Marie-Josée, we utilize a 5 year review cycle on our retention schedules,
not only to look at potential legal changes, but more importantly to capture
records keeping changes. I'm not sure that your step 2 would create the
desired result as the reviewing entities could simply say "no" to avoid a
review with no real penalty. In our case, we monitor developments as you
propose in step 1. IN addition, since retention is tied to disposition in
our system fairly closely, our customers keep us informed of potential
changes out of concern that something may be destroyed too soon. Conversely,
since we charge for storage, they also inform us when retentions have been
reduced, allowing for more frequent destructions. Of course, just because a
customer says a change occurred doesn't mean it actually did occur.

My point is that retention issues can arise through incorporation into the
larger records keeping environment - a good combination for us has been a
fairly light requirement (5 year review) combined with an active involvement
in parts of the record keeping process that provides us with the feedback we
need to make changes as they occur. This means a light footprint on the
customer's time, as well as a responsive customer service stance that
attracts their cooperation and draws them into the system.

I work in a highly de-centralized and volatile organizational environment
where I have to gain cooperation in an entrepreneurial manner by attracting
customers. I think your suggested approach would work better in a more
centralized, less volatile environment where top-down authority enforces
requirements. Then the "step 2" would have meaning, and may be well advised.

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