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

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

3. 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.

4. Official Record Status
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

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

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

7. Retention Rules
Automatic time-based purging of 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.

8. 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.
retention based on employee’s status (i.e. Capstone – NARA) i

9. Email Rules Messages will be preserved in their original format.
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.

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

11. 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.

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

13. 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.

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

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

16. THE END