In last week's blog post, we began tackling the daunting challenge of managing records during a company move. As we have learned, some important steps must be taken before the move begins. This includes reviewing each collection to be moved, updating your Records Management policies, and reducing the volume of records being moved.
With these actions, it's time to consider how to manage records during and after moving. Unfortunately, the records management can not resign at this point and put the process completely in the hands of the moving company. It is important that we take a leadership role by bringing clear procedures and tools into the process.
- Indexing and Polling Systems
Records that must be accessed during the active phase of the move It is important that you are able to systematically find, retrieve, and replace records , As a basis for this, it is important to pack and label the boxes in such a way that they correspond to the existing filing system. In this way, when searching through the packed boxes, employees are on their usual ground when they need to retrieve a record. Ideally, the indexing and retrieval system should include:
- Labels identifying the original location, general content and destination of each container
- A detailed record of the specific contents of each container
- Regular container inspections to ensure integrity of the collection throughout the process.
- Security and Access Controls
During the review phase of the process, you have identified collections that require special treatment for security. You are also aware of the general statutory and regulatory requirements for privacy and security. To meet these requirements and to maintain compliance, the following safety measures are recommended:
- Tamper-evident seals for storage containers and shipping containers
- Container labels that minimize the information they convey Contents
- Monitoring of packing and unpacking site
- Monitoring of storage facilities while containers are waiting to be shipped
- Review of the manifests before and after the move to ensure that all Containers arrived as expected are expected.
- Follow-up after the move
If you follow the steps recommended in the last two posts, you have the option to update your records management program as part of the overall move process. These updates may include newer and more efficient storage methods, as well as advanced and updated records management policies. Many archive managers will then take the opportunity to ensure that the program is always up-to-date and evolving to meet changing business needs and regulatory requirements. This may include periodic reviews and deletes of expired records, ongoing updates of retention schedules, and communications from employees about the evolution of policies and procedures. In other words, a company move provides the perfect opportunity to take your records management program to the next level and maintain it over time.
High-level best practices that we've used for corporate relocations seem to be pretty simple. As with many things, however, the details decide on success and failure. Many organizations will therefore need the help of an experienced partner to save time, shorten the learning curve and further reduce risk.
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