<The IT team at my company is advising that there could be multiple record classes for the data contained in a single database. When/if this occurs, how is the records classification for the single database managed? Are you aware of best practices for this? Does anyone have specific experience in dealing with this issue? I would appreciate any assistance you can provide.>

Mary:
The smoothest way to apply any retention to a database is to archive the records first based on retention and then purge from the archive.  When properly programmed, this will remove the "hooks" (for want of the appropriate terminology) the data has with the various functions and routines of the database application.  There are three approaches you can take - 1) apply the longest retention to the whole database OR 2) treat the entire database as a record type OR 3) establish an event date for the records in the database and apply retention to the records based on the event date moving them to the archive (most logical application for large to ginormous databases).  This should work fairly simply with an archiving application configured to the database.

Ginny Jones 
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
[log in to unmask]
________________________________________

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]