In Part 1, we covered the first thing you need to do in order to get started on the cleanup of your electronic information.  Now, you’ve finished that step, right?  Okay… maybe  a couple weeks wasn’t enough time.  Let’s just imagine you have a nicely organized and compliant records retention schedule (RRS) that is inclusive of e-docs and e-mail, and we are now ready to discuss next steps.

After having clarified and leveraged a functional taxonomy as you reviewed (or created) your organization’s records retention schedule, you are positioned to develop a file plan.  A functional taxonomy (no, not taxidermy) is important for the usability of your RRS and is leveraged again as you develop file plans for your electronic information. No matter how sophisticated your system’s search capability, defining a hierarchical structure by which your users can store and retrieve information improves your results.

Now, before building your file plan, gather everything known about your organization’s technology strategy for managing unstructured information day-forward.  You want to understand the strategy for all components of your unstructured data (e.g., documents, email, web content).  What software is part of your 5-year IT strategy and what software is targeted for upgrade or conversion?  If there is a preferred document management tool, how do the retention policies integrate with the tool and what implications does it have on your file plan?

Remember, life cycle management is important whether you are implementing a single purpose repository (like clinical studies or web content) or a large multi-function, enterprise-wide solution.

Next week in Part 3 of Electronic Records Cleanup, we will look at strategies to make the actual clean-up of electronic files a manageable task as we prepare for a more detailed discussion of tool options on March 21 (1:30pm) at AIIM 2013.  Click here to learn more.

Contributed by: Tina Teree Baker, President and CEO at Cadence Group

Image by: Helder-Almeida at ©Depositphotos.com