Email Retention and Records Management

If you're struggling with the need to develop an email and records retention policy, you're not alone. You have to know what and how you have to do it and understand your organization's specific needs. This week's articles should get you on your way to an effective retention policy.

This post explains how to begin addressing one of the thorniest issues of document management and information governance; email and electronic communication. (Item #1)   Have you read about a recent business litigation case that depended on email correspondence to win? Probably. (Item #2)   While there is no specific FFIEC regulatory mandate for archiving, there are three reasons why you might want to consider archiving. (Item #3)

States need to do a better job of preserving electronic communications, both for transparency and historical value. (Item #4)   It's important for employers to be familiar with all relevant federal and state record retention laws. (Item #5)   When the question of ROI for business continuity planning arises, keep in mind that it is the wrong question to ask. (Item #6)

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Records Management & Email Retention

Think of all the possible dangers of email communication -- copyright infringement, harassment, disclosure of confidential information, viruses, and others -- and you'll know that you need to have an email policy to prevent all kinds of legal liability and litigation. What's your organization's email and records retention policy? Is everyone aware of it and familiar with its contents? If not, it's certainly time to create a policy and discuss how it will be implemented and disseminated to everyone. You'll find some help in the articles linked below.

A well-managed records retention and destruction program can help support your company's efforts to face business challenges.  (Item #1)   Here are worst (and best) practices for securing data and documents. (Item #2)   Email archiving used to be a nice-to-have, but being able to save–and retrieve–email is now a must-have in today's environment. (Item #3)

Documents that are kept for too long risk breaching data privacy and protection laws; documents that are destroyed too soon could put you in breach of e-disclosure law. (Item #4)   Small businesses have the same level of responsibility as larger organizations in ensuring regulatory compliance, consistent retention and business continuity in the event of a disaster. (Item #5)   As many high-profile cases have shown, failure to comply with an e-discovery request for e-mail as part of the litigation process can have a tremendous impact on businesses. (Item #6)


Past issues of the NewsBriefs are available at http://www.attainium.net/newsbriefs/

Email Retention

Just about all organizations archive emails, but how many of us retain email? With archiving, you might keep emails forever. With an email retention policy, however, you are setting up specific times that various types of emails are kept before being automatically deleted. And the decision on how long to retain these documents can be impacted by laws or regulations. If you don’t have an email retention policy, this week’s articles may be of help in getting started on one.

Learn about email retention policies and how to determine which policy is right for you. (Item #1) A retention policy for electronic information defines how long the information should be stored until it’s deleted. (Item #2) One of the thorniest issues of records and information management is how to address e-mail. (Item #3)

Does your organization require an email retention policy? (Item #4) As email’s storage role grows, so too does its evidentiary value, making the need to formally retain, effectively archive, and quickly search and produce email business records essential business functions. (Item #5) Here’s a sample email retention policy you can use or modify. (Item #6)

The entire issue is available at http://goo.gl/Htma4W