On 2/15/07, Kaminski, Kim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Our company is in the process of selecting an e-mail archiving system
> and we are currently discussing the whole retention of e-mails area.
> What are the best practices with respect to classifying the e-mail
> messages for retention purposes?  There are some within the organization
> (IT) that are suggesting that messages should be categorized by job
> function vs. document type.  It seems to me this will not serve the
> organization well.  What say you?  I have looked in the listserv
> archives and have not found what I was looking for.



I'm not PROMOTING this as guidance, just offering it for consideration

36CFR, Subchapter B, Chapter 12, Subpart C, Section 1234.24 "Standards for
managing electronic mail records"
http://www.archives.gov/about/regulations/part-1234.html#partc

Keep in mind that this is:

1) GUIDANCE FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES
2) Intended to be applied ONLY to e-mail which satisfies the definition of a
Record

The concept being offered by your IT colleagues is one that is typically
called "role or rule based retention", and it can work to a degree in some
organizations.  An example of how its applied, in the most general of terms,
would be:

ROLE- Your Procurement Manager is responsible for signing Contracts and
Purchase Orders of a value in excess of $500,000.  These have a retention
period of CY+ 6 years.

RULE- Because e-mail this individual may have to do with these types of
items, all e-mail sent to or from this individual will be assigned a
retention period of CY+ 6 years.

ROLE- Your Procurement Director is responsible for signing Contracts and
Purchase Orders of a value in not to exceed $499,999.  These have a
retention period of CY+ 3 years.

RULE- Because e-mail this individual may have to do with these types of
items, all e-mail sent to or from this individual will be assigned a
retention period of CY+ 3 years.

Now, it's pretty obvious and easy to see where this doesn't work... because
every message related to "Wanna go get lunch?" or, if you have a lousy spam
filter, "Would you like to extend your XYZ length?" will ALSO be retained
for these same periods.

A logical modification of this could include a component of "human
intervention" by these individuals where they would make an initial
declaration of an e-mail message as:

a) NOT a business record, destroy immediately
b) Typical Business record, apply assigned retention period (CY+6 or CY+3)
c) Non-Typical transitory business record, apply established retention
period (CY+2 possibly)
d) Business record requiring further investigation to assign appropriate
retention period (2 to N Yrs)

After these individuals select a, b, or c, the e-mail (and any attachments)
would be automatically assigned a "role and rule based" retention period and
filed away... or in the case of a, deleted.

If they select d, someone would have to classify the e-mail and assign it an
appropriate retention period, based on its content.

Just a thought.

Larry
--
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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