Records Retention And Disposition Schedule – Helping Your Business In Formulation

Whether you look at it from the purview of legal mandates or practical conveniences, formulating and implementing records retention and disposition schedule happens to be an imperative function for every business enterprise. But actually understanding the dynamics of these policies and successful execution of systems poses many challenges for the administration. This is where you need expert assistance and advice.

Let us first begin with the basics.. What exactly does a records retention policy entail? A records retention policy is a system of organization policies that dictate –

• The information that is retained in an organization.
• How long that information should be retained.
• Who can access the information and where that information is kept.
• How accessible the information is.

This system is basically required to ensure that the activities undertaken on behalf of the enterprise are recorded for the purposes of meeting legal requirements, cost reduction, information processing and accessibility as well as maintaining uniformity within the organisation. It also helps with keeping processes under check and managing audit requirements to ensure operations are executed with requisite quality checks.

But a simple formulation of records retention policies is not the end of the line. Implementation of these systems will require involvement of most of your workforce. The practice of maintaining records will have to made into a part of everyday operations which is why it will always be better to adopt an automated system and professional consultation for the same. An in-depth analysis of your organisation will have to be undertaken to come up with a system that actually works in tandem with day to day operations. The factors to be taken into consideration will include history, culture, and the future of the organization, Researching the laws applicable, best business practices and latest market trends along with operational processes, audit process, and compliance requirements. A sound records retention schedule and system will have to cover all these aspects.

The planning process for a business’ records retention guidelines will generally encompass the following factors:

• State & Federal laws Best Business Practices & latest
• Company history, culture, employees, future of the company
• Offsite storage vendor
• Company policies and philosophies
• Creation of concerned departments and fixing responsibility
• Inventory movement, vendor registration and filing procedures
• Figuring out the life cycles of different documents

The entire strategy for initiation and implementation of a records retention schedule can only work if the key players from top to bottom of your organisation structure are involved in the process. This will include project team managers, IT heads, senior level managers, audit and accounts departments, sales and purchase division as well as the legal, finance and HR units. The active involvement of all these admin heads will ensure that the eventual policy created actually works for the enterprise and its day to day operations.

The internet can provide many unique pointers to manage this function. For more details on document retention guidelines in depth you can also visit Irch.com.

About The Author

Sarah Jones is an expert on business data management and records maintenance who also likes to write many interesting articles and blogs, helping enterprises in coming up with the best business record retention schedule and document preservation guidelines. She recommends Irch.com as the best source of information on the subject.

IRCH provides market-leading products and services enabling customers to reduce costs and risks through implementing legally-defensible records retention and destruction practices.