Cheryl Rose wrote:
> So, I spoke with our IT guy this morning about the scheduled meeting
we
have today to present our plan for retention management of our key
function (grantmaking) electronic information. He said, we have triple
the capacity that we need to store and are having no performance issues
(in our document management and SAP applications), search tools are
getting better and better for finding information, and we are low risk
for litigation (philanthropic organization).

Cheryl, I can only speak from my own experience: the first two points
above have always - not occasionally - always been proven wrong over
time. Space does run out, and search tools can be rapidly overrun by
volume (although its unclear what kind of system is being described). I
really can't speak to the third point. 

There seems to be two issues here - creating a retention policy, and
implementing that policy. Have you created a retention policy for these
records? If not, you need to do so, per your executive staff's
directive. It sounds like IT has already determined the implementation
strategy. I would get that in writing. I would also take up ITs comments
about the "other electronic records" - this may be a good way to build a
partnership with them. At this early stage, it might be better to go for
incremental change - where can you agree and work together towards a
common solution. Those other records may be such an opening. 

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution and Stores
(FREDS)
1620 S.E. 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
Phone: (503)988-3741
Fax: (503)988-3754
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