Retention Re-visted
I admit it - I simply cannot get retention management off my mind. My problem is this: as a former analyst covering records management software, I know well that organizations wan to deploy RM systems to help ensure compliance and make eDiscovery more manageable. And yet, with each passing day and each meeting I attend, enterprise-wide RM software looks more and more like overkill. Don’t get me wrong - some of the RM software out there represents genius thinking and advanced functionality. But, most of the organizations out there simply are not ready to deploy sophisticated retention management software.
Proof positive comes in the form of results from the 2007 Electronic Records Management Survey (conducted by Cohasset Associates and co-sponsored by AIIM and ARMA). The survey polled close to 1,600 records managers at organizations - these are folks intimately familiar with the retention policies and any associated enforcement/automation in today’s companies. Some of the numbers are staggering:
- 35% of respondents evaluate their records management programs as marginal or fair
- 36% of respondents either do not regularly adhere to their retention schedules, or do so only as time permits
- 40% of respondents do not include electronic records in their retention schedules (these folks either have their heads in the sand and have never heard of the FRCPs or have unlimited storage budgets and are keeping things forever)
- Records managers still trail IT (47% to 56%, respectively) in terms of having responsibility for defining the retention requirements for archival and backup media (last I checked, most IT folks don’t have the legal qualifications to make retention decisions…and I don’t know one IT person that would want that responsibility).
I could go on and on listing numbers…no matter where I stop, the end result is the same - depressing. Organizations continue to press down the path of full-blown, enterprise-wide records management when the reality is that most can’t even figure out how to do simple retention policies that could be enforceable by technology. This brings me back to a point I’ve made in an early post - a role-based approach to retention is an excellent starting point. For example, keep all content for finance employees manager-level and higher for seven years. Boom - reasonable, enforceable, and automatable. Really, how many organizations require a DoD-certified records repository? And, of those that do, how many can prove they are adhering to their retention schedules for all information? My bet - none. It’s time to get real about retention - start simple and evolve. But, more importantly, start now.
