>
> Now to one of our many questions.  We have recently picked a software to
> help us develop our Retention Schedule and the question of maintenance was
> raised, ie: who is going to do that, how much time is spent and how often.
> I am wondering in your organizations how you handle keeping your
> schedules current and up to date?  Is this someone's full time job or
> perhaps a small part of several individuals?  We are trying to estimate
> the resources needed to maintain the schedule once we finally get it
> rolled out to the company.


Boy, if ever there was a question that gets "It depends" as an answer, this
is it. =)

A lot of this depends on the complexity of the schedule, the number of
records series you have, the dynamic/static nature of the industry you're
in, and the regulatory agencies that set the requirements for your retention
periods.

Your RRS should cite the sources of the guidance you use for establishing
your mandatory/regulated retention periods, and this list would be what you
would use to "pulse" the organizations whose guidance you follow.  If they
update their schedules annually, then you would be revising your schedule
accordingly. If they have irregular updates, then you simply need to check
their guidance as frequently as necessary.  That said, you would also want
to keep a close eye on news and laws going into effect that are related to
products/services/functions/industry segment your organization is involved
in that may impact retention requirements, or could potentially result in a
need to consider a moratorium on any destruction of records.

Time would also need to be budgeted for functions such as research for
retention periods on newly identified record series, training employees (or
establishing a train-the-trainer or liaison structure) on use and
application of the RRS, and for periodic auditing for compliance.   Having a
schedule alone doesn't mean it will  be used, understood, or complied
with... and inconsistent application may be worse than not applying it at
all.

So I don't know if this helps, or just makes your condition worse, but it
may help you better frame what you need to consider when attempting to staff
the function.

Larry
-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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