pros and cons of big (retention) buckets for state and ... arma houston spring conference pros and...

2016 ARMA Houston Spring Conference

Pros and Cons of Big (Retention) Buckets for State and Local Government

Retention Schedules

April 26, 2017

Presented by: Susan Cisco, Ph.D., CRM, FAI


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Why are we having this conversation?

Your organization must comply with federal and Texas legal and regulatory retention requirements

Retention must be applied to all media, electronic and physical

Simplifying business processes is usually better ... so simplifying our retention schedule is likely to improve retention management practices

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Records retention schedule evolution

1960 1970 1980 2000

Department-focused with lots of record

categories and lots of duplication

1990

Broader classification used to represent core

business functions irrespective of

departmental ownership

US-centric

“Big Bucket Approach” became

best practice

Global perspective


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Big Bucket Approach

Consolidate records into a bigger “bucket” when:

Records are related to the

same or similar business processes

Records have the same or similar

legal & regulatory retention

requirements

Records are maintained for same or similar amount of time


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Records Retention Schedule Structure 2017

Record Types

CopyrightRegistration

Life of Firm

Category / Bucket

Business Function

Litigation File

Final Resolution +10 years

Trademark Registration

Life of Firm

Pleading


LEG020: Dispute

Resolution & Litigation


LEG030: Intellectual

Property (IP)

Life of Firm

Legal


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Pros of Big Buckets

• Simpler is usually better

• Easier for auto-classification tools and humans

• Improves ability to consistently retain and dispose of records

• Lower total cost of ownership

• “Gold Standard” for retention schedules for medium and large organizations is 100 categories/buckets


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Cons of Big Buckets

• Possible to over preserve (consider record volumes)

• Can take longer to develop /update RRS because it requires more collaboration and cooperation among groups

• Employees will need to learn the new retention schedule which will require education and change management


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Is this the right investment of human and financial resources?

Competitive advantage can be gained through the productive use of high quality* records & information

Getting rid of ROT, including records with expired retention periods, contributes to increased legal compliance and decreased storage costs

Focus is on monetization of information, generating revenue from available information or real time streamed data (IoT)

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3”High quality” is achieved when data values are timely, complete and accurate; data

is trusted and used for decision making; and data is properly maintained.


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How do you make Big Buckets?

Make sure the legal and regulatory analysis within the existing retention schedule is up-to-date

◦ Consolidation into bigger buckets must be based on up-to-date retention requirements

Within business functions, look for categories that have the same or similar legal and regulatory retention requirements or are maintained for same or similar amount of time

General accounting is a good candidate

◦ Examine retention periods for accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank account records, cash management, expense reporting, even payroll accounting

◦ They are likely to already have the same or similar retention periods because they need to be consistently retained in case of a tax audit and in accordance with tax statutes of limitations


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Example - Before


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Example - After


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Special considerations for TX government agencies

TSLAC position on reducing the number of (retention) buckets

◦ TSLAC retention schedules – not allowed to “big bucket” by law

◦ Agency or local government schedules – TSLAC has no objections to big buckets; if agency or local government approves, they can retain records longer

New retention requirements related to overhaul of the contracting process (Senate Bill 20)

◦ State agency requirement and not local government but that could change

◦ Limited to contracts and bid solicitation

◦ Biggest change is the retention of bid solicitation as long as the contract itself (7 years from completion of the contract)


Questions?


Contact

Susan Cisco

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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