       |
|
 |
||
| Ensuring Compliance
and Reducing Risk Balancing Real-World Compliance, Litigation and Employee Productivity Needs in Creating a Document Retention and Management Policy May 2004 The explosion of electronic documents, along with new regulations, new trends in litigation discovery and end-user behavior require organizations to re-think their document retention strategies. Previous policies of deleting documents, e-mail and other types of electronic information can put organizations at significant risk of not being in compliance and increasedliability and are nearly impossible to enforce. This White Paper looks at some of the emerging business drivers and issues for retaining documents. Most people would define “document” as a set of words or numbers written or printed on paper. This is understandable. Before the computer age, most non-verbal communications took place or were memorialized on paper. Even with computers, most files can be printed on paper to create a written, readable type of document. The law takes a different view. It regards information stored in electronic form as a “document”. This means that in a lawsuit, electronic information is subject to discovery – that is, copying by the adverse party – exactly the same as pieces of paper, usually even if the information also is printed in paper form. When a business is involved in a lawsuit, many types of electronic files created by employees are considered discoverable documents, including:  Files created
by common business applications such as Word and Excel E-mail messages
Instant Messaging
logfiles Collaboration
repositories such as Exchange Public Folders & Notes Databases
Snapshots of ERP,
CRM, and other databases – if not the databases themselves.
Ultimately, any information stored in an electronic medium may be a discoverable electronic document. Changes in regulation, technology, and business needs require that companies examine why and how they retain and manage their electronic documents. Generally, these needs can be separated into three separate business drivers: compliance, litigation and end-user business needs. An effective document retention strategy must take these three areas into account.  Request
White Paper |
||||
| Go to Top | Back to White Papers |
| © 2008 Contoural, Inc. All rights reserved. |