Our newly minted records management policy requires that inactive records are stored with dedicated records management vendors. The intent behind this was to prohibit the use of public storage units, basements, Joe-who-has-extra-office-space-down-the-street, and other non-secure storage locations.

In the past, the decision of where to store inactive records was left up to the local business units. As a result, the company has no comprehensive list of where all of our records are stored. One of the first things I'm doing as I implement our program is having my Liaisons identify all locations where inactive records are stored. Although not all of our 800 offices use offsite storage, you can still imagine how large this list is becoming. The local office often chose the cheapest option available so we have loads of non-secure locations, but we also have a good number of vendors that appear to be legitimate records storage companies. Obviously, we will require business units to move non-secure locations to our preferred vendor. It is not an exclusive or required vendor at this time, though that may change if we can get good enough rates and service guarantees. Until that decision is made, I am fine with the local offices leaving their records with a vendor that provides an acceptable level of protection.

I thought I would be able to tell if the vendor was good enough by looking at their website. So far all the one's I've looked at (admittedly not that many yet) appear to be "real" records management vendors. However, it could be that they just know what to say on their website. There is no way I can go visit each of the potential vendors and my local records coordinators would need an education in the subtleties of records warehouses.

My question is this: What would you suggest is the easiest way to vet these vendors? Should I create a simple audit/checklist that either the vendor can answer or our coordinator can use during a site visit, or use Prism's "Demand the Best"  or 10-question pocket guides, or just say, for example, that the vendor must be compliant with SAS 70 or a Prism member (or whatever)? 

http://www.prismintl.org/free-resources-for-information-and-purchasing-managers



Nolene Sherman
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Records Manager since 1996. Gone wonky since 1998.

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