Nolene, excellent summary of the process! 

Nolene Sherman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Records retention for any given record is based in its operational  
>need or historical value to the company, and any fiscal, regulatory  
>and legal requirements. Mixed in there is a big dose of risk management.
>
>There is no degree requirement to make these determinations, just the  
>ability to do extensive and thorough legal research. Although most  
>companies will have legal, tax and audit review any recommendations.
>
>Since laws and regulations vary state to state, and at the federal  
>level, so do the requirements to keep documents. You need to  
>brainstorm about why any records may be required beyond their  
>immediate business need, and find any laws or regs that would apply to  
>those circumstances.  And sadly, governments do not print a nice and  
>easy reference volume "How Long to Keep Your Records in <name your  
>state>." You have to research, dig and infer.
>
>The basic process of determining retention is pretty straightforward:
>
>1. Determine what records your company has (receives or generates)
>2. Group those records into categories
>3. Determine for each record the operational need to keep those  
>records (i.e. how long are they needed to conduct business)
>4. Determine any audit or accounting requirement over and above the  
>line-of-business need
>5. Do a risk analysis to determine when costs of maintaining the  
>records outweigh the risks of getting rid of them (and vise-versa)
>6. Determine which, if any, laws or regulations apply to each category  
>of records, in federal laws and regulations as well as in each state  
>in which your company does business. If you do business  
>internationally, then you must research the laws in each country and  
>province in those countries in which you do business.
>7. Use all the above information to come up with a retention for each  
>category that makes sense for YOUR company.
>8. Then once a year or so, review the schedule to revise any retention  
>that has changed because the laws, regs or operational process or need  
>has changed.
>
>While the steps are pretty simple, you can see the actual process is  
>not. There are a couple of resources that can assist in getting you  
>started. Do a search of the listserv archives for Zazio Retention  
>Manager and Skupsky
>
>Many companies hire specialized consultants to do the job for them.  
>You cannot rely on just asking the company's legal or accounting firm  
>to do it, as they don't have the required knowledge to actually  
>execute the whole process.
>
>You'll probably receive additional replies on Monday
>
>
>Nolene Sherman
>Records Manager since 1996. Gone wonky since 1998.
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>On Sep 25, 2010, at 7:12 AM, Teresa Higginbotham wrote:
>
>> Does Record
>> Retention guidelines change from state to state? Should the person  
>> in charge
>> of this progran at your company have a degree or something to be the
>> Records Retention person who gives the information to the company?
>>
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
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>

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