Terry:
I believe the SEC has determined IM to be records subject to the
requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley.  If you are a publicly held company you
would need to manage IM as records to be in compliance.


Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Terry Schofield
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 1:25 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Instant messages (IM)

Hello list.  I'm looking for some help in explaining why it is good
practice to manage Instant Messages (IM) as though they are company
records.  I realize that IM should be managed based on content, in
accordance with our Record Retention Schedule.  But I want to prepare a
strong argument because I fear some pushback is on my horizon.  I spent
some time yesterday afternoon searching through the List Archives and
found some helpful information, but nothing directly on point.
Here's some background to my situation.

My company is currently looking to establish a policy on IM.  We know
that some employees are now using external IM for both personal and
business communications, so we really need to establish a policy.  But
first, we chose to do some needs analysis to explore the benefits vs..
risks to the company of allowing either public or enterprise IM.
Yesterday, we held a Workshop to initiate dialogue on the use of IM in
our company.  Around 30 interested employees voluntarily attended.  We
heard from the employees (the few brave employees willing to admit they
use it) that they do find IM helpful, and it increases collaboration
when working on a matrixed team project.  I then raised the issue that
using IM for business purposes imposes a responsibility on our company
to properly manage the IM based on content in accordance with our RM
Policy and Record Retention Schedule.  Seems logical to me, but the
response I received was, "My team uses IM in business conversation, just
like we would if we got up and walked to the next cubicle.  We don't
have to record verbal conversations, so we should just make a policy
that states we don't keep any IM, just dispose of it all."

That's when the little hairs on the back of my neck started to rise, and
I felt a panic about to set in.  I don't think it is right to "just not
keep IM", especially since we have already adopted an E-mail Policy
which requires e-mails to be managed in accordance with the RM Policy
and Record Retention Schedule.
In my mind, this would create a conflict.  And I think if it was
acceptable to have a policy stating that "no emails are kept", then the
world wouldn't have as many lawsuits and fines for failure to retain
e-mails; everyone would take that route.

I also believe I read something in the List Archives suggesting that
verbal conversations are considered transient forms of communication and
are not included in Discovery.  So, should my argument be based on the
laws of Discovery?

I am a staff of one and have no one here with Records Management
expertise to help me.  My manager will back me up, but he's relying on
me to provide him with the argument.  Any help or direction you can
offer will be appreciated.

Thank you!

Terry Schofield

 Sr. Records Management Analyst

 PJM Interconnection

 [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

 (610) 666-4519



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