Larry - I respectfully disagree with a few of your comments. If prepared
for and conducted properly, I don't think a cleanup is always "bad
thing".

Larry wrote:    <The concept of a "cleanout" in RIM, whether it's
physical or digital
format records is a bad thing in most cases.   Destruction of records
is supposed to be an orderly process, based on the values assigned in
the retention schedule.>


Now, you have to make sure that you have done all the prep work up front
so that it is an organized, rational and appropriate event.

You must have a policy, procedures and a retention schedule in place and
ALL users have been trained and are aware of their responsibilities. In
addition, you need to have legal hold/freeze procedures in place, and
users trained on those procedures.  It's usually a good idea to involve
Legal when selecting a cleanup day, and that if you are involved in
litigation or investigation, there should be Legal consideration as to
whether or not a cleanup of non-responsive documents is appropriate or
if ALL cleanup should be postponed.

You need to have the parameters defined up front and solutions in place,
especially for electronic records cleanups (i.e. if you're storing files
on shared drives, here is what you need to do -- such as assign owners
and retention codes to folders, have a process in place for on hold
records, etc. -- or if you're moving files or emails to an ECM, define
the expectations up front and train the users as how/where to move them
and how the files should be tagged.

Here are some advantages of doing a cleanup event:
+ All users are invited (or encouraged) to attend
+ When people see someone else reviewing records, they get motivated to
do it as well
+ If most people, if not everyone is involved on the same day,
participants don't get interrupted by phone calls, emails, or drop-ins.
+ It's harder for people to set aside time and focus if the timing is
left up to each person.
+ People TALK to each other about records issues, such as stewardship or
ownership (we have 5 copies of this email, WHO's going to be responsible
for retaining it?)
+ Records managers and coordinators are usually available during the
entire event to answer questions and provide insight.
+ There is an END in sight and progress is easily demonstrated. For
task-oriented people, this is good. That's not to say you can't cleanout
expired records at other times, I think that a lot of people do better
in a more structured cleanup environment.
+ Plus, it can be more "fun" to do an event that something on your own.

Overall, I've found much higher participation and compliance with
cleanup days vs. individuals cleaning up on their own timeframe.

Opinions my own...
Laurie Carpenter, CRM
Records Manager
Koch Industries, Inc.
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