Hi Elizabeth,



We built a tool in MS SharePoint (frontend) with a SQL database backend (which allows us to do much more manipulation of the data) that does exactly what you describe below.  We built it for the same reasons - allowing our RMRs (Records Management Representatives) to be able to drill down the enterprise-wide records retention policies into more meaningful procedures that apply to their unit.  We capture:

·         Record Grouping Name

·         Related/Supporting Documents or Information

·         Proposed Retention (This isn’t required for them, but we allow them to propose something if they do not agree with the existing policy as-is – we are able to review their submissions (their RM Plan as we call it) and approve/reject/NMI.  If based on their proposal (also taking into account the justification field mentioned below) we decide that a change to the overall policy could be made, our software allows us to push this change over to our RRS module)

·         Proposed Retention Justification (if they propose something new, they must include a justification – legal cites, policy, industry best practice – something other than “we just want to”.  This also helps us track reasons behind changes – back to the actual requestor).

·         Record Owner (Final Repository, the unit name)

·         Other characteristics (medium, location, offsite backup status, etc.)



Overall, our goal was to give the users something that was immediately meaningful to them.  As much as I would love to think that they all want to go through a training module, hear me talk, or learn about all things wonderful in RIM – they usually just want to know what they need to do right then – and they respond better to something that applies directly to them.  We have had a great response to implementing this process.



We also purchased a software called JIRA from Atlassian a few years back.  It is an *extremely* robust issue tracking tool that comes at a very reasonable price.  We track all of our activities with the units and RMRs through JIRA, which can directly link to/from the Records Management Planning Tool that we built in SharePoint.



Probably a bit more information than you wanted, but let me know if you have any questions.



Chris

___________________________________________

Chris Foster, MLIS

Director of Institutional Records Management

University of North Texas

T: (940) 565-4762

E: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

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