The process of doing a schedule is complex and dependent on the organization's needs.  Basically (VERY basically), the steps involved in creating a retention schedule are:
1. Complete business process modeling for all as-is business processes in the organization.  
2. Determine what records and information support each process
3. Determine the business value and possible historical value of each record type based on the business process analysis (BPA)
4. Research laws, regulations, and rules that impact or require or mention the records
5. Determine the legal value and the fiscal value of each record type based on the  BPA based on the legal research
6. Compile the results with potential retention periods for each record type
7. Send it out to the stakeholders for review and comment.  Include Corporate legal counsel, compliance groups, audit, finance, etc.
8. Repeat steps 1 - 7 based on stakeholder feedback.
9. Send out final draft for review and approval.
10. Train all users and communicate final schedule to all stakeholders.

I recommend using a consultant if in-house resources are not available.  If it appears there is to be a viable RIM program needed for the organization, I would recommend hiring experience in-house resources (even temporarily) to complete the process.

Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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________________________________________
From: Records Management Program [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ursula Murphy [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Retention policy creation - consulting firm directory?

Thanks Todd and Julie.  I had already seen that but there are very few
vendors providing the service I'd like to explore.

Any thoughts on how a retention policy is generally crafted without the
presence of a records management team?  In house or with the help of
a consultant?

Thanks very much.

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