Not withstanding John L's, Steve P's, and Peter K's sound advice and 
stepping away a little  the Recordkeeping debate about 'archiving' of 
e-mail (which could trigger an e-mail war I would think ) perhaps the 
issue is to ask the IT group....

	Why do they think they are 'archiving'  in the first place?

	What is the business (and possibly legislative) reason for this 
'archiving' they are doing?

	What are the assessed risks in an 'archiving'  strategy of this kind - 
indeed have they done any risk assessment?

	Can they guarantee that following such a strategy addresses these 
points and that Senior management (or the board/shareholders) have 
agreed that this strategy and approach 	will not put them at risk.

For your IT people it is important for them to realise the actual 
responsibility for identifying such information 
(value/retention/disposal) lies beyond their boundaries - happy to have 
them contribute ideas and suggestions and it is important that a 
relationship between RK's, Information Specialists and IT people is 
developed and maintained, just as long as they
understand that they are there to provide a service to the business 
needs (which can and does include legislative needs) not dictate the 
service.

... long experience tells me that sometimes with IT groups things are 
done for expediency rather than with any deep thought. They are not 
trying to be malicious  just trying to avoid complexity and offer 
simplicity (without necessarily knowing that sometimes you cannot avoid 
it).

Regards

JohnD
Managing Records
Down Under

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