As some top executives have learned the hard way in recent years, leaving a paper trail can be source of legal trouble, whether it's through embarrassing e-mails or cooked books. Additionally, increased regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley as well as high-profile SEC investigations have brought to light when corporate America can't effectively manage business records.

According to ARMA International (www.arma.org), a Lenexa, Kansas-based association for information management professionals, companies are scrambling to find solutions—and often spend more than they should.

The nonprofit offers the following tips for records-keeping:

Know your records and information management (RIM) IQ: In order to successfully evaluate your company's records and data policies, you must first understand RIM-related issues. Read articles on the information-management issues facing corporations today including electronic records management, Sarbanes-Oxley and SEC rulings and data protection. ARMA International also features a free quiz on its Web site to help both members and non-members alike evaluate their RIM IQ.

Think outside the box: RIM starts at the computer desktop, and involves managing e-mails, electronic documents and spreadsheets, and even instant messages, just to name a few types of electronic records. With the increasing number of personal communication and production devices in use, your staff should know what needs to be saved, when, why and for how long.

Take the time to train: For employees to play a critical role in helping your organization comply and succeed in litigation, audits, document preservation and daily RIM tasks, they need the right training. Need some ideas to get you started? Webinars are one good way to train for compliance. And ARMA International and Kahn Consulting Inc., Highland Park, Ill., have produced "Keeping Good Company," a new DVD-based information-management training program complete with facilitator and participant workbooks.

Evaluate your electronic records policies: With the growth of electronic records—including e-mail, voice-mail and instant messaging—the capacity for discoverable information has increased. The international records management standard, known as ISO 15489, applies to all relevant business records, including electronic records. Make this the month that you not only create or review your company's electronic records policies, but also set up training on those house rules. Pay particular attention to e-mail retention policies emphasizing retention based on the content of the messages, not the application. ARMA's Web site also offers online self-assessment tools to help determine a company's e-discovery readiness or the general strengths and weaknesses of its RIM program.

Form a compliance team: In today's information-centric enterprise, compliance requires that legal, IT and RIM all be at the table. No one department can provide a complete solution to your company's regulatory compliance needs. Assemble a team from these—and other key compliance-related areas—to assess the organization's potential risks and to identify the policies, processes and technology required to address them.

—J.D.


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