Fred and Nolene, we utilize a thesaurus via our Cuadra STAR system for
this type of tracking. Our county reorganizes extensively (although,
thankfully, the pace of that reorganization has slowed under our current
Chair). If you go the thesaurus route, a couple of suggestions, which
may or may not translate to the corporate world, but have proven useful
in our tracking:

Create entries at the lowest organizational and/or functional unit.
Functions tend to endure, while departments, division, and higher levels
of the organization don't.

Assign a tracking code to each unit, and incorporate that code as a data
key into your records tracking systems. This has proven enormously
helpful in updating finding aids, tracking back organizational history,
converting retention schedules, etc.... 

Do not delete cancelled or obsolete entities or functions. Incorporate a
data element to cancel them instead, while retaining the history in your
data. In my opinion, this data has long term value, particularly in
organizations like ours who are maintaining increasingly extensive
historic archives.

In STAR, we have created a shadow database. Every time a record is
updated in our main organizational database, a record of that change is
copied via background processes to an organizational history database.
In the course of the past 9 years, it has captured approximately 1800
organizational changes. Currently, we track 545 separate entities.

This also was an enormous enabler in our conversion from a general fund
entity to a special fund charge back service. We had detailed, accurate
organizational information linked to all of our activity tracking
systems literally from day one. Conversion to the charge back system was
seamless and quick. Many agencies initially did not want to pay for
legacy records, particularly if they had been shifted to a different
department. We were able to track back ownership, and appropriately
assign the charges with little disagreement from our customers. This
also was an important educational moment for our customers about the
need for enduring custodianship of records, both hard copy and
electronic - regardless of what happens to the organizational chart. 

OK, I've been "outed" as a complete geek on this subject.

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution and Stores
(FREDS)
1620 S.E. 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
Phone: (503)988-3741
Fax: (503)988-3754
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