Barbara:
We put the onus back on the divisions/functional offices that send
records to storage with our contracted records storage facility.  We
only require basic info for each box we approve for records storage
(retention item #, records series name, and inclusive dates (that should
be based on event/trigger date).  However, the divisions are responsible
for inputting more detail into the "box" inventory (soon to be an Access
database) to enable faster retrieval. (sigh.....someday I WILL get my
EDMS!!)  We usually retrieve whole boxes rather than individual files,
and let the requester look within their box for the records they need.
The Access database is accessible by the entire utility for a number of
reasons, which fits the reasons you mention.
 
1. FOIA requests (a government thing).  FOIA law in Virginia allows only
a very short time to respond to a request and internal policy requires
the office receiving the request to respond.
2. Legal subpoenas, discovery, etc. where the Director's Office (or RIM)
has to locate all records requested or necessary to respond. 
3. Changes in retention values.  For example if an office groups three
or four records series with the same destruct date in a box, and the
retention value for one of those records series changes, thus changing
the destruct date for those particular records.
4. Changes in FOIA or Privacy Law (or other federal/state regulations
that you may be subject to) that requires changes to how certain records
series may be handled (confidentiality requirements, etc.).  Not being
able to quickly identify those records and change how they are boxed and
stored or handled during destruction could create non-compliance issues.
5. GREATLY reduces time and expense for records destruction and all of
the above.  You might want to use some examples from your current or
past year stats to show actual time and cost vs. potential time and cost
when the detail is not available.


Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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