On Sep 29, 2004, at 12:01 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> From:    Chris Flynn <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Spoliation?
>
> If your internal policy states that:
>
> 1) The most current version of an electronic record is the record
> 2) The user is responsible for adhering to the policies and procedures
> of
> the organization
>
> and the user fails to adhere to the P&P deleting email as it comes in,
> does:
>
> 1) IT have the record copy?
> 2) If they destroy the email as part of their routine are they guilty
> of not
> complying with the retention schedule?
> 3) could IT be held accountable if it went to court?
>
> Chris Flynn

In meetings I have had with large corporations, they say SOX leaves no
room to wiggle.  You either have the records or you don't!  And if you
are supposed to have it and you don't,  it starts with bad stuff and
gets worse.

I heard a presentation on police Evidence rooms and similar to CSI
everything can be a record. A mattress can be a record. Did you know
that evidence rooms in Alaska in winter get filled with mattresses.
Suicides and murders go way up during winter and mattresses flow in. I
was amazed at the collections that are housed in these evidence rooms.
Loss of a piece of evidence can be cause for criminal procedures.  So
why should destroying a email be any different?

Even grandmas are usign email to communicate. APDF photo from your
vacation with a note is just as good as a letter in the olden days.  If
Grandma can accept it, so will a jury expect an email to be a letter or
a record or a smoking gun.

So the answer is that the RM must devise a method to protect all the
records in all their formats. Huge fines with consent decrees with
non-disclosure agreements are happening every day somewhere.  The
criminal stuff gets the news but the fines are catching corporate
attention.  Board members are now aware of who the records manager is
or .....used to be!  IT Managers are getting a rude awakening and they
are now starting to go to the Rm for some guidance.

This is a huge opportunity for RM's to advance right up the pyramid.
Top records managers are really getting control of things and a new
breed of records center is being developed.

Now is your time and this is your moment! Carpe diem!

As usual ...............you are having the Listserv Party one day early
for me. But you all come by the booth and see me.  I will have a
FIRELOCK hat for anyone who can tell me a great story about how you got
control of things in your organization and seized the moment.  I am
giving a presentation on Wednesday morning about Design Planning for
the Records Center of the Future and it will have some feel good
stories in it about great progress being made by RM's. Plus I have a
White Paper that I wrote that hopefully will provide some guidance
based on what I see happening around the country.  You RM's are doing
some amazing things!


Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
[log in to unmask]
(610)  756-4440    Fax (610)  756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM

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