Laurie Carpenter wrote:

>  The basic premise is rolling out retention rules to the average
> user who may have no previous exposure to records & information management
> or a retention schedule.
> [snip] "TAX / 7" (and train users the slash is the longer of the 2)

If by "average user" you mean all employees in the organization,
instead of those working specifically in RM, I'd suggest being as
explicit as possible in describing your retention rules. Avoid using
special codes whose meaning isn't obvious (like the slash in the
example above).

What if you were to try the following:

RECORD TYPE: <name of record series>
RETENTION STARTS: when the agreement is completed
RETAIN FOR: 7 years
AT THE END, CHECK WITH: Tax department

That last point allows you to include other retention considerations
without having to try to work everything into the retention rule. Yes,
it looks bulky, but it's explicit and when you train users you'll be
able to focus more on RIM principles (i.e. answering user questions
about what is retained and why) than on explaining codes.

Whatever you choose to do, I'd urge you to pilot-test your rules by
asking a few users to look at them and describe how they would
interpret them. Don't prime them or explain the rules or RIM in any
way; you want their "uneducated" opinion in order to help you see
where you might have made assumptions that could cause problems for
the users.

Good luck!
Taina Makinen
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