Corporate removals are the kind of thing that causes most record managers to shudder. As far as RIM challenges are concerned, corporate movements of "seismic" proportions – full of major upheavals and numerous risks.
If your organization is planning a move, the only way to ensure success is to follow a proven methodological approach. In a two-part blog post, we'll describe the best practices you can use to minimize risk and keep records before, during, and after the move.
Here are the key steps in the planning phase of the move.
File collections are as diverse as the business activities they support. Therefore, in the planning phase the collections have to be examined on a case-by-case basis. The following things must be found out:
The management, handling and use of records are subject to a number of requirements ranging from everyday business requirements to detailed regulatory and regulatory requirements. Before moving to or expanding a new location, you need to be well informed about the specific requirements of the new case law. Use this information to review your existing governance policies, including classification and retention schedules, important records policies, and disaster recovery procedures. Where do you need to update your existing policies? Where do you have gaps? It is important to clarify these issues and take all necessary steps before the actual move begins.
If you have postponed a "spring cleaning" of your data collections, it will be listed at the top of the priority list by a company move. There are many reasons for that. The first and most urgent need to clean up and clean up your files is that it can significantly reduce relocation costs. Most collections contain many non-records that can be destroyed, as well as inactive records that do not need to be moved to the new facility. In the latter case, you can transfer them to a local data store provider to reduce the cost of moving and saving the files in your new facility. The other reason to clean up your files is to reduce the time required to install records to the new location and get them ready for use.
Together, these steps make sure that you have a good overview of the records being moved – and which records do not need to be moved at all. Next week's mail will look at how records are managed during and after the move to make sure they're safe and accessible.
