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April 2009: In This Issue
- TAB Guide: Designing and Delivering a Records Management Training Program »
- TAB's Roadmap to Compliance Series: Inactive Collections Management »
- TAB Consulting: Records Management Training »
- What Your Colleagues are Reading »
Dear Records Manager
A recent survey of OnRecord readers identified records management training as one of the top five challenges facing organizations. In response, we've put together a comprehensive Guide to Designing and Delivering a Records Management Training Program and you can get it here.
And this month we continue our Roadmap to Compliance series with a look at the Inactive Collections Management. This is part of the "where" component of implementing the governance model, and can bring your organization significant cost and time savings!
We value your feedback. If you have any questions, or want to discuss any of the issues raised in this newsletter,
please get in touch.
Regards, TAB
 Do you need to train staff on using records management policies, practices and products?
Even the best records management tools and practices are useful only if they can be applied effectively by staff across an organization. So how do you get there?
This guide lays out a number of strategies for designing, developing and delivering a records management training program that helps reduce operating costs, supports compliance with records management requirements and increases efficient access to information.
We'll cover:
- Obtaining senior management endorsement
- Engaging training & development professionals
- Knowing your audience
- Identifying training objectives
- Understanding the value proposition
- Delivery methods
- Evaluating outcomes
Remember, by bridging possible gaps between day-to-day performance and organization-wide goals, effective records management training initiatives go well beyond educating staff in RM basics, making training a critical tool in effective change management, increasing program profile and cost savings!
Download this invaluable resource here!
2. TAB's Roadmap to Compliance Series:
Inactive Collections Management
 This month we're looking at inactive collections management as part of our ongoing look at our Roadmap to Compliance.
What Exactly is an Inactive Record?
Inactive records are all of those records that do not need to be maintained on site for day to day use, but MUST be retained by an organization for administrative needs or legal compliance.
Why Inactive Collections Management?
At some point managing space and record volumes leads organizations to remove files from active collections and send those files to an offsite storage environment.
Our roadmap approach can help organizations with common concerns associated with this activity, including:
- Selecting an offsite storage facility, vendor and contract terms
- Boxing and identifying contents for future retrieval and destruction
- Applying retention schedules to semi-active and inactive records
- Managing retention, recall and disposal processes
Aside from conducting a comprehensive audit, we assist organizations in developing inactive policy and procedures, evaluating technology support tools and training staff on proper evaluation and classification of record materials.
Designing an Inactive Collections Process
Before conducting a collections audit, it is critical to design and build an inactive collections process document. This prevents organizations from returning to a situation post-audit where you have unclassified non-records materials being sent out.
The right inactive collections process ensures that you are sending properly classified materials at the appropriate right time with the right controls on the records materials.
The Audit
Through a comprehensive audit, non-essential records can be identified and managed and stored as necessary, a critical part in implementing the TAB SMART process.
Many organizations don't effectively deal with their inactive files because they don't have a classification system or retention schedule. Following the Roadmap allows you to deal with inactive collections because your organization will have both components. This audit process uses the classification schedule to accurately determine what is in your boxes and cabinets, and then applies the retention schedule to destroy and store records as appropriate.
Cut Costs, Save Time
Removing inactive records from an active environment will save you money by reducing the space needed to store files and returning that space to business operations. It will also save you time by improving the effectiveness of active storage.
And remember, managing inactive collections is an essential step in implementing the corporate governance model!
3. TAB Consulting: Records Management Training
 If you need records management training for your organization, we can provide a comprehensive program customized to your organization's particular RM program and business needs.
We have over ten years experience in this area and we can deliver training online or in the classroom, at your facility or ours.
Whether you need "upfront" training on the fundamentals from classification and retention through to TAB SMART, or want to provide training for a specific product initiative, we can help. We can conduct training on a one time basis or on an ongoing basis. We'll work with your existing training methodology and can "train the trainer".
Remember, the benefits of RM training go beyond teaching staff the basics and extend to cost cutting, risk management, compliance and increased program profile.
Through our sessions your staff will:
- Enhance and expand Records Management knowledge
- Become leaders in RM
- Support business processes
- Gain competitive advantage
- Enhance professionalism
- Share industry best practices
- Team building
- Learn methodologies that can be applied in any situation
- Get documentation of knowledge and experience
- Gain confidence in solving Records Management problems
For more information, contact Jon Eynon or Bob Duncan.
4. What Your Colleagues are Reading
 Want to know what your colleagues are reading?
These are some of our most popular recent downloads:
1. Demonstrating ROI for Records Management Initiatives
Need to show the ROI on your RM Program? This guide tells you how!
We'll give you a strategy for demonstrating records management's ROI based on hard and soft dollar revenue flows, reduced risk and improved long-term returns.
A recent survey of OnRecord readers identified three main sources of hard and soft dollar return on investment for records management initiatives:
- Savings on physical storage space
- Staff productivity gains
- Reduced risk exposure
We'll examine these three objectives in light of basic ROI principles, focusing on those records management approaches which can help optimize that investment over time.
Download this valuable resource here!
2. How to Manage Electronic and Paper Files in the Hybrid Environment
If you find managing the hybrid environment a challenge, then this is the resource for you. We've put together five tips which, when applied as part of a comprehensive records management solution, can help your organization thrive in both the paper and electronic worlds, bringing the two together in one value add for your organization's business.
Tips include:
- Correctly identifying your files
- Establishing central control over the record's life cycle
- Identifying the official record
- Purging non-records
- Choosing conversion options
You can download it here!
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