tention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know—which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors

After you’ve completed the inventory of existing files, the next step is to establish user-friendly retention guidelines. Often, offices are glutted with paper and computer files because people using them aren’t given guidelines about what to keep and what to eliminate. Ironically, some organizations do have such guidelines, but they’re not communicated to the people who really need them, or not provided in a user-friendly form. One company I worked with had a guidebook that was nearly a hundred pages long, but poorly organized, and contained information most people didn’t need.

As a general rule, retention guidelines are most useful when organized by department, but it’s helpful to know what other departments keep. For example, in one company I discovered three departments (on the same floor) keeping information about potential meeting sites. This is unnecessary duplication and takes far too much space. In addition to keeping it in three places, they kept the information for several years when in fact, it wouldn’t be wise to make a decision about a meeting space based on old information.

Talk with staff members People who use files regularly are the best source of information when you’re developing retention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know—which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors

e such guidelines, but they’re not communicated to the people who really need them, or not provided in a user-friendly form. One company I worked with had a guidebook that was nearly a hundred pages long, but poorly organized, and contained information most people didn’t need.

As a general rule, retention guidelines are most useful when organized by department, but it’s helpful to know what other departments keep. For example, in one company I discovered three departments (on the same floor) keeping information about potential meeting sites. This is unnecessary duplication and takes far too much space. In addition to keeping it in three places, they kept the information for several years when in fact, it wouldn’t be wise to make a decision about a meeting space based on old information.

Talk with staff members People who use files regularly are the best source of information when you’re developing retention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know—which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors

tion guidelines are most useful when organized by department, but it’s helpful to know what other departments keep. For example, in one company I discovered three departments (on the same floor) keeping information about potential meeting sites. This is unnecessary duplication and takes far too much space. In addition to keeping it in three places, they kept the information for several years when in fact, it wouldn’t be wise to make a decision about a meeting space based on old information.

Talk with staff members People who use files regularly are the best source of information when you’re developing retention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know—which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors

n addition to keeping it in three places, they kept the information for several years when in fact, it wouldn’t be wise to make a decision about a meeting space based on old information.

Talk with staff members People who use files regularly are the best source of information when you’re developing retention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know—which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors

tention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know—which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors To further develop your retention guidelines, collect all the information you can from your accountant and general counsel about what information is legally necessary in your company (and see the accompanying box for suggestions). In some cases, your organization may belong to an industry-related association, which might be able to provide additional guidelines. The “Originator’s Rule:” The Universal Retention Guideline It’s essential to keep some information, but unnecessary and undesirable to keep duplicate information. One way to avoid this is to be sure everyone in your office understands and implements, wherever applicable, the “Originator’s Rule: Whoever originates a piece of paper is responsible for its retention!”

Document your record-keeping plan. Once you’ve collected all the available information about records retention from internal and external sources, it’s time to put the information in some sort of user-friendly form for each department by adding the information to your File Index. If your company becomes involved in litigation or an audit, you’ll be in a much better position to protect yourself if you produce evidence of your records-retention program. Having a formal records retention progr