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

Transcription

1 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

2 Why are we having this conversation? 1 Your organization must comply with federal and Texas legal and regulatory retention requirements 2 Retention must be applied to all media, electronic and physical 3 Simplifying business processes is usually better... so simplifying our retention schedule is likely to improve retention management practices 2

3 Records retention schedule evolution Department-focused with lots of record categories and lots of duplication Broader classification used to represent core business functions irrespective of departmental ownership US-centric Big Bucket Approach became best practice Global perspective

4 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 4

5 Records Retention Schedule Structure 2017 Business Function Legal Category / Bucket LEG020: Dispute Resolution & Litigation Final Resolution +10 years LEG030: Intellectual Property (IP) Life of Firm Record Types Pleading Final Resolution +10 years Litigation File Final Resolution +10 years Copyright Registration Life of Firm Trademark Registration Life of Firm 5

6 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 6

7 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 7

8 Is this the right investment of human and financial resources? Competitive advantage can be gained through the productive use of high quality* records & information Focus is on monetization of information, generating revenue from available information or real time streamed data (IoT) Getting rid of ROT, including records with expired retention periods, contributes to increased legal compliance and decreased storage costs 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. 8

9 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 9

10 Example - Before 10

11 Example - After 11

12 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) 12

13 Questions?

14 Contact Susan Cisco