Patrick,
I have both publications. However, my manager wants exact cites for each retention figure I have given. I will continue my research. Thanks to every one else for your replies.

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Patrick Cunningham
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 11:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Records Retention Schedule Request


I'm going to be gentle here, but firm. You're very unlikely to get
anything from folks on the list. And if you do, you really need to make
sure that you review whatever you get and not just take it as gospel.
Retention schedules are as much art as science and schedules generally
do not translate well between companies if you don't understand the
differences between companies, even companies in the same industry.

I also get really nervous when I see a request then get even more
specific and ask for information about a highly litigated type of
record (workers' comp) for a business (law firm) that should have very
little contact with workers' comp files in any volume -- certainly
hardly enough volume to be worthwhile to discard inactive files in a
hurry. That sets off all sorts of alarm bells.

This is one of those things that comes up here on the list
periodically... someone posts a request for a retention schedule or
wants a fairly lengthy dissertation on a technical topic, without
providing any real input. As I've suggested before, you need to show
your work before asking for help. I recognize that a demanding boss is
often hard to explain that to, but there are resources to turn to
before asking for what amounts to a handout. And whoever demanded that
you produce a plagiarized retention schedule is a very poor attorney.

There are lots of resources for retention schedules, available at some
cost, but nonetheless commercially available. In the legal industry,
the top of my list would be a virtual trip to the ARMA Bookstore for a
copy of "Records Management in the Legal Environment". It isn't going
to give you ready-made retention schedules, but it is going to teach
you what you need to know about managing records in a law firm. Beyond
that, your bookshelf should contain a copy of Skupsky's Recordkeeping
Requirements as a baseline guide. You then need to look into one of the
commercially available retention software programs if you really want
to do it right. If that is too much for your firm to stomach (although
frankly, the cost of the correct set of basic publications is probably
far less than a subscription to most law publications), then you need
to engage a consultant to set up the program for you.

I recognize that sometimes you simply have to get an answer and the
list seems like an easy place to get what you need. However, I think
many of us have been burned over time by being kind-hearted souls and
then finding out that the person making the request represented the
work as their own.

For other folks out there, when you feel obliged to make this sort of
request, you need to tell us what you've done, why you need the
information, and how it is going to be used. When I first looked up
Sharon's company (based upon her email domain name), my first thought
was that some attorney wanted a retention schedule for a client and
made Sharon be the bad guy by asking for it through the list. Clearly,
not the case, but even though the request is for her firm, that's just
as much reason for folks to suggest that they get a retention schedule
the old-fashioned way -- by engaging a RM consultant or just plain
working it out yourself.

Patrick Cunningham, CRM

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