Trudy:
A good example is our Customer Information System for our 150,000 customers which is comprised of a number of linked and interlinked databases.  Each customer "record" is a compilation of data from several databases.  At no time are any printed reports produced showing the entire customer account record.  When a customer moves out and closes their water service, we start the event clock.  The retention for these "records" is 3 years after close of fiscal year, so the clock is set to archive the closed records at the end of the 3 year period. The archive function is designed to insure that all the links and interconnectivity have been correctly closed off and severed so we don't mess up the system when the data is removed.  Once archived we wait 3-6 months to "push the button" to purge them.  This gives us time to restore if necessary if the archive process did not happen in the correct order.

Ginny Jones 
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI) 
Records Manager 
Information Technology Division 
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities 
Newport News, VA 
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