Bravo Andrew!  Well said despite the fact you don't type in 1's and 0's.  

The drum I prefer to beet is one of collaboration with everyone within the organization. I might not be in the management group, but I can certainly use my knowledge to help them learn about us, what we can do, what our program can do and how we can help them. I find that because every organization is different no two programs will be the same but will have the same principles behind it.  Yes we need to evolve but it's not as hard as one might think.  Our principles -- schedules, retention periods, life cycle management really do remain the same.  It is how they are applied that changes and how exceptions are made to the standardized processes in an organization.

Take for example email.  We have worked to come up with a policy that has taken several years to be put in place.  Management had to sell the idea of deleting (permanently) all email after 3 years. (That was the starting point--it ended up being 7 years). Once they got the buy in from the execs we had to work with IT to come up with the how. It took moving our email platform to a new version and using the "vault" for storing email. With the move to the new platform and vault storage we no longer have "email jail" and no limits on the inbox. (Email is moved automatically to the vault when the inbox gets "full"). One of the pluses of this new policy is that we locked down PST files. A user can no longer put emails into a PST.  A user can still read, reply, and send a file from the PST but cannot add to it.  If a hold is needed, Legal will work with technology to suspend destruction for that particular user.  (Destruction/purging starts in June). While IT was working on the how, we were also communicating the changes to the records people in the company. And have had a communication plan to let all employees know about the change, what to expect, and what they need to do or not do.  We also acknowledged that there are areas that use the PSTs as part of a workflow and need to continue using them. We have worked out a way to request an exception through our access request system.

I say all this, because it really doesn't matter what we call ourselves, we still have to work with everyone to get our goals accomplished. 

Records management doesn't work in a vacuum neither does any other program of a company. 


~Meg 

Meg Duncan, CRM, CIM
Fidelity Investments | Franklin MA
[log in to unmask]

The views expressed in this email, written by me, are mine alone, and may not represent the views of my employer.

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]