Record Retention Policy Guidelines

How can I create an effective data retention policy? Every business owner must have pondered upon this at some point in time. I wish there was a one size fit that fits all answer to this question. Unfortunately, no document retention policy is that simple. It depends directly on the specific data and application. Regulatory requirement and data retention problems add to the complications creating the need for a customized solution.

To lay a solid foundation and to keep up with the tempo of growing trends in record retention policies businesses must ask these important questions:

What data should be retained and for what duration?

The best way to answer this question is by developing a classification system to determine which record is necessary to store. This classification can be based on the input either from the creators of the record or an IT committee

Only records with information that is vital to the functions of the business should be retained for having a long-term period. Commonly, essential business documents and contracts should be retained for seven years or permanently; payroll data for three 3 to 7 years; and employee records for three years.

Again, this may vary depending on how the record retention affects the functioning of business.

What are the paramount ways to estimate what data is essential to keep?

Firstly, businesses should establish a universal hierarchical data retrieval and retention management system. This system will control the technologies and the users involved. Management of this data retention system should include going through the requirements of what constitutes important data. Businesses should classify the data in small manageable pieces, for instance, they can start with classifying specific data like backups or emails and then move to more general categories.

If this process sounds too cumbersome, then help can be taken from professional consultants. Of course, these agencies will not be able to determine the true value of the company’s data but surely they can get the processing going in the right direction by asking meaningful questions.

Ironically, even in this era of technological advancement, determining what record is important to retain is still entirely a human decision-making exercise. As no hardware or software has the intelligence to determine the value of a company’s data.

How do you group the different types of records that are essential for your company?

Data can be further subdivided into business critical, mission critical and operationally important. Companies should adopt a disciplined approach to storage of all kinds of records. That is allocating storage spending according to the importance of data.

Answers to all of the above questions will, of course, differ from business to business. One thing is common: human input will be the basis of record retention policy, and not any computer software and hardware. Document retention policy is a team work Of IT executives, accounting, and operational personnel. This will lend integrity to the entire record retention process

The bottom line is that solid policy for well-organized, reliable and secure document retention must be the priority of all businesses. Any business owner that looks at it differently is putting itself at risk.

About The Author

Brielle Lawson is a member of the board of directors for a multinational. Policy formulation and efficiency improvement of organizations has been her forte. She believes records retention is a very important part of growth, and recommends www.irch.com for professionalism.

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