The City of Bellevue, Wash., has been a Zasio customer for three decades. From the early days of Versatile for Windows (1994), and transitioning to Versatile Enterprise in 2001, the city needed a powerful tool for its records management program.

Today, the City manages 13,000 boxes in off-site storage.

“Before we had Versatile (Enterprise), we didn’t have an electronic system to manage our off-site records or retention – it was all paper-based,” Bellevue’s City Records and Information Manager, Danelle Court, said.

“Obviously, we are not as heavily paper-based as we used to be back in the late 1990s, or early 2000s,” Court said. “But (Versatile) still provides all that functionality for us and the reason we’ve kept going with it — it’s easy to use.”

Court added, “[We have to make] sure we have the right information, when we need it, where we should have it, and that we get rid of it when we no longer need it, and the software helps us perform those functions in a little bit more automated manner.”

Favorite Features

After more than thirteen years of working with Versatile, Court appreciates its consistency.

“It’s probably one of the most stable records management software solutions we’ve had – or that we’ve ever had – in terms of maintenance and just doing what it should do, and not having issues in terms of the technology,” Court said. “That’s why we got it. . . and why we keep using it and keep loving it.”

Sue Gunderson, the City’s Public Records Analyst, is a self-described Versatile power user. She uses the software to enter contract data, create new files, and ensure files are imported into the city’s SharePoint electronic records repository.

Gunderson’s favorite feature is Versatile’s search capabilities. It allows for simple and complex search requests.

“(We) get lots of research requests from the city attorney’s office that [can] involve really old records,” Gunderson said. “It’s a  very good tool, to be able to dig in, and try and find historical or old records for people that need to reference those.”

Employee Learning Curve

“The training is really pretty easy because it’s such a simple program to learn and use,” Gunderson said. “When I get a new user, I know it’s probably not going to be phone call after phone call saying, ‘I don’t understand,’ or ‘I don’t get it.’ Most people find they can navigate (Enterprise) with just one training.”

Practicality and Flexibility

Gunderson’s colleague, City Records Business Analyst, Suzanne LeDoux, boasts about Versatile’s functionality.

“I like how robust it is — you can customize and filter your search in a lot of different ways and still have the flexibility of using a keyword search,” LeDoux said. “You can do a very narrow scope search and then expand and broaden your search from there. It’s very versatile.”

World Class Technical Support

Reliable technical support is just as important to the City of Bellevue as Versatile’s features and functionality.

“The fact that we know people’s names and have a relationship with them,” Court said. “The support has always been great. Whenever we say ‘this is where we’d like to go’, there’s always been that partnership in helping us get there.”

Whenever there was a function the City of Bellevue needed, Zasio’s support team found a solution.

“…Zasio has been pretty responsive in getting (new functions) on the roadmap and making that happen,” Court said. “Just the fact that Zasio is in the industry and knows the challenges and the opportunities and where the industry is going, and actively participates and engages in that, makes a pretty strong partnership.”

Court cited Zasio’s webinars, attendance at conferences, and numerous staff with key professional certifications as evidence Zasio understands the IG industry.

Results

Versatile is a trustworthy and reliable physical records management tool for the City of Bellevue. It’s allowed the city to create a records management program the staff and the public can rely on.

“If we have trustworthy processes, and defensible processes, we can have trustworthy records and information for the public to trust their government,” Court said.

About Zasio

Zasio has over 35 years of service in information governance. We help businesses get started in records management and maintain top-of-the-line IG programs. To do this, we’ve recruited a team of expert software developers and technicians, legal experts, and highly-accomplished records analysts—all in-house!

Our highly trained team includes certified records managers, information governance professionals, and certified information privacy professionals who keep up with evolving IG trends and scale our Versatile solutions to meet our customers’ needs. It’s no wonder that thousands of organizations, including half of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies, have trusted our software solutions and expert consulting services to create world-class information governance programs.

To learn more about Versatile Enterprise, call 800-513-1000 opt. 1 or contact us.

The post Versatile Enterprise™ Case Study: The City of Bellevue appeared first on Zasio.

The City of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada has been a Zasio customer for over 25 years, starting in 1997 with Versatile Windows™, one of Zasio’s earliest solutions. In 2006, the City transitioned to Zasio’s Versatile Enterprise™ solution.

The City needed a powerful tool, like Versatile Enterprise, to help manage 37,000+ boxes at an off-site operations center.

“There’s a space management component we rely on to be able to find our records,” said the City’s Manager of Enterprise Information Management Services (EIMS) and City Archivist. “It’s about having an effective tool in place to find what you’re looking for with the large volume of records that we have.”

He added, “Versatile’s space management is second to none when it comes to other physical lifecycle management software. That’s a huge win for Versatile.”

Favorite Features

Located north of Toronto, the City manages roughly 270,000 files that include land development applications, building permits, human resource files, bylaws, and drawings, along with legal and finance documentation. To meet the EIMS Teams’ operational needs, the City required a solid system to track its 196 active users.

