Jane Connerton

E-Records Management for e-Mail Jane Connerton, CRM Procter & Gamble May, 2011

Upfront
This is more of a business problem and NOT just an IT problem.
There are no magic systems that will solve all your issues, automating garbage is just expensive garbage.
At the end of the day, it’s more about about business processes and partnering, not just technical solutions

E-Records at P&G
From over 6,000 systems to 3,800 – Success!
Centralized control in a decentralized environment
E-Records Guidelines
Controlled Self Assessments (and live audits)
Handful of corporate standard software
E-mail system – Outlook Exchange
Authoring Softwares – MS Office

Getting RM into IT
For every MAJOR system launch or upgrade, there is an intervention
For others, follow the e-Records guidelines
Consult as requested

E-Records Guideline
Retention Times
Does the system have the ability to apply retention times listed in the RRS? Sec. VI. 1. & 2.
Has a process/trigger been developed for notifying, at least yearly, which e-records have reached their disposal date? Sec. VI. 3.
Does the system have the ability or process to suspend the disposal date of e-records? Sec. VI. 4.
Does the system have the ability or process to recalculate the disposal date of e-records? Sec. VI. 5.
Date Format
Is the date format documented and the year includes four digits? Sec. VII. 1.
Does the date format meet ISO 8061? Sec. VII. 2.

E-Records Guidelines (2)
Preservation & Migration
Preservation plan been to ensure that the e-record’s meta-data, content, context and structure is maintained throughout its retention time?
Process to periodically review the readability/usability of e-records on alternate media ?
Consideration been given to the migration of e-records to microfilm based on cost of volume, use and length of retention time?
Web site, has it been rated as a High, Medium or Low risk site regarding the ability to recreate the web site or track its changes?
Audit trail capture at a minimum, the date, time, person and action taken?
Have legal or regulatory guidelines been considered for future search and retrieval capabilities?
E-Record Disposal
Has a process been developed or tool selected to dispose of e-records in a way that they cannot be reconstructed?
Does the system’s audit trail capture the disposal of e-records and retain sufficient meta-data?

E-Records Guidelines (3)
Electronic Signatures
Does the process of creating an electronic signature ensure the authenticity of the signer and the integrity of the signature? Section X.
Has additional regulatory compliance controls been addressed? Section X.

E-Mail (and other e-Records) Now More in General

Today’s Environment
The economy
Cut costs
Add to revenue
Legal Guidelines
The courts are starting to understand electronic records and expect an organization to have its act together
E-mail is a big target, with lots of volume

DifferentPerspectives Information Technology Management End User Records Management

The IT Perspective
It’s just data
We don’t own it
There’s a big cost here
Just give us the number of years to keep this stuff – why is this so hard?

The Perspective of Management
If it doesn’t add value, we don’t need it
Don’t add cost or complicate matters
What is the minimum that we need to do?
But, don’t do anything that will get us put in handcuffs – because we don’t look good in horizontal stripes

The User Perspective
It’s mine!
I know what I have to keep
I’ll decide what to do with it
How much can it cost? My home e-mail is free.
I have real work to do, not this filing stuff
If it costs so much, I’ll just burn a CD
Can’t I just save it all to my desktop?

The Records Management Perspective
It is A RECORD!
“ Recorded information , regardless of medium or characteristics, that has been created or received by the company, and is deemed necessary for its business purposes”.
We have legal, regulatory, audit and tax issues to consider
We have to be consistent

What does the Law Say?
E-mail is subject to same status as paper
E-mail is subject to discovery and public access
E-mail is not just the message, but attachments, and metadata
The entire e-mail system and back-up tapes are subject to discovery
Depending on laws, employees do not have a right to privacy if using an employers e-mail system.

So where to start?

Who Are You?
Industry, Culture, Environment
Gov’t Agency – very clear what is business, need to make things publically available?
Company that makes things and is a big target for litigation?
Company that is information intensive and needs better control of records overall?
Company where innovation, creativity and “free thought” are encouraged?

Unique Email Strategy
Each organizations e-mail strategy will reflect it’s own culture and the legal and regulatory environment in which it operates.
Need to understand you organizations:
Risks (and risk tolerance)
What e-mail is REALLY being used for
How the business uses or could use e-mail as a tool. (and if people are rule followers)

Low Hanging Fruit
E-mail
How much personal e-mail is being maintained in your infrastructure?
How much old, unnecessary and obsolete e-mail is being maintained?
How are attachments being handled?
How are back-ups handled (philosophy and time)
Savings: reduced server storage, backup requirements, reduced bandwidth needs, tape costs and IT labor costs.
IT will embrace you if you can help them deliver cost savings

Procedural Changes before Technology
These also may require BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
View e-mail as a delivery mechanism, not a storage repository
If it’s predominantly used to distribute attachments, have people post the attachment in a central repository and just share a link in the e-mail
Centralized vs Decentralized
Mailbox size and/or default retention times

Possible Solutions
K.I.S. – use tools within your e-mail system
Big Bucket theory
Everyone has 10-15 buckets to store email based on content.
They can make folders under the big buckets
The buckets take care of retention time
TRAVEL (1 yr)
Itineraries
Expense report submissions

Possible Solutions
Move Records to where Records are Maintained
If it’s key to the business, make it an official record in the managed system
Use e-mail to point to it or make it easy to declare it into the system (whole e-mail or just attachment)
Only keep transient (short term) records in e-mail and force a short time (30/60 days)

Possible Solutions
Empower the people – let them decide what they need to do business
No retention time in e-mail
There is a size limit!!!
Do you let them keep NSF’s/PST’s?
Balance enabling the business with controlling information

At the End of the Day...
It’s all about creating value
Everyone receives something that is equal to or greater than what is expected
IT: Cost savings, reduction in infrastructure needs, improved service levels
Management: Cost savings, reduced legal exposure
Records: Better management of e-Records
End User: Better access to information, sharing of information, peace of mind

Thank You!

Jane Connerton

by Arkivmote on May 27, 2011

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Jane Connerton — Presentation Transcript