Lauren- First of all, kudos for even thinking about this issue! In terms
of disposition of versions, like most things in RIM, "it depends". Much
of it depends on how versions are used. If the versions are simply
drafts, where the latest version is the final one, there may be no need
to keep previous versions. With Hummingbird, users have the ability to
overwrite versions, similar to how network drives work, so you may not
have as many "versions" as in systems where a new version is created
every time you hit save. If, though, versions are used to issue
documents, such as policies and procedures, the previous versions may be
subject to a retention period (i.e. if the retention is Superseded + 5
years, the previous versions should be retained for 5 years after it is
replaced by a new version).

Within Hummingbird, there is the ability to delete versions (often,
that's only rolled out to administrators because you may not want all
end users to be able to delete versions if the retention has not
expired) but I don't know if the Hummingbird RM tool has an automated
process for deleting versions. You may want to check with Hummingbird on
plans for DM6.  In terms of the retention clock, you had asked basically
if it starts over when you create version 2, that may depend on what
your trigger is for that particular retention code in the system (i.e.
if it's based on last edit date, yes, it would be re-set, if it's based
on create date, no, it wouldn't, if it's based on another trigger like a
close date for the file, no it wouldn't). But if your question is should
it be, that's really a business decision. If you don't want to go
through the extra expense of developing something to delete versions,
your business would have to assess the risks of retaining previous
versions potentially longer than you need to. You may also want to
educate users on the versioning process if they aren't clear when/how
they should be using versions and discuss options for drafts vs. final
in the system.

Thoughts my own and not those of my employer

Laurie Carpenter, CRM
Records Manager
Koch Industries, Inc.
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