“The check-in/check-out manager (in Versatile Enterprise) is a huge benefit,” said the EIMS Manager. The City has staff who facilitate file requests from multiple records centers, so tracking down who’s got the record and when it was requested, including getting a history is key.”

The City’s Supervisor of EIMS and Deputy City Archivist appreciates Versatile Enterprise’s space management and disposition functions. Prior to using VE’s space management and disposition functions, staff members did everything manually.

Hand-typing barcodes that were 10-12 digits long was time-consuming and led to mistakes. Human error would also cost staff hours retrieving incorrectly keyed boxes and files, as well as protracted searches for missing records.

“We would go in and individually delete files and boxes, which was a pain,” the Deputy City Archivist commented. “Being able to actually have a record of what was targeted for destruction, track physical destruction dates, and have the approval, was a welcomed change.”

The City’s Human Resources department trusts Versatile Enterprise’s security features to ensure sensitive records are only seen by appropriate users.

“In the past, we’ve had new staff in HR who have been very concerned about what information goes into Versatile and who has access,” said the City’s Supervisor of EIMS. “With (Versatile Enterprise) you can assure staff that the proper security steps and private user groups are in place to prevent unauthorized access. Staff can rest assured that only their users have the ability to locate and see these files – no one out of their department can.”

Support

The City is equally enthusiastic about Zasio’s customer support.

In 2022, the team found improperly labeled boxes while temporarily transferring 3,000 boxes off-site to an external vendor. To correct this issue, the City was provided with a spreadsheet from the vendor with 3,000 new RFID tags.

“We were trying to figure out how we could get one system to talk to the other because inputting new data for 3,000 boxes would have been a very time-consuming and manual process. We didn’t want to run the risk of keying the wrong barcode ID and having future issues,” the EIMS Team said.

It turns out, they didn’t have to worry.

Zasio’s technical support team helped successfully import the data.

“All the numbers were accurate and it was a huge time saver for us,” the Deputy City Archivist said.

Support recently helped the City implement Zasio’s Versatile Mobile Package, which allows staff to make quick work of many records management tasks. This includes scanning bar codes and performing records searches from mobile devices.

“You guys are second to none — you set the bar for the City when it comes to support standards,” the Manager of EIMS said. “It’s instant, it’s consistent, it’s efficient. I haven’t come across this type of support or service with any other service or product.”

The EIMS Team says the superior customer support extends to the Zasio customer portal, which she describes as simply “amazing.” “You’ve got so many resources on there – It’s been a lifesaver.”

Results

The City said it will continue partnering with Zasio indefinitely. Reliable records management software solutions, combined with a team of solid subject matter experts and trustworthy support made this an easy decision.

About Zasio

Zasio has over 35 years of service in information governance. We help businesses get started in records management and maintain top-of-the-line IG programs. To do this, we’ve recruited a team of expert software developers and technicians, attorneys, along with highly-accomplished records analysts—all in-house!

Our highly trained team includes certified records managers, information governance professionals, and certified information privacy professionals who keep up with evolving IG trends and scale our Versatile solutions to meet our customers’ needs.

It’s no wonder that thousands of organizations, including half of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies, have trusted our software solutions and expert consulting services to create world-class information governance programs.

To learn more about Versatile Enterprise, call 800-513-1000 opt. 1 or contact us.

The post Versatile Enterprise™ Case Study: The City of Vaughan appeared first on Zasio.

The post Versatile Retention, Versatile Enterprise, and Consulting Services Case Study: Global Leader in Pharmaceutical Industry appeared first on Zasio.

When Pete Weichers joined the City of Encinitas as deputy city clerk nearly four years ago, he knew the beach-front community needed to drastically improve its records management strategy.

“We were kind of limping along when I first got here,” Weichers said. “We had a long way to go to get things modernized and into compliance.”

The city, located about 25 miles north of San Diego, had used Microsoft Access™ to manage files, microfilm, and boxes both on-site and as an off-site records storage vendor. After nearly 20 years, the deputy city clerk said it was time for a much-needed change.

“When I got here in 2019, the Access database was in shambles with data from multiple departments,” Weichers said.

A year later, the city says it lost about 3,000 files when employees moved the previous software onto a virtual machine.

Weichers wanted an efficient and scalable solution that could not only integrate with the city’s retention schedule but also easily apply its retention schedule rules to the city’s records. Being able to create labels was another big need and staff did not have any disposition reporting capabilities.

WHY VERSATILE PROFESSIONAL SaaS?

When it came time to find a new solution, Pete remembered using Versatile Professional during his time in the nearby City of Escondido. He was confident it would be a good option.  “I knew it would be a good solution so I kind of approached it from that standpoint, knowing what Zasio has to offer, the wealth of knowledge (the staff has), and just how simple the product is…it’s just ready to go. There’s not a real steep learning curve.”

