Patrick - Define Consultant. I have been both a consultant and behind the corporate desk. As a RIM Professional, I post many mentoring opportunities to folks by sharing the knowledge to those requesting information from the listserve. Are you saying that consultants are "unofficially" not given the same opportunity to request and share information? There are times when I appreciate the fact that consultants are on the "bleeding edge" of trends and want to gather ideas from the list serve to help the greater cause and share the information with the group. Is it not true that those RIM folks who do ask questions are getting paid while they ask for direction for the listserve? I think the spirit of the listserve is to share information amongst fellow RIM professionals. I am greatly disappointed in your statement. I guess that will force folks to now go incognito and play like a newbie?
Diane Walker, CRM aka corporate and consultant
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-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Cunningham <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Records Management Program <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:22:06
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Records Management Program <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Please help - Utility retention for power sales transactions
Welcome to the List, Kristen. Just a helpful hint that will make your experience
on the List a better one...
Show your work.
From time to time, other folks have come to the List with the same sort of
question that you have raised (not this one in particular, but the same sort of
"How long should I keep..."). The problem is, everyone's situation is different
and many records retention schedules are quite proprietary and many
organizations have spent tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars developing
their schedules. One of the more galling things that happens from time to time
is when a "consultant" asks that sort of question and everyone sits here knowing
that the consultant will get paid for the answer provided for their client.
So unwritten Listserve ettiquette suggests that you show your work when you have
that sort of question. The proper form for that sort of question might be:
"For my friends in the utilities industry: We have a question about retention of
telephone recordings. Specifically, we have recordings of transactions of power
sales. When we've looked at these recordings, we've found that they are (aren't)
the only record of the transaction. We keep similar paper records for XX years.
Our business claims that they need the recordings for YY years because... Our
sense is that they should be retained for ZZ years because... So we're kinda
stuck because those retention periods are so different. We're looking to
benchmark our experience against similar organizations with this sort of record.
I can go into more detail offline. If you could provide some suggestions, I'm
certainly open to your assistance." (Frankly, you may need to show more than
that, but you get the gist, I hope.)
The net of that sort of narrative is that it shows that you've started to deal
with a complex issue and come to a preliminary conclusion, but you're unhappy
with that conclusion and want to get a handle on what others might be doing. It
shows your work and indicates that you're not just looking for a handout. And it
also enables you to have a clear conscience down the road if someone questions
your decision -- you've done research and benchmarking to come to a retention
period that you are comfortable with -- and not one where you'll have to say,
"The Listserve says I should keep it that long."
Once upon a time, in a job long ago, I was handed a records retention schedule
created by a predecessor. The detailed schedule had hundreds of items on it. The
reference for each retention period was "Clark". It took me a while, but I
discovered that there was a book called the "Encyclopedia of Records Retention"
by Jesse Clark. Mr. Clark had developed this over years of consulting as a
reference book for many retention periods based upon his experience. It's sort
of like the small booklet (or webpage) featured on some commercial records
center websites. The intent is to provide basic guidance, not be a legal
reference. The same goes here. You have to show your work and do your homework.
There's nothing wrong with validating your thinking or getting suggestions from
the Listserve, but I would suspect that no one here wants to be the footnote on
a retention schedule that could get challenged at some point. In the case of Mr.
Clark's book, I wrote a review of his work and pointed out that the Encyclopedia
should not be used as a primary resource for retention research and should not
be cited as such. I got a nice note from Mr. Clark thanking me for pointing that
out.
Patrick Cunningham, CRM, FAI
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"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."
-- Colin Powell
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