<Under the new rules, an information technology employee who routinely
copies over a backup computer tape could be committing "virtual
shredding" once a lawsuit has been filed, said Alvin Lindsay>

I would take this even further and say that the retention of website records is an issue.  How are records handled which are created solely for the purpose of being put on a website?  IT routinely backs up website records by saving the entire website in database or takes snapshots of websites.  This gives you a snapshot of what was on a website in a given period of time and is useful for historical retention.  If the website snapshot or backup is overwritten then in the event of a disaster where you lost all of your website information, how then would you recreate it, as website data is overwritten once a newer version is available? 

Records can also be captured into a records repository at the point of creation, by the author, using standard naming conventions and appropriate metadata, no matter for which database, repository or medium they are created for and in.

E-mail is also retained in a database and backed up by IT for a certain period of time, but is this period of time mandated through retention periods?  Or are we capturing each individual e-mail in a records repository based on the subject of the e-mail?  

Whose responsibility is it in the organization to save the e-mail, which is sometimes sent to multiple employees and/or responded to by more then one employee. This is where policies, guidelines, procedures and best practices are useful, along with IM Awareness Training.  

These questions are food for thought and/or conversation.

John A. Gervais
Program Manager
Canada Revenue Agency

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