I agree with Lawrence.  There’s a bit too much chuntering on these days about the rights of the “user” to do what s/he likes.  Let’s get things into perspective here – these “users” are employees of their organisations and as such have a responsibility to manage information according to that organisation’s rules and standards.  That includes managing emails.  If the organisation has no rules, then so be it – but that gap in information management is setting up huge costs and business continuity issues for the future (not to mention deliberate law-breaking where emails are retained en masse indefinitely), particularly in relation to e-discovery, which as we all know is becoming disproportionately expensive due to the quantity, and disparate locations, of the information to be trawled through.

 

Email management is just a part – though admittedly a major part at present – of managing corporate information responsibly.  And the old records management mantra still applies: the format and medium are irrelevant; it’s the content that matters. 

 

Incidentally it takes about 5 seconds to save a business critical email into its appropriate storage context (shared network drive, database etc).  It’s our responsibility to educate employees on a) how to recognise what is and isn’t business critical and b) how and where to physically store it so that it can be readily located whenever it is needed (as opposed to having to wait until Fred comes back from holiday).

 

Clare

 

 

Peter,

Thanks for the link. I have put some comments on the site. I think there are some good points to consider, but at the same time, I do not think we should surrender to a lack of filing.  Why are we not teaching, training or educating staff about filing?  Why do we accept that the lack of filing has to be accepted? I am not suggesting we drill down 15 layers into a file architecture, but simple rules of thumbs can be created that allow people to find information and to organise emails.

 

I would argue, and put this to the list, that the problem with emails signifies a failure of the records management profession.  By that I mean, if records management was alive in organisations (getting its message out and helping staff to do their jobs) rather than being seen as a specialism or a preserve of the few, it would (should) stop this proliferation of retaining emails "just in case". 

 

Perhaps because I am a reformed email addict (I used to hold up to 5k emails on my system at any given time) that I can see the problem and speak so passionately about it.  What helped me (this sounds like email anonymous suddenly) was understanding what a record is in relation to emails. For example, many people are not aware that if they are CC in an email they do not need to retain it or hold it.  They can delete it.  Simple rules like this can make a difference. Others are like the 4 Ds of decision making that can allow us to manage the emails as work (Do, Delete, Defer, Delegate) (http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/productivity/email.aspx)

 

Here is an excellent records management decision flow chart from the Open University for managing emails as records..  If staff worked through this list, or turned it into an algorithm, it would save a huge amount of space and time. http://www.open.ac.uk/records/pics/d65488.pdf

 

I am not saying this is a silver bullet, yet how many staff are made aware of these rules and these decision trees so that they can manage their own emails?

 

At the same time, making staff aware of these rules and how to manage their emails will pay dividends. Here is a question for the list. Do we spend as much time instructing staff bout managing their information as we do about managing their money?  If not, why not?  In many ways, the information is the money.  For a start, it would cut down on DPA fines (the largest so far related to problems around e-mails) as well as e-discovery in litigation.  Instead, we ignore it and move on to something else or accept it.  Why? 

 

Let's hear from those organisations that have a good email management system in place and how they succeed in this area.

 

Best,

 

Lawrence

 

Principal Information Management Officer

Durham County Council

Room 4/140

County Hall

County Durham

DH1 5UF

 

0191 372 8371

VPN 77778371

 

 

 

 

Email Management: Fifteen Wasted Years and Counting (Steve Bailey) | Practical E-Records
In a provocative set of remarks, Steve argued that the records management approach to email has shown little regard for users and the survival of a useful email record unlikely. He proposed an alternate way forward using new technologies such as “email archiving” software alongside a lightweight policy structure based on user needs and requirements.  Below I’d like to summarize his thoughts as I interpreted them and am applying them to my email preservation guidance report.


 http://bit.ly/oSIQG9

Source: http://e-records.chrisprom.com/?p=2284&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=email-management-fifteen-wasted-years-and-counting-steve-bailey
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