"What if we trained the same concepts, simplified, at the individual level?"

Individual is where training should take place, but CATEGORIZATION (I really
HATE the term classification being used to describe segregation of records
based on content) may be better done at an organizational (or functional)
level.  Here's an example... the Procurement and/or Contracting Function
within an organization.

Typically all organizations have this function, it may be centralized or
distributed, but everyone buys "stuff" or issues contracts for services.  In
general, the retention for records on this function are tied to fiscal
triggers/values, like under/over dollar amounts.  

In some cases, there may be other factors related to the commodities or
services they are related to (out of state or country agreements, hazardous
materials, research, etc.) and in other cases, they may be "event plus"
triggers, such as end of agreement plus x days/months/years.

Staff *generally* has their responsibilities segregated based on these
factors; that is to say, the functions they perform are typically also
broken by these dollar amounts or other factors.  

It would be simple to setup a categorization scheme to meet this for staff
members associated with the procurement function within an organization.  An
example might be:

Administrative Transitory              180days, max
Administrative Record                   2 years        
Procurement Actions under X$       4 years
Procurement Actions over X$         8 years 
Foreign Procurement                    X years
Hazardous Procurement                X years
Management Decisions                 X years
Personal                                    180 days, max

There may be other categories, but these would likely be the primary ones
that any staff members in this function would have.  These may or may not
exactly map to the categories in the organization's retention schedule, but
they are categories the staff in this functional area can relate to.  The
retention periods don't really need to be discussed with the staff, (except
maybe the 180 days if they are going to be externally actioned) but the
categories should match how they do their work.

The trick would be to get them to "take action" all email on receipt/send-
as soon as they open and read an email, drag and drop it into one or another
folder. Same thing with sent mail, maybe scan it once a day and sort it into
folders. 

Items that are "Administrative Transitory" or "Personal", both of which
essentially are non-record, could be placed in folders or simply left in the
in or out box, which could have a rule set to auto delete after 180 days.  
All other folders could have contents 'swept' to an organizational server
periodically to ensure retention compliance to meet organizational needs.

Other functions can be similarly mapped to categories the users understand
or relate to that can be associated with retention periods without going
through onerous training to familiarize staff with the formal categories and
record series intimately.

Larry
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