Hi Judy,
That is not an uncommon stand taken by upper mgmt or ownership, and is a
question I was asked not too long ago by the head of the legal dept of a
large company: "Why can't I just throw it all on a server and keep
everything?"
To us, keeping records and information that has no further value to an
organization is a waste of that organization's money and other
resources. If your mgmt does not see that cost as an issue, maybe
they're not aware of what the cost actually is. Once you finish your
records retention schedule, you can make an estimate of the cost savings
in hardcopy storage, electronic storage, and discovery costs using
figures before and after destroying records past their retention. Once
they see the actual costs, they might change their mind.
Without knowing the industry that your organization is in, we cannot
help you list the other types of risk that exist in not destroying
records of no further value.
But I can tell you one risk that every organization runs by not having
Retention Schedules and Destruction Policies: Your staff are destroying
and deleting records anyway, without organizational guidance.
Organizations cannot keep everything forever, and neither can staff.
Without policies and procedures from mgmt on what, when and how to
destroy/delete, every individual in your organization is destroying
whatever they want to, whenever they want to, in any manner they want
to. That is a recipe for disaster for your organization.
Retention Schedules and Destruction policies run both ways, and both
ways are intended to protect an organization as well as manage its
information.
Gary Link
Pittsburgh, PA
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Judy Hu
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 10:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Is records destruction a critical component of an RM program?
I buy into the benefits of records destruction (e.g., reduced litigation
cost and risk, reduced storage cost, improved access to active and
relevant information), but is there a convincing argument for key
decision-makers who do not see cost as a major driver, are afraid of
losing potentially useful records, and are part of an organization that
is not subject to FOI or regulations that stipulate destruction? Is
there inherent value in destroying records? So what if an organization
does not manage the lifecycle of records (other than it's not best
practice)?
Has anyone run into this issue when trying to implement a records
management program? How did you deal with it? Also, is anyone part of an
organization that has an operational (successful?) records management
program that doesn't carry out records destruction?
Thanks for your input!
Judy
--
Judy Hu, MAS
[log in to unmask]
Vancouver, BC
"Smile, breathe and go slowly." -- Thich Nhat Hanh
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