Hello, List.

We currently have a situation where a huge project was underway to develop a
major application where many departments were involved (we'll call it
Project 1).  The project died.  Now, there is a new project underway for the
same objective as Project 1 (we'll call this Project 2).  Many of the same
folks are involved in the development; however, no one has any of the
project workpapers that originated from Project 1, in part because several
employees moved on to different assignments or left the company.  There is
now a question about who was responsible for those records.  Our RRS says,
"Life of Project/Usefulness + 1 yr", which would lead me to believe the
records should be here somewhere!!

Do most companies have a formal process for handling the transition of
records upon an employee's termination?  I'm not referring to their
personnel records; I'm referring to the day-to-day records they handled in
the course of performing their job.  I know I've seen discussions about this
before, but my archive searches keep leading me to personnel records.

Is there a "term of art" for such a process?  I will continue to do my
research, but I'm just not sure what to call this.

If there is no formal process, then would you recommend any steps to include
in a process?

Here are some of my thoughts:  Is there an inventory of records taken upon
notice of termination? Is there a review of records at an employee's exit
interview?  Who is responsible for the records post termination?  For a new
project initiative that never comes to life, who becomes the owner of the
project workpapers, the project manager or the process owner?

Thanks for your help.
Terry Schofield

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance