The original piece that kicked off this thread was interesting, I guess more
than anything it gave you something to think abut if you've done nothing
within your organization or you have no guidance to follow from others
(regulators, clients, statues).

The responses/discussion since the initial posting has been rather
interesting as well, seems like some have something in place, some have nothing.

The initial post made an observation regarding the management of email
within an ERMS that unfortunately lacked a lot of specificity regarding the
organizations it applied to:

 "...this approach has not worked out as well as expected, and my own
reading of personal information mangement literature shows that it does not
mesh well with user behaviors for using and managing email..."

If sufficient up-front work is done to evaluate use patterns and sources of
email, as well as required retention, organizational structure, RM policy
and provide training, I can't see where it wouldn't work. Sure, it will
require some 'tweaking' after initial implementation, but properly designed
and deployed, no reason it won't work.

John Annunziello said, and I agree:
"...whatever system you decide to use, has to be easy and somewhat
"transparent" in nature..."

Julie Colgan said, and I don't see this happening in many orgs:
"...look into the possibility of removing end users altogether.  Find a way
to manage their email without involving them AT ALL..."

Steve Whitaker said, and he knows where this happens (36CFR):
"...I especially hate it when people print (gasp) email to paper..." 

And if people in Federal Agencies do with email what they're supposed to (do
not store 'record email' in the native application) then they don't need to
print it

But he also said, and is COMPLETELY RIGHT: 
"....  I much prefer education and training; including training on
classification per retention policies and options/tools for segregating
record content; and then a hard policy deleting emails after "X" months..."
followed later by "...Email should not be used as a record system..."

Dean DeBolt Added, and this can be a bigger problem than some admit to:
"...Steve IF our organization had a university-wide system for managing
e-mail..."

Many organizations are plagued with staff using web based email and/or hand
held device sot access and delete email from 'outside of the system' which
exacerbates an already difficult problem.  Again, this is a policy and
training issue where staff (and this is across the board) need clear
guidance on what email system is to be used for official business
communications and what you do (and more importantly DON'T do) when
accessing email servers from remote devices.

Charlie Sodano added and I was HOPING it was tongue in cheek:
"...Anyone out there who knows about an email records system that has worked
well?  Of course one that also automatically deletes old emails on some kind
of fixed schedule..."

If one is working WELL, it obviously would NOT automatically 'delete old
emails' on ANY kind of schedule- retention is based first on content, THEN
on time period.

Gary Link offered up some good starting points for consideration:
"...Although I would not consider them innovative, here is a sample set of
instructions to staff for Filing emails.  (Sample assumes organization uses
Outlook, and does not have an EDMS)..."

My main questions here would be:

 does the MSG format include all to/from/date/other information from the header?
 are the messages as saved searchable in some form, and what form?
 do you have to know what folder they were put in to search?
 is there an organizational 'naming convention' for the folders?
 what happens to attachments?

There is obviously no "one size fits all" but there is a definite need to
assess what is being done presently and determine what gaps your
organization has to decide on a path forward.  A 50 page policy with 20
decision points for everyone along the way OBVIOUSLY is NOT going to work;
but neither is "keep everything" or "do nothing".

Every organization has to establish a set of policies and procedures
consistent with their business model/s, culture/s and that meets any
requirement/s they are obligated to comply with.  It may not be received
with glee by all staff, but there are likely other policies they don't like
either.  

The thing to remember is the information being managed is either an ASSET or
a LIABILITY to the organization and THEY have to determine how much money
they want to spend to manage it, or how much risk they are willing to accept
for not managing it. 

Larry
[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]