>1. The answer probably is "no" the record doesn't need to be kept in the
>system. It really is dependent upon what the retention process requires.
>It should be safe to assume that the destroyed records have met the
>retention period and the process for initial and final disposition and
>have been officially destroyed. Unless there is a very specific reason for
>maintaining those records in electronic form, they should be "deleted"
>(destroyed) from the system. Not doing so, may violate the retention and
>disposition process.

I fully agree, they are a liability if they are retained ANYWHERE in the
system, even on backup tapes.  If you have a retention schedule, you should
adhere to it and your adherence should be auditable against any forms or
formats of the records.  So, if your "electronic" version is a scanned
image of a paper record, or a native format record, it needs to be
destroyed simultaneously with the original paper record.

Now, the issue here is many records retained in EDMS/ERMS systems are
burned onto WORM format platters, or the backups of the same records are
captured sequentially onto tapes... so how do you accomplish this?  It's
not sufficient, in the case of WORM media to simply delete the index
pointer to the image, because with the improved computer forensic
procedures available, it's WAY TOO easy to resurrect these images and under
discovery, you would be subject to producing them.

Keep in mind, the way it's determined if these MAY be available still is an
evaluation of your policies and procedures.  If they describe the method of
"destruction" as deleting the index entries and do not include the
isolation of images by "planned destruction date" on media, and subsequent
destruction of the media, then you may be required to produce the
images.  In part, this is why organizations should consider involving
Records Management in evaluation and development of procedures for managing
information in ALL systems and applications where it may exist.

>2. It has my professional position the record of destroyed records becomes
>a "permanent" record. Not taking this position could result in records
>obtaining a status of having "never existed". Not sure that I would want
>to be the responsible party in that scenario. Personally, I just can't
>imagine not keeping a record of destroyed records. If there are other
>positions, I would sure like to hear them.

I agree that both records of destroyed records and prior versions of
retention schedules should be kept.  The length of time, however, is a
subjective thing.  In accordance with the General Retention Schedules (GRS)
issued by NARA for Federal Agencies, the retention is:

"Destroy 6 years after the related records are destroyed"  (GRS Schedule
16, Item 2 (a)(2))

I can't see where there would be a NEED to ever retain these permanently,
but an organization may have business reasons to retain them longer... for
example, corporations are subject to tax audits for up to 25 years, so they
may want to keep records of destroyed records up to the point where they
may be requested to produce them under an audit.  Or if an organization was
under litigation, they may want to retain all records related to what they
destroyed and the retention schedules in-force at the time they destroyed
them to show what they did was "in the normal course of business".  Another
case may be the records of a company you have purchased... retaining their
disposition notices may be critical in the event of subsequent litigation
by their prior clients of employees.

Larry

>
>
>Bill
>
>Bill Millican
>eSentio Technologies
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Records Management Program on behalf of Julianna Trivers
>Sent: Wed 11/17/2004 2:06 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Retentions for records of destroyed boxes and files
>
>
>
>Hi all,
>
>We are re-evaluating the retention periods for our records management
>system.  Once records have been destroyed, how long should the records of
>them in a records management system be retained?
>
>Thanks in advance for your help!
>
>Julianna Trivers
>Records Analyst/Archivist
>City of Thunder Bay Archives
>235 Vickers Street North
>Thunder Bay ON  P7C 4A9
>Phone: (807) 625-2219
>Fax: (807) 622-4212
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Larry Medina
...not all information is created equal !!

LLNL Records and Archives Group
B-411, Room 1307   2-7628
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance