SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Architect's Guidebook

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Records Management Services

By Nigel Bridport

Records management is an activity that is discussed by many organizations, but is not necessarily implemented by them. However, it is something that can be vitally important, especially if organizations find themselves under some form of lawsuit or litigation action. For example, organizations might be required to produce a document or e-mail that contains crucial evidence. Not being able to do so could adversely affect the outcome of the action.

In practical terms, records management is simply the act of managing information for as long as necessary throughout the life cycle of the content, from creation to eventual deletion.

Organizations will typically have their own view on what records management means to them, and will have a process that does not typically fit in with the myriad of currently existing legal requirements and standards (such as the ISO 15489, the United States DoD 5015.2, and the European MoReq). However, if the organization is affected by such a legal requirement, it must modify its processes to ensure that the detail therein is met. A non-conformant system is of little (or even no) use as in a legal case. The information is not considered authoritative or authentic.

This chapter helps you to understand what must be considered within an organization when thinking about the implementation of a records management system. In particular, this chapter explains how, when using Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, the ...