"Smith, Richard E. (STL)" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Good question. Employees (self-included) work virtually all the time.

I had to chuckle when I read this, I mean I KNOW what Richard meant when he typed it, but depending on where you place the punctuation and empahsis when reading it, it has two COMPLETELY different meanings, one of which I find VERY funny =)

>The bad thing about working virtually is I never know when to quit.

Shame they don't all work "virtuously" as well.  Then we wouldn't need as many laws governing the manner in which we do our work.

>The issue or question revolves around letting any employee who happens
>to be going to another building take sensitive records along for the
>ride. My friend maintains what's the big deal. Plus Courier Services
>cost money!

It might be of use for people concerned with this issue to review some of the "Classified Materials Handling Procedures" used in the Federal Government to get some ideas of policies and procedures they could consider implementing some aspects of to address their concerns.  Naturally, most organizations wouldn't want to institute such rigid practices, but some form of them may be of use.  And as for Courier Services costing money, BONDED ones cost even more! =)

>I also like the excuse budgets are tight. My response always if I were a
>judge deciding your case I would ask how much money did your company
>make last year and how much did you spend on managing company records?

Similarly, I enjoy the argument that it's a matter of risk management.  The organization makes a decision how risk tolerant or risk averse they are and develops their policies for managing information based on that.  It's a trade-off; what does it cost us to do it right versus what does it cost us **if we get caught** doing it wrong??

When I was consulting, I used to have to address this issue alot with clients related to developing a vital records protection, disaster recovery or business continuity plan... they all had insurance, but didn't see this as the same thing.  And I told them that their accounts and auditors could assure them that the cost of managing any of these programs would clearly be seen as an expense of business that was in the same vein as insurance.

Oh well, we have to pick the battles that we are willing to fight.

Larry

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