On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 12:49 PM, Cheri Adams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Our active documents are linked to what makes them active.  For instance
> Customer Order docs are linked to the order, so when the order is complete
> there is a status and complete date that can be checked programmatically
> to "start the clock".  Likewise documents linked to products are active
> for the life of the product.  Again, we can programmatically check the
> product status and inactive date to "start the clock".


here is a good example of what I was  describing. In this case the
retention  trigger would be "order completion". The records are as long as
it takes to complete the order. So instead of saying the retention is ACT+X
you would say it is "Order Completion + X" and if this is tied into a
business process system then the ERMS would start the retention clock once
the completion date is entered into the Order system.

Without linkage to a master table that dictates the life of a document,
> you will need a "start the clock" date (last activity).


Be careful using "last activity" as a triggering event. Some records may not
be referenced for quite sometime and you may inadvertently start the clock
ticking if you use "last activity."



> Say if the retention is Active + 5 and
> the documents are usually active for 1 year, set the retention at 6 years.


this is another reason why I don't  like ACT+X as  a retention period.
Retention or disposition starts after something happens. In the above case
retention would still be 5 years and not 6 years. the records could be
active for 15 years, but once inactive the retention period is still 5
years. so be careful don't assume that ACT means 1 year.

Record Repository systems need to come up with a way to programmatically
> do this.  Users do not have the time to manually mark thousands or
> millions of active records once they go inactive.


Actually it is up to a records analyst to perform a solid analysis of the
business process, learning how the records are created, used and maintained
by the staff. As once you've done the analysis you can set up a business
process system such that the users are entering the key data during the
process. As this is being done the ERMS can poll the process for the
information it needs.

keep in mind the old the following "measure twice, cut once"


-- 
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA
[log in to unmask]
Richmond, Va

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