> 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!!

 Short answer, the project manager should have had copies of all documents
related to Project 1 and ensured they were retained.

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.

 SOME companies do, and more should. There was a session on just this
subject at the recent ARMA Conference and it provided some decent ideas for
consideration.
 Here's my take on it... the information generated and managed by an
organization is an ASSET, and like any other asset, when an employee leaves
an organization, these assets should be on a checklist that is addressed to
ensure the items are turned in (or turned over to) someone when they depart.
Rest assured, if they were in an organization where there was a massive cash
component related to the work they were doing (research and development,
pharmaceuticals, bio research, etc.) they'd know where everything was before
they left.

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.

 Well, it is an aspect of business continuity, so maybe it should be
addressed in an organizational BCP. Generally, the records are part of an
employee termination checklist.

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

 I'd start with HR and ask what the existing employee termination process is
and how the collection of "assets" is handled on separation. If there is a
distributed RIM system, where you might have contacts at the department
level (like Records Liaisons), it would likely be best that the process is
handled at that level, to ensure the proper people are given custody of the
records. You might also want to verify if the departing employee has any
records stored in the local record center or with an outside firm, and make
sure those are appropriately transferred.

Here are some of my thoughts: Is there an inventory of records taken upon
> notice of termination?

 This would be ideal in a "RIDS" based environment. If you know what records
the person was supposed to have, then you can run an inventory and verify
they're all thee when they leave, and that the proper new custodian is
indicated in the RIDS. If not, all you would be able to verify is what is
there at the time they depart.

Is there a review of records at an employee's exit
> interview?

 As mentioned earlier, it should be on the termination checklist.

Who is responsible for the records post termination?

 Mixed bag here. IF the person was part of a team assigned to a specific
project, etc, then it would make sense the head of that team/project
determine who gets what. If they were working on a number of projects, or
were in an overall support role, then they should be turned over to the
department they were working for to make the determination. (In a case like
this, it would be good to have a records liaison.)

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?

 I would say the Project Manager... until the work is completed, it's not
turned over to the process owner. At that point, the "project records" would
likely be supported by a set of final recommendations and then it would be
up to the RRS how long the workpapers were to be retained. If there is a
central filing system and a decent index, the records could be filed and
anyone with authority to access them could review them.
 Larry
---
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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