Ultimately, the city moved forward with Pete’s recommendation and in April 2022, chose Zasio’s Versatile Professional SaaS application. Pete said Zasio’s support team made the implementation efficient and easy for him and his small team.

IMPLEMENTATION, CUSTOMER SUPPORT & FAVORITE FEATURES

Once the SaaS application was implemented, the city could start using it right away as there weren’t any major challenges in the set-up process. When some staff members reported having login problems, Zasio’s customer support team reached out to the city’s IT department and the issue was quickly resolved. “I’ve always found your support staff to be incredibly responsive and helpful,” Pete says.

Now that the city has been utilizing Versatile SaaS for nearly a year, Pete’s team has grown to appreciate its many features. “The simple, but incredibly powerful search bar” as well as the “label design to ensure continuity with processes and procedures” are some of the highlights, he says. And, in addition to being a major time saver, accessibility has proven to be a big plus.

“We were kind of hamstrung before where only one person from the whole city could get into the program (Access) at a time. With Versatile Professional, we have enough licenses that allow multiple people to work in that space,” Weichers said.

Being in city government, transparency is important in his line of work. And Versatile Professional definitely helps with that process.

“To me, transparency and records management will forever be intertwined especially at the local government level. Over the last couple of years, the City of Encinitas has had a significant number of new employees come aboard with little or no government experience, and it has been the city clerk’s mission to train them and emphasize the importance and legal ramifications of records management and being transparent with the public,” he said.

As part of the city’s records management strategy, Weichers says his team will be presenting the application to department leaders later this year, pointing out how it’s helping elevate their program and assist with long-term initiatives.

RESULTS

“Overall, it’s been a huge positive for us. I’ve had other experiences and have used other software where you’re promised this and that, but there’s a letdown in between. (With Zasio) every step of the way, from beginning to end, you guys have been comprehensive and always reaching out. What you promise and what you deliver match, and in this day in age that’s unique, to say the least,” Weichers said.

 ABOUT ZASIO

 Zasio has over 35 years of service in information governance. We focus on one thing, helping businesses get started in records management and maintain top-of-the-line IG programs. Since starting in the industry, we’ve recruited a team of experts, including software developers and technicians, attorneys, analysts, certified records managers, information governance professionals, and certified information privacy professionals —all in-house—who keep up with evolving IG trends and scale our Versatile solutions to meet demands of both customers new to records management and seasoned veterans.

It’s no wonder that thousands of companies, including half of the top 20 Fortune 500, have trusted our software solutions and expert consulting services to implement world-class information governance programs.

To learn more about Versatile Professional please call 1-800-513-1000 opt. 1 or email sales@zasio.com.

The post Versatile Professional™ SaaS Case Study: The City of Encinitas appeared first on Zasio.

A Sneak “Peak” into the CPA

The law applies to entities that conduct business or produce commercial products or services intentionally targeted to Colorado residents, and that control or process personal data or derive revenue from the sale of personal data. The CPA applies to both for-profit and nonprofit entities. However, state and local governments and institutions of higher education are excluded.[1]

Controllers are defined as any person that, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. The CPA specifies how controllers must fulfill their duties regarding consumers’ rights, transparency, purpose specification, data minimization, avoiding secondary use and unlawful discrimination, care, and sensitive data.

The CPA also requires controllers to conduct a data protection assessment for each processing activity involving personal data that presents a high risk of harm to consumers. Examples of a foreseeable high risk include:

• unfair or deceptive treatment or unlawful impact on consumers;
• financial or physical injury;
• selling of personal data; and
• processing sensitive data.[2]

Also, the CPA seeks to empower “consumers to protect their privacy and to require companies to be responsible custodians of their data.”[3] Sensitive personal data is considered detailed personal information about an individual, and includes race, origin, set, religion, mental or physical health conditions or diagnoses, and sexual orientation. Under the CPA, controllers must obtain consumers’ consent before processing sensitive data.

Who has Enforcement Authority?

There is no private right of action under the CPA. The state’s attorney general’s office and state district attorneys are the CPA’s exclusive enforcement officers. Both the AG and DAs may bring enforcement actions directly or on behalf of a Colorado resident. Enforcement officers are also required to notify the business of any alleged violation before bringing a legal action. Upon notification, a business has 60 days to cure the alleged violation. Civil penalties start at $2,000 per violation but may not exceed $500,000 for any related series of violations. [4]

It’s All Downhill from Here

Although the CPA does not take effect until July 1, 2023, businesses should not delay determining their compliance obligations. By starting now, your organization can avoid being time pressed to complete any required comprehensive data inventories, update policies, and review contracts. This can help ensure a smooth and efficient transition for businesses subject to the CPA’s new requirements. [5]

Companies who have already invested in complying with state privacy laws may not have to adjust their practices much to comply with the CPA. Nonetheless, the CPA contains some key distinctions from other privacy laws that should not be overlooked by even the most seasoned privacy law experts.

If your organization is ready to create a record retention schedule, contact Zasio today to see how our innovative products and services can help meet your record-keeping and information governance needs.

[1] Protect Personal Data Privacy: Concerning additional protection of data relating to personal privacy.

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-190

[2] SB21-190: Protect Personal Data Privacy- Concerning additional protection of data relating to personal privacy.

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-190

https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_190_signed.pdf

[3] Colorado’s Emergent Consumer Privacy Bill Introduces Chance to Opt Out of Data Processing

https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/colorado-emergent-consumer-privacy-bill-opt-out-data-processing.html

[4] Colorado’s Consumer Data Protection Act Has Passed: What’s in It?

https://www.manatt.com/insights/newsletters/privacy-and-data-security/colorados-consumer-data-protection-act-has-passed

[5] Colorado Privacy Act: What Businesses Need to Know

https://www.akingump.com/en/news-insights/what-business-need-to-know-about-the-colorado-privacy-act.html#_ftnref30

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on Information Governance topics. The statements are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the application of the law to your business activities, you should seek the advice of your legal counsel.

The post Let’s Hit the Slopes: What to Know About Colorado’s Personal Privacy Act appeared first on Zasio.

The University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences launched its records management program in 1994. The School was moving into a different building and needed to do something about the high volume of records that had built up over the years, so they hired a records manager, Susan Carlson, CRM. Susan reviewed the situation and determined the need for a records management solution to track records, and a retention schedule to identify what needed to be kept and what they could destroy. Susan interviewed different vendors and decided to implement Versatile for DOS™, Zasio’s original records management solution. Since the initial implementation in 1995, Versatile has grown with Susan and her team. From Versatile for DOS, they scaled up to Versatile Professional™, Zasio’s records management solution for small-to-mid-sized companies, and then to Versatile Enterprise™—their current, enterprise-level solution. “You rarely stay with a company for this long, but at every turn, Zasio helps us transition and continues to provide products that meet our needs. They grow with us,” said Susan.

Favorite Features

Versatile Enterprise is the solution of choice for Susan’s team because it’s a fully integrated system that does it all. “I wanted a seamless interface for our records tracking program and the ability to develop and manage our retention schedule. Versatile Enterprise allows us to do all of this,” said Susan. Versatile Enterprise comes with many state-of-the-art features, but Susan relies heavily upon its searchability, retention schedule, destruction capabilities, and Zasio’s customer support.

Searchability

Under Susan’s training, her team quickly learned to take advantage of Versatile Enterprise’s description feature to input information like keywords and report titles for easy, full-text searching. “It’s nice because people can search for things and find them without having to talk to the records team, and we’re not dependent on a single user or someone having to remember where things are,” said Susan. “People come and go and as they do, it’s so much easier to have a system where we can find things.”

Retention Schedule

Susan wanted to manage her retention schedule within her records management solution. With Versatile Enterprise, she can. “The retention schedule is our foundation and having it right in Versatile Enterprise is huge for us!” said Susan. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences has many record series that require different retention periods and retention calculations. To accommodate this, Zasio was able to customize Versatile Enterprise for them, adapting standard retention calculations to meet the specialized retention calculations necessary for a school of their caliber and the different types of medical records they come across.

Destruction

For Susan, the destruction feature is a key benefit. Initially, the School had a huge volume of records because, pre-Susan, staff had never received guidelines for retention management; they kept everything forever. Once the retention schedule was in place, Susan used the destruction feature to begin cleaning up the various departments. Today, her destruction process is simple. She sends an annual report to records coordinators identifying records eligible for destruction, they pull the records and destroy them, and she tracks it all right in the system. “My goal was to send fewer records to the University’s archive each year as we got through all of these various departments,” said Susan. “For a while, I was sending roughly 100 boxes to archive annually. Now, I’m down to about 30.”

Customer Service

Zasio is known for their outstanding customer service and Susan could not agree more. “The support team has been there for all of our major conversions. In the past, they’ve physically come onsite to offer help and training. Now with Zoom and Teams, we do it that way, but it’s great because they understand what we’re doing and what we’re about,” she said. “Being able to simply call when you need answers, talk to a live human, and get those answers in a few minutes is amazing. It’s so valuable.”

Add-Ons

One of Susan’s favorite parts about Zasio and the Versatile system is how it’s broken up into modular add-ons. “It’s a quality product separated into modules, but when you put them together, it’s fully integrated,” she said. The two main add-ons Susan’s team uses are Versatile Imaging™ and Versatile Electronic Records Management System™ (ERMS).

Versatile Imaging

The University added Versatile Imaging in 2014 before moving into a newly built facility. They wanted to save floor space and avoid clutter by turning their high-volume of student files into scanned files they could store as electronic records. With Imaging, they can easily scan files directly into Versatile Enterprise and manage them as records, applying the same retention and destruction policies as they would for a physical record.

