Barrett, I've been exposed to a lot of square legacy systems which folks
try to fit into round records management holes. Being in an environment
of continued funding instability, I've also managed to help jury rig
some such systems into effective, basic records systems that stand the
test of time at fairly low cost (although I agree with Julie, among
others, the cumulative effect of such jury rigged systems can be an
increasingly burdened IT operation). Usually, a quick way to assess the
potential of a given system as a records management system is the way it
applies retention (if it can do that at all). If this can't be done
based on some ability to group large amounts of records into record
series (however "series" may be defined) on a simple, regular basis,
then apply that retention, it simply can't function as a records
management system. 

This always seems to be the Achilles heel of systems which are truly
hopeless, many of which have claimed to be "records management" systems.
Such concerns may not have even registered on the radar of the groups
involved prior to Compliance - who may consider everything "permanent",
therefore retention is "irrelevant" - but should be important to the
Compliance team. If you are looking for a quick area of focus, I'd
suggest raising this issue.

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Records Management Program
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Gresham, OR 97233
phone: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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