Chris, if I can respond without pretending to be a lawyer, I will be a
happy camper.
I think key to the scenario you describe is the establishment of a
trustworthy records keeping system. You describe such a system being
developed to shadow a database or an ERP because they are not
trustworthy records keeping systems (presumably because their contents
are so volatile). The records keeping system into which you are
capturing data is functioning in full accordance with appropriate legal
requirements, including disposition. Your organization has established,
by policy and practice, the trustworthiness of this system. Admittedly,
there is still information in the ERP/database after records may be
disposed of from the records keeping system, but the question is - how
trustworthy is the information as evidence (evidence being a different,
broader subject than records)?
When we destroy records, we also don't attempt to destroy people's
memories of events, transactions, etc...that may be associated with
those records. That memory may be called upon in certain legal
proceedings, but its value as evidence will be weighed accordingly,
based on the trustworthiness of the source (memory, or ERP/database). It
would seem to me that you are raising the same kind of issue. Note also
that this is nothing new: for a long time now we have had the existence
of trusted hard copy records keeping systems shadowing database and
mainframe systems in much the same way you describe.
Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records & Distribution Services Manager
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronic & Distribution Services
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland OR 97233
phone: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Chris Flynn
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 1:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Databases
Dwight,
To be sure I am still noodling this one. This is where I se things now.
As a
result of SOX the trend is towards capturing the record of the
transaction
as it occurs and simultaneous to it entering a database or ERP. The
record
is then used to validate against the database enduring proper reporting
etc.
This will satisfy audit and any SEC rule that might apply as well as
give
the CFO a better nights sleep. A dilemma might occur when the record is
scheduled out and properly disposed of from the records system. In the
electronic records world the most current version is the record copy.
The
database record then becomes the record copy. Records Managers stating
that
it is not a record is going to have little impact. The fact remains that
the
information exists, might be corrupted, and is admissible in court
because
we did not dispose of it properly. That we did not maintain record
integrity
in the database environment will not help credibility. IMHO it would
only
aid the opposition. However if we were able separate the micro from
macro,
essentially removing in a systematic way the record integrity, we might
survive. The problem is not the ability to do this, it is the perceived
or
real need to do it and the willingness to shoot the ROI out a lot
further.
Chris Flynn
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