Versatile ERMS™

Versatile ERMS is the latest add-on to the School’s suite of Versatile products. Initially, the records coordinators of the various departments were slow to adapt but when COVID-19 hit in 2020, people were forced to work at home and the need for electronic records became more apparent. To help with the implementation and adoption of ERMS, Zasio’s Support Team customized it, adding an automation process that would ensure consistency and familiarity in how the School manages its physical and electronic student records. “I offer training sessions on ERMS and at the end, people always say, “wow, it’s so easy!”’ said Susan. “It’s like a shared drive, people don’t have to think twice about how the records get in and they can easily find what they’re looking for.” She adds that it’s also nice to have processes in place to handle records that are delivered as an attachment via email or DocuSign because they can go right into ERMS. “I’m always explaining how so much information today comes in electronically, if we just capture it and manage it electronically in ERMS from the start, our lives will be so much easier,” said Susan.

Results

Since implementing Versatile, Susan and her records team have built a highly efficient records and information management program from scratch. Starting in the days of paper records, and transitioning into the high-speed pace of electronic records, Zasio’s Versatile product line has been there for them every step of the way. “I wanted a solution that would manage information from cradle-to-grave and apply retention times automatically, and I’ve found that and more with Versatile,” said Susan. “Having a state-of-the-art product that has not only kept up with our growth over the years but also continues to provide new technology solutions is truly amazing.”

About Zasio

Zasio has over three decades of service in Information Governance (IG). We focus on one thing, helping businesses get started in records management and maintain top-of-the-line IG programs. Since starting in the industry, we’ve recruited a team of experts, including software developers and technicians, attorneys, analysts, Certified Records Managers (CRMs), Information Governance Professionals (IGPs), and Certified Information Privacy Professionals (CIPPs)—all in-house—who keep up with evolving IG trends, and scale our Versatile solutions to meet demands of both customers new to records management and seasoned veterans. It’s no wonder why thousands of companies, including half of the top 20 Fortune 500, have trusted our software solutions and expert consulting services to implement world-class Information Governance programs.

To learn more about Versatile Retention or Zasio’s Consulting Services call 1-800-513-1000 opt. 1 or email sales@zasio.com.

The post Versatile Enterprise and Versatile ERMS Case Study: University of North Dakota, School of Medicine appeared first on Zasio.

Air Van, a transportation and storage company, has been storing records for companies of all sizes in the Boise, Idaho area for many years. With over 200,000 square feet of warehouse storage space and having customers of varying sizes and industries, the team is constantly managing multiple databases and navigating different record-keeping requirements to keep up with each customer’s unique requests. These demands, along with a strong recommendation from their largest client, are what led Vu Doan, Vice President at Air Van, and his team to implement Versatile Professional™, Zasio’s industry-leading records management solution for small to mid-size companies.

Today, Air Van not only has all of their records stored and organized in one solution, but they also have customized databases set up which mirror those of their clients, as well as the ability to scan and track records right from their mobile Android devices.

Why Versatile Professional?

When it came time to choose and implement a solution, there wasn’t a question of which vendor or software platform to choose. Air Van’s biggest client was using Versatile Enterprise, Zasio’s enterprise-level records management solution, yet paying Air Van to oversee their records storage. Once they decided to turn all records management tasks over to Air Van, it made sense for both parties to use Versatile software to facilitate an easy transition. “Zasio allowed us to sync our big customer database with their database so we had a mirror image of the two databases, daily,” said Vu. “That was the thing that impressed us, and was a big reason for our decision. Our customer wanted to track what we have, and we also wanted to track what we have, and Versatile Professional could do all of that.”.

Favorite Features and Benefits

A Truly Customizable Solution

For Air Van, a customizable software solution is a necessity to keep up with the ever-changing records requirements in place for all of the different companies for which they manage records. “We have a lot of different customers, and each customer has different requirements and multiple databases. Zasio has no problem modifying our databases, or modifying the system to allow us to track what we need for each different customer,” said Vu.

Versatile Mobile Package™

Versatile Professional has become such an ingrained, easy part of the Air Van team’s daily processes they hardly notice it anymore, but they do rest assured knowing Zasio will always have new options and solutions available to keep their technology new and fresh.

Their most recent upgrade was adding the Versatile Mobile Package add-on, which allows them to do all of their scanning from a mobile device of their choice via Zasio’s mobile app, Versatile Records On-The-Go™. “We’re using Android scanners now and it’s made our whole process so much smoother,” said Vu. “It’s a lot easier to set up, it’s a lot easier to scan, and our other users have had no problem picking it up because it’s very easy to train people on. It’s nice to know you all are always changing and updating your software so it reflects the latest technology solutions,” he said.

