Jesslyn, welcome to the listserv! I'm not sure what you mean by
"business retention requirements", however best practice in the absence
of a specific legal requirement will be the administrative/operational
needs of the organization; any needs related to financial concerns
(audits, contract terms, etc); and any retentions related to records
with potential permanent historic value. Regarding the
operational/administrative needs, I would recommend negotiating with the
users of the records, taking into consideration cost of maintenance, as
well as potential risks associated with keeping the records longer or
shorter than discussed. Costs associated with maintenance include the
cost of applying the retention. Retention schedules that are too complex
will tend to be harder to apply, and will meet with greater user
resistance. Overly simplified retention schedules may increase cost of
storage, as well as any risks in areas where keeping the information
longer than needed presents such risks, as the greater the degree of
simplification tends to increase the retention of the given series.
Unless you are in an organization that intends or has the ability to
enforce the retentions on the users and audits compliance, retentions
that stray too far from user perceptions of their own needs will also be
resisted. In my own organization, it has not been uncommon to start with
retentions that are somewhat high, then negotiate those retentions down
as users get more accustomed to the records management retention system
they are involved in. I mention this only because "new" retention
schedules tend to imply "new" records management systems - a schedule
that takes into account user concerns tends to facilitate the adoption
of the new system.

This is why operational/administrative needs - the retention factor that
has the greatest impact on retention, in my experience - are negotiated
needs. I would hesitate to use "best practice" or canned retentions for
retentions such as these as each organization is different.

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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