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Records Management And Business Processes Must Live Together or Die Alone

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The management of an organization's records is supposed to reflect business process.  Proper records management will support a business process so that a record will never be destroyed while it is still needed.  It will also make it cost effective to find a record in the instance of e-discovery or if another business unit needs it for research and reference. 

The reverse can be said as well, business process dictates who the custodian of the record is and how long it should be kept.  If business processes are not properly followed then duplicates of records are unnecesarily kept.  When an organizational unit does not follow the prescribed business process they may not have a final record copy when making a business decision and thus use inaccurate information. 

The best way to have records management and business process mirror each other is a through a "big bucket" system of retention schedules.  Gone are the days of organizing records based on person, role or other means which worked well in a paper based system.  A business classification scheme is more flexible and adaptable for the big buckets of today's changing information needs.

When an audit occurs records and business process must take Jack Shephard (protagonist from LOST) to heart and "Live together or die alone."

This post and comment(s) reflect the personal perspectives of community members, and not necessarily those of their employers or of AIIM International