Email Retention Breakout Session Mid-Michigan ARMA Spring Seminar April 18, 2016 by Debbie Gearhart, CRM, FAI Lansing Community College

Agenda Official Record Status Performance Issues E-discovery Email retention rules Longer vs. Transitory Storage Options Email Retention Myths

Is Email an Official Record? Official records are information-bearing objects that are created, received, maintained, or used by an organization pursuant to its mission, operations, and activities. Non-records are copies of documents maintained in more than one location or materials available from public sources, which can be disposed of at the discretion of the user.

Official Record Status Email messages are routinely used to disseminate policies, procedures, to authorize specific actions, to approve payments, and to interpret terms and conditions of contracts. See examples

Performance Issues As the quantity of saved messages increases, the efficient operation of email servers is compromised and back-ups become more difficult. As storage capacity limits are reached, email databases can malfunction Future upgrades are complicated by burdensome migration. Large inboxes are vulnerable to corruption Some IT departments place capacity limits

Email Retention and the E-discovery Burden Email messages and attachments sent or received by individuals named in a disclosure must be identified and retrieved. Timely compliance is important. Email must be searched in all locations. Increasing costs to comply with discovery orders.

Email Retention Rules Automatic time-based purging of email is an unacceptable retention policy. Be legally compliant. Meet the duty to preserve. Be reasonable, clear and practical. Have board applicability. Cover both current and closed accounts.

Email Retention Rules Schedule-based retention: Consult organization’s formal retention schedule. General Correspondence vs. Transitory Uniform Retention Period: Typically measured in years. Exceptions retained in accordance to a retention schedule. Email retention based on employee’s status (i.e. Capstone – NARA) i

Email Rules Messages will be preserved in their original format. Email messages will be accessible by all entitled to see them. Computer equipment, software needs to be available to read them. Messages were created in the normal course of business.

Email Retention Rules Messages sent by an organization’s employees Messages received by external parties. Copies of messages exchanged between external parties Forwarded messages

Longer Retention Period Needs Valuable, unique information re: policies, decisions, financial matters, legal issues or regulatory matters. Interprets, clarifies, or amends contracts, legal agreements or purchase orders. Contains information about major projects programs, initiatives and events. Employment or personnel issues. Relevant for legal matters.

Transitory Email Meeting invitations Travel schedules Acknowledgement of previous message Thank you notes Sent to many employees Announcement of social events Unsolicited email unrelated to business

Emails to be Deleted ASAP Sexist, racist, abusive, obscene content Messages with criminal intent Messages with copyrighted content that requires permissions Messages that contain or are suspected of containing viruses Messages from suspicious sources.

Storage Options Print to Paper/Store with like files. User’s inbox. User’s archive mailbox. Email Archiving System Computer application designed to manage the lifecycle of email communications RMA Software Manage unstructured electronic records

Email Retention Myths Keep all emails forever. Retention is only for paper records. You only have to archive email if your business is regulated. Your email platform already makes it easy to find and retrieve data. My backup system is my email archive.

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