Hi Bill, 

That's not how I read David's point. If the principle is "manage records
according to their value to the organization" that doesn't change. If,
however, the principles cannot be applied consistently to the developments
of the last 20 years, or require changes because of them, there's no harm in
recognizing that and updating the principles to reflect that. Bruce noted
that basic project management principles don't change, and the fundamentals
probably don't. But there's a reason why the PMBOK is in its third edition.
There's a reason why the CRM exam is updated periodically and new questions
are being written constantly. *I* submit that a profession that doesn't
recognize that its principles and practices may need to be updated from time
to time has a dim future. 

Here's an example: One of the fundamental principles of RIM is that certain
records are more valuable than others. They are so important that their loss
could result in irreparable harm to the organization or even its failure. We
term those "vital records" and take special precautions with them, including
but not limited to storing them in controlled conditions, in fireproof
vaults, offsite, etc. The storage is more expensive in cost and in resources
but the risk is seen to merit that cost. 

Now, consider electronic records. The marginal cost of treating an
electronic record as "vital" is so low as to render the entire concept
somewhat suspect unless you treat an entire system and everything in it as
"vital" and other systems as non-vital. So what's the correct response? Take
the time and energy to somehow separate out the 5,000 "vital" emails from
the other 95,000 non-vital but still records emails? What does vital records
storage look like for emails? Is it storing them on a separate tape? If
that's the case, then why take the time when you could just as easily store
ALL of them on the separate tape and store it offsite at relatively little
marginal cost? 

That's one example, and I expect many of you will take a crack at why that's
different. We'll see what you come up with. But there are others: how do you
manage records that are by their nature dynamic and not really "fixed" or
"published"? How do you manage records that are inseparable from the systems
that create them? How do you manage records in a multinational environment
where one country's statute requires their retention and another country's
requires their disposition? I imagine none of these are topics covered in
the Robek book, but that doesn't mean that they aren't important and it
doesn't necessarily follow that our well-established principles are equipped
to handle them. 

Regards, 

Jesse Wilkins
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