The Customer Support 

Air Van appreciates Versatile Professional’s features and available add-ons, but they noted the main thing that makes Versatile Professional stand out is the customer support that comes with it. “We’re often managing three different databases for different customers and no matter the project or request, the Support team is like, ’let’s work through it’ or ‘let’s make it happen!’” says Vu. “It’s amazing how flexible and accommodating you guys are.” He continued to share that during a recent Records On-The-Go update, the Zasio support team took it upon themselves to update an internal, handwritten manual, specific to one Air Van employee’s unique daily process, so he could do his job more easily. “It’s the out-of-the-box stuff you guys do, going above and beyond to meet our needs, that makes our lives so much easier,” said Vu.

Results

Since the initial implementation in 2004, Versatile Professional has provided Air Van with a versatile, customizable solution that continues to morph with them as their records management storage and database requirements update and change. “There is just a realm of different options we’ve found with Versatile Professional,” says Vu. “In the beginning, we were using it to track files do other warehousing things but today we use it for cycle count situations, verifying inventory in the Space Management feature, doing vacancy reports…the list goes on.”

As a moving and transportation company, change may come slow sometimes but the Air Van team is grateful to have easy access to the latest technology through Zasio’s solutions, along with the Zasio support team there to hold their hands and guide them through new updates and processes. “I think it’s one of the easiest solutions we’ve ever had,” said Vu.

To learn more about Versatile Professional call 1-800-513-1000 opt. 1 or email sales@zasio.com.

The post Versatile Professional™ Case Study: Air Van Moving and Transportation appeared first on Zasio.

Consolidated Natural Gas, which later merged into Dominion Energy, has been using Versatile™, Zasio’s enterprise-level records management software, for over 25 years. They started out with Versatile for Windows™ and upgraded to Versatile Enterprise ™ in 2000. When the records team at Consolidated Natural Gas initially began looking for a records management solution, they needed something to help them streamline their existing records management process, which was very manual. Not long after their search had begun, Consolidated Natural Gas decided to bring the record center data from their entire system under one management system, which meant merging the data from five different sub-companies’ records centers into one. These two factors were what initially pushed Don Campbell, Supervisor of Administrative Services at Dominion Energy, to implement Versatile, but over the years, it has been the scalability and flexibility that Versatile Enterprise provides, along with Zasio’s top-tier customer service, that has retained them as a customer for over two decades.

Why Versatile Enterprise?

Don originally saw Versatile Enterprise demonstrated at an ARMA International event. At the time, its speed was what stood out. “It was instantaneous. The data went right into the system. There was no waiting for processing to happen or needing to verify—it was just working,” Don said. Since then, the team has been through several versions of Versatile Enterprise, each update offering new and improved features.

Implementing Versatile Enterprise

When Consolidated Natural Gas originally implemented Versatile Enterprise in 2000, they said it was a straightforward transition. The majority of their records data was stored in Excel™ spreadsheets, so it simply needed to be imported into the Versatile Enterprise database. Zasio Support made the implementation painless. “It was great, we more or less just verified things and our Support Technician handled everything with our IT team,” Don recalls. “She would guide them along, they would ask her questions, she would provide more guidance; it was fantastic.” Of the whole implementation, Don and Dwayne agree the hardest part was barcoding all of their boxes. “It was very challenging to get all of the barcodes on all of the boxes and all of the shelves,” said Dwayne, “but the barcoding system and scanners from Zasio were really helpful. It was a big project. We had 35,000 to 40,000 boxes at our largest records center, and the scanners made it doable for just the two of us.”

Time-Saving Features

While the whole system is lined with unique features and functionality, two of the features that the Dominion Energy Team use most frequently are Destruction and Space Management.

Destruction

Don handles all of the destruction reviews. “The destruction reports I can build out of the system are fabulous,” he says, “it makes life so much easier for the customers (employees in other departments at Dominion) to be able to follow along, see what they have, read the record descriptions, and know when they’re up for review.” It has also been a timesaver. Don used to send out destruction reports monthly, but now he only needs to send them annually. “I can send a whole year’s worth of reports and get approvals and then just destroy records when the dates come up,” Don said. The actual destruction process is easy too. Dwayne Kieger, Sr. Records Analyst, manages this part. “We simply feed in spreadsheets and the system determines what should be destroyed.” We’re able to easily destroy an average of 5,000 to 6,000 boxes per year,” he says.

Space Management 

The Space Management feature allows the team to consolidate and organize their warehouse space on a regular basis, but it has also saved the team in two unique situations: when they moved their records offsite for a short time, and when they merged to become Dominion Energy. When the records were stored offsite, Don and Dwayne were still able to manage and control them within their system. “We could track them and know what was going on with them, which was wonderful because the offsite company made a lot of mistakes,” said Don. It also made it easy to bring them back in-house, once the time came. A few years later when Consolidated Natural Gas merged with Dominion Energy, the team was able to use the Space Management feature to reorganize the Dominion Energy record centers. “Dominion would use a location but put it under a temporary ID, so if ten boxes were on a shelf, all ten would have the same number, which made things really hard to find,” said Don. “They needed help and Space Management made this easier.”

