EID principal Robert Blatt and Senior Legal Consultant Jo Dunlap were joined by Steve Levenson to jointly present a Academy session on “Storing and Managing Official Electronic Records” The focus of the presentation was to assist annual conference attendees understand how to best approach tackling the topic of “knowing where your records are.”
Each of the speakers approached the subject from their perspectives. Robert Blatt, with a technical background, has been instrumental in developing industry best practices and standards for managing electronic content provided attendees with tips on how to work through the phases and steps identified in AIIM’s Recommended Practices-1 (2009) and ISO 15801. Steve Levenson addressed the issues faced by the burgeoning (and uncontrolled) emails, while Jo Dunlap described the legal implications from not managing and how standards and best practices can be used to beef up records retention practices.
It is very easy to lose control of just one electronic document as demonstrated by this slide. One record could easily become 14, stored in 4 different data silos. Record schedules often try to address it as part of a “Record Owner” approach, however, with the move by courts to find that the meta-data IS part of the record, that paper-based approach may no longer be the best.
Steve reported that although storage space has become less expensive, managing emails continues to present challenges to organizations as more litigation and FOIA/PRA requests are received with a focus on emails.
Robert addressed how following the steps outlined in AIIM Recommended Practices 1 (2009) and ISO 15801 would assist the attendees in sorting out their specific issues related to electronic records management.
Bob, Jo and Steve have each been invited to speak in individual sessions over the next few days as the annual conference continues this week in Hartford, CT.
