need an email archiving tool (software solution).

 Not less than 3 years, nor

longer than 7 years!
The average retention of all
records kept by American
business falls within this
range!
Because of system
obsolescence, 10 years is the
longest practical retention
period, but its usually much
longer than needed.
Three years should be
sufficient to meet the test of
reasonableness and good
faith.
If you want to be more
conservative, go to 5, 6 or 7
years.

 (1) E-mail of transitory value

must be deleted on a daily
basis.
This requires 10 to 15 minutes
per day.
(2) E-mail of long-term value
(for which the retention
exceeds the uniform maximum
period) must be saved in a
separate repository that can
satisfy its retention period:
Printed and filed in paper
format.
Saved to another software
application (ERMS, ECM, or
other solution).

Do these things, and your email retention problems will be

over!

 Today, for the first time

ever, the goal of total life
cycle management, through
a retention methodology
supported by computer
software, is within reach!
This is the holy grail of
RM!
At present, a total of 52
software solutions have
been certified under DoD
5015.2!
More good news: Retention
functionality is increasingly
being built into native
software applications!

 For decades, records management was perceived as

tangential to the larger enterprise information
management agenda because large computer
companies werent in the records management
business.
But, in the last five years, things have changed:
In 2002 IBM acquired Tarian Software and announced
plans to integrate records management capabilities across
its entire software portfolio.
In 2006, IBM enhanced its position in the market by its
acquisition of FileNet.
In 2003 EMC acquired Documentum and launched an
Information Lifecycle Management business.
In 2006, Oracle acquired Stellent.

These and other developments have the potential to

elevate records management to another level of
legitimacy as an information management initiative of
enterprise strategic significance.

 Retention functionality
in native applications
ERMS software
Integrated EDMS /
ERMS software
Fixed-content
archiving solutions
Database archiving
solutions
E-mail archiving
solutions

 Our IT department
tells me they can
support data retention
requirements up to 5
years with certainty.
From 5 to 10 years,
with a little bit of luck.
After 10 years, there
are no guarantees!
Source: Edie Allen, Records
Manager (retired) Battelle
Memorial Labs

 If an organization
creates a record in
electronic format in,
say, the year 2006, and
this record will need to
be digitally processed
and read many years
later, how, exactly, can
this requirement be
supported in a
technology
environment in which
the only constant is
rapid change?

 1. Records selection
2. Storage media
selection
3. Data migration
4. Standardize file
formats
5. Media recopying
6. Metadata
management
7. Systems
documentation
8. Media storage and
maintenance