Versatile Web Enterprise™

Versatile Web Enterprise, an add-on module for Versatile Enterprise, allows users in an organization to access and edit specific records, without needing access to the full Versatile Enterprise application. For Don and Dwayne, Versatile Web really helped during the initial merger with Dominion, which brought thousands of new customers into the system, and it continues to allow them to manage the entire organization’s customer base of over 20,000, with a small records team of only six or seven. “The customer base has grown exponentially over the years and because we use Versatile Web, it’s easy to manage,” said Don. Dwayne agreed, “the web add-on is very straightforward, our customers never seem to have any issues with it once we introduce it to them.” They’ve also noticed the quality of the information entered into the system has improved. “With Versatile Web, we get much better descriptions than we used to, and it’s not just because of our training, it’s because it’s easy to understand,” said Don.

The Customer Support

While impressed with Versatile Enterprise, Don and Dwayne can both say the biggest selling point for them in keeping their business with Zasio is the customer support. “It’s just wonderful, said Don. “It’s definitely worth the annual fee, and if I’m ever challenged on it, I can just show them. Look we’re managing all of these records and all of these people, and we never have issues, because we have support. When we need help, it’s right there.” With Dominion’s recent upgrade to Versatile Cloud™, Zasio’s new cloud hosting platform for Versatile Enterprise, Zasio Support plays an even larger role. “Now that we’re on the cloud, we can deal with Zasio Support directly and get answers,” said Dwayne. “Before we were tied to our IT group. It’s so much better working directly with people who know the system and let me tell you, they definitely know their stuff!” he said.

Results

Since 2000, Versatile Enterprise has saved the Dominion Energy team time in their daily tasks, helped them consolidate warehouse space, bridge mergers between companies, combine multiple data sets, and manage exponential customer growth. While their system looks completely different than it did when it was first implemented, the basis of their original decision to purchase Versatile Enterprise remains the same – it’s a scalable, versatile solution, that comes with great customer service. Today, it just has a modern look, with their data servers and applications now hosted off- premise in Versatile Cloud, and their move away from their old barcode scanners to the Versatile Mobile Package™, which allows all of their barcoding work to take place on their mobile iOS devices via the Versatile Records On-The-Go™ app. Both of these upgrades are still new, but the Dominion Team couldn’t be more excited to test them out and continue the relationship with Zasio.

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Author: Heather Rice

Senior Research Analyst / Certified Paralegal

The post New Changes to the European Union’s Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostic Device Regulations appeared first on Zasio.

Effectively managing email is usually somewhere “on the list” of items to take care of, but rarely at the top. As a result, employees are often left to fend for themselves regarding how to manage their email records, most often outside the scope of data retention and information governance policies. This can bring rise to issues over data security, privacy, discovery, and cyber-theft. Most users want direction in this area to protect both themselves and the organization. But, this direction will only remain welcome if it’s not difficult to administer or overly complicated. Let’s take a look at some common approaches, pitfalls, and recommendations to get you started.

Email is Not Dead Yet

With the rise of so many instant messaging and collaboration apps like Slack and Teams, one might think email is not that big of an issue in 2020. In fact, According to HubSpot, 86 percent of business professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes. Fifty nine percent of B2B marketers say email is their most effective channel for revenue generation. And 80 percent of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention. While social media may get the headlines, email still is the foundation of business communication today.

80% of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention.

Common Approaches

In our work with various organizations across all industries we have found there are just a few common approaches to this problem of governing email. After the brief review of these below, we will discuss some of the issues with these methods, and also how they might be used in a more comprehensive approach.

• Do Nothing – you may be laughing but this is often the default action with regard to managing email retention and disposition. The practice may be justified by stating that emails represent transitory information, and therefore are not records. Most legal experts disagree with this argument, however.
• Safety Net – this involves setting up an email vault to capture all email at the server level and keep it for a set period of time, usually between one and five years, just in case something is needed for legal reasons. This default ”just-in-case” retention period is more for those who are worried about losing an important email than being found with one.
• Quotas/Short Term Retention – in this scenario a combination of company policy and technical configuration sets limits on how much email a user can store in their inbox, either based on storage space, or the age of emails. For example, one might be limited to 2 GB of data, or nothing older than 6 months. This practice forces users to purge old emails to free up space, or automatically removes old emails, thus encouraging important items to be saved elsewhere.
• Purge Days – following the often-used practice for physical records, specific days on the calendar are set aside for all employees to manually comb through emails and delete what’s not important.
• Capstone – many government agencies follow the Capstone Approach, whereby all email for certain individuals is saved based on their role or title. The idea is that the most important information will bubble up to the top levels of the agency, thereby limiting the need to collect email from everyone.

Pitfalls

All of the common approaches have issues – some more than others – but they also have merits.

