There have been discusses in the records management professional about limiting the number of different record categories (records series) in an organization’s retention schedules
There have been discussions in the records management profession about limiting the number of record categories (records series) in an organization’s retention schedules
The bigger and more complicated the organization, the more complicated the records series (i.e. a numeric matrix of the records in an organization), which is the basic framework upon which a file plan is based. Because record series can become rather complicated, actual records should be defined based on content (and usability)— thereby allowing the automation of a retention schedule within each of the records series—as opposed to medium (e.g. e-mail) or document type (e.g. letter). This approach is consistent with that defined by the Department of Defense’s influential standard (DoD 5015.2-STD), which, among other guidelines, supports the notion that all documents, including e-mail, be treated according to the defined records series (and file plan)
In the very same way, we need to identify the different categories of records (records series) created and received within the organization and document the different values that these records have. It is important to have an accurate title for the records series. This is similar to having an approved job title or an approved account name in the chart of accounts. I regularly ask what information can be found in the different records series and, from this, what were the legal, administrative, fiscal and historical values of the records
The set of factors determining retention typically includes (but may not be limited to): Legal/regulatory mandates (minimum retention periods prescribed by law) The longest requirement for records included in that record series. The legal retention requirement for some of the documents in a records series may be shorter than the requirement for the record series in which it resides
At the enterprise level, I’ve seen the structured-functional hierarchy of categories in retention schedules (business functions, records series, and record type examples) used as the foundation for enterprise taxonomies
Justifying the enablement of knowledge management as a choice for some records series at the end of their periods...Mapping orphan servers to records series. Nine
The second series of meetings usually generate another round of emails to additional SMEs for their opinions on specific records series. [1.5- 2 hrs] Time adds up quickly to between 30-80 hours of SME time to review the RRS
Big bucket retention schedules (100-150 record series/retention categories for an enterprise) are more cost effective to maintain and increase filing accuracy for both manual and automatic classification
The bigger and more complicated the organization, the more complicated the records series (i.e. a numeric matrix of the records in an organization), which is the basic framework upon which a file plan is based. Because record series can become rather complicated, actual records should be defined based on content (and usability)— thereby allowing the automation of a retention schedule within each of the records series—as opposed to medium (e.g. e-mail) or document type (e.g. letter)
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