Doing nothing carries the most obvious risk, even if it’s backed by the formal retention schedule, because you risk both keeping and losing emails that you shouldn’t. Without any kind of technical rules or limitations within the email, you’re exposing the organization to a lot of ROT (redundant, outdated, and trivial information) that is subject to e-discovery, theft, and misuse.

It is common practice for opposing attorneys to hire teams of analysts for the express purpose of combing through email for the “smoking gun”

Having a safety net helps to address the inadvertent deletion of important emails, but only for the time set by the vault or policy. If there is content within emails that should be kept longer, then the vault does not help – except where individuals make conscious choices to save important items. It also exposes the organization to the risk of discovery, which can include the costs of the discovery effort itself, as well as the potential of finding damaging information. Indeed, it is common practice for opposing attorneys to hire teams of analysts for the express purpose of combing through email for the “smoking gun” that will help them win the case or force a settlement.

Limits on in-boxes in the form of quotas or time limits can help with keeping email from accumulating. It also enforces the idea that an inbox is only meant for short term preservation. However, this approach still lacks several fundamental principles that should govern business records, such as: determining retention based on content, rather than format; distinguishing between records and non-records; and providing a means to preserve long term records.

Purge days are relatively easy to implement and can get everyone on the same path for a shared goal. Although, most users rarely will have the time or patience required to do an effective job at managing email manually. Accordingly, purge days may look good on paper, but rarely succeed in practice.

The Capstone approach has merit in that it does limit the scope of what is collected and managed, which is a good starting point for any email management process. However, it often leads to over-retention of information because retention is based on the person’s role, even if they might retain all kinds of different content, much of which may have no value.

Let it suffice to say that without defined controls on email repositories along with a pathway for users to be compliant, you’re leaving it up to each employee to dictate their own email policies. This can create a lot of problems for the organization – the most notable being that each email is subject to discovery in litigation. Under the right circumstances, what an employee intended to say casually and innocently in an email can cause great damage to an organization in the form of potentially significant liability in litigation.  Email can also contain a wealth of proprietary and valuable intellectual property that could pose a very real threat to the organization if it ever got out. And finally, the confidentiality of email can be compromised, exposing customer, employees, and the organization to breaches in security and privacy.

Recommendations

No individual solution will work for all, and any effective solution will likely use a combination of a policy, technology, and collaboration, and may include elements of the approaches outlined above. For example, it’s often very helpful to limit how much you can keep in an inbox (through quotas or time limits), but also have a vault to act as your safety net.

Good email management starts by creating policies. An organization needs to define what constitutes a record, the various types of records with appropriate retention rules, and how those definitions and rules can be applied to email. A policy will also define an organization’s risk appetite, which will drive how much and how long email is kept. For example, an organization that is concerned with losing important, regulated information will keep more emails, and keep them longer. An organization that is worried more about what could be found (such as PII) will keep less, and keep it shorter.

Temper your policy design with a clear understanding of each department’s needs and their typical use of email. You may need to create some exceptions for certain departments, or for departments that you know are heavy users of email. Certain roles within departments may also be a useful guide, especially for users with very narrowly-defined roles where the majority of emails they process all pertain to a similar subject, like invoices or contracts.

Technology will undoubtedly be a key to your organization’s email management solution. This is because you will need a long-term repository for saving, holding, and disposing of important emails according to your retention policy (either as a separate repository or one applied directly to your email system). Keep in mind, though, that the technology must be easy for the users. Incorporating simple drag-and-drop options, seamless mapping to pre-defined categories, or automatic sorting using artificial intelligence (AI) all serve this goal.

Ongoing adherence to policy is fostered when employees truly understand why it is important to follow policies.

Many organizations are relying more on AI to help manage email because the volume of information is simply too large to manage without automation. But when exploring this approach, keep in mind that AI systems still require significant time investments up front to properly train the system to identify one type of record from another. Nonetheless, AI can be a significant time saver over the long term.

Another option (and one which expands on the example given in the opening paragraph of this section) is creating a policy which permits users to keep email in their inbox no longer than a few months, but provides an easy way to save long-term emails into an official repository (perhaps with automation). As an additional layer of backup, all email is saved in a vault for 2 years in case something is not saved or categorized properly. Retrieving from the vault would require additional work, thereby discouraging the use of it as a standard fallback.

Collaboration may be the most important factor in an effective email strategy. To succeed, this task requires cohesion between legal, IT, and the entire user population (at minimum). Ease-of-use equals ease-of-adoption by users, and ongoing adherence to policy is fostered when employees truly understand why it is important to follow policies. Investing in training, incentives, audits, and regular communication will reinforce policy and practices, which will translate into better outcomes.

Moving Forward

Organizations that get their email management in order enjoy not only the peace of mind that results from regulatory compliance, but also improved workflow and the ability to find important business records. Look for providers and partners, like Zasio, that have a combination of capability, expertise, and vision to help you get the most value out of your information.

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