Key RIM Program Takeaways:

• A legal records retention schedule is the anchor of every successful RIM program.
• Clearly defined ownership and cross-functional buy-in are required to move from policy to action.
• Technology should support established, documented workflows, not replace them.
• Start with small, departmental wins to build momentum for organization-wide implementation.

4 Pillars of Successfully Building a RIM Program

Whether you’re building from scratch or maturing an informal program, four pillars determine whether your RIM program holds up or falls apart: a records retention schedule, people, process, and technology. Nail these, and your organization gains a defensible, scalable foundation that protects against risk, supports compliance, and grows with your needs.

Pillar 1: Records Retention Schedule

A records retention schedule is the legal and operational blueprint that governs how long your organization keeps each record type, when to destroy it, and how to meet regulatory obligations without holding records longer than necessary. The records retention schedule (RRS) anchors your entire RIM program. It defines what records your organization creates, how long to keep them, and when to dispose of them. Without it, retention decisions vary from person to person, driving inconsistency and increasing compliance risk organization-wide.

Strong retention scheduling software starts with five key components: function, record series title, description, examples, and a global baseline retention period. Legal citations map to each record series, grounding retention periods in specific requirements. When jurisdictional differences arise, you can create country exceptions tied to those citations.

Watch for these common gaps when building or evaluating your RRS:

• Retention periods lack ties to legal or regulatory requirements, leaving your organization exposed.
• The RRS exists on paper but no one has communicated, trained on, or adopted it across the organization.
• Years have passed without a formal review or update, causing the schedule to fall out of step with current laws and business operations.

Pillar 2: People

People are the engine of any RIM program: the designated owners, cross-functional stakeholders, and trained employees whose daily habits determine whether your policies are ever truly followed. Without a clear owner, a RIM program doesn’t stall, it quietly fails. Assign a designated owner, whether that sits under Legal, Compliance, IT, or a dedicated RIM function, and make that accountability visible across the organization.

From there, build a cross-functional team. RIM touches every department, and stakeholders across the business hold critical knowledge about how teams create, use, and store records. Engage them early. Their input shapes a more accurate and practical program, and their involvement builds the buy-in needed to sustain it.

Training is not an afterthought; it is how accountability becomes action. Without it, even a well-designed program breaks down in execution. Develop a deliberate training strategy that reaches every level of the organization, and tailor materials to your audience: end users need different guidance than records coordinators or senior leadership.

Pillar 3: Process

Process refers to the standardized workflows and documented procedures that govern how your organization creates, classifies, stores, retains, and disposes of records. Without consistent, repeatable steps, even the best policies collapse under human variability. Inconsistent practices across departments create compliance gaps and retrieval challenges. Standardized workflows for classification, retention, and disposition reduce reliance on individual knowledge and eliminate the guesswork that leads to costly errors.

Start by mapping how records flow through your organization, from creation to disposition. Identify where records originate, where they live, and how they move between systems and teams. Use that map to shape workflows that fit how your organization truly operates.

Document everything. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) ensure your processes are repeatable and don’t depend on a single person’s institutional knowledge. Define who does what, when, and how for each key RIM activity.

Pillar 4: Technology

Technology encompasses the systems and tools, from document management platforms to AI-assisted classification, that enable your RIM program to operate at scale. The right tools make the difference between a program that works in theory and one that works in practice. Technology supports a RIM program; it doesn’t build one. Before evaluating tools, establish your policy, people, and process foundations. Organizations that implement a system before laying that groundwork often face poor adoption and wasted investment.

Modern tools, including AI-assisted classification, can accelerate and support this work. AI can help surface patterns, suggest classifications, and flag inconsistencies at a scale that manual review cannot match. But AI works best when you have already defined your underlying processes. It reinforces good process; it does not replace it.

Consider scalability. The tools you choose today should grow with your program, not constrain it. Also, pay close attention to integration. Siloed technology creates new records management challenges rather than solving existing ones. Assess how any new tool connects with your current business systems before committing.

From Pillars to Practice: Putting It All in Motion

The four pillars reinforce each other. A well-crafted RRS means little without people trained to follow it. Clear processes lose their value without technology to support them at scale. And technology investments fall flat without the policy and process foundation to guide them.

Building a RIM program is only half the work. Sustaining it requires ongoing governance. Schedule periodic program reviews to assess what works, what has shifted, and where gaps have emerged. Refresh your RRS on a regular cycle, typically annually or biennially, to reflect changes in regulation, business operations, and technology. Establish a rhythm of executive reporting as well. Leadership visibility into program health keeps RIM on the organizational agenda and secures the resources it needs to remain effective.

Start small and scale deliberately. Launch in one department, refine your approach, and expand from there. Set clear milestones so you can measure progress, recognize early wins, and maintain momentum across the organization.

A RIM Program Built to Last

Building a RIM program is not a one-time project; it’s an ongoing commitment. Organizations that lay the right foundation today position themselves to navigate regulatory changes, adopt new technologies, and manage records with confidence as they grow.

The path forward doesn’t require perfection. It requires a starting point. Choose your first pillar, take that first step, and build from there. The long-term value of a well-built RIM program far outweighs the effort it takes to get one off the ground.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on information governance software. 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 Building a RIM Program From the Ground Up appeared first on Zasio.

Two Zasio team members are hitting the road in June to share their insight into all things retention and information governance.

Warren Bean, Vice President of Technology and Product Development, and Rick Surber, Senior Consultant, will be traveling together to Bismarck, North Dakota to co‑present at ARMA North Dakota’s Annual Spring Seminar on Wednesday, June 3.

The seminar brings together records and information management professionals from across the state, and Warren and Rick will be teaming up to deliver two timely, complementary sessions that reflect the evolving realities of the profession.

Their first session, “Beyond Records: The Future is Process‑Driven Retention Management,” addresses a challenge many organizations quietly struggle with: defining what actually counts as a record anymore. In an increasingly digital, interconnected environment, the lines between data, information, and records are blurred. Together, Warren and Rick will explore how shifting the focus from individual records to business processes can improve compliance, reduce risk, and better account for personal data, complex data relationships, and growing cybersecurity concerns.

In their second co‑presented session, “Mine the Gaps: Uncovering What You Don’t Know About Your Retention Schedule,” the focus turns to the blind spots that often exist within retention programs. Drawing on hands‑on experience, they’ll walk through practical methods for identifying gaps using system inventories, engaging key stakeholders, and staying current with legal and regulatory requirements. The session also covers common pitfalls, maintenance strategies, and ways to keep retention schedules defensible and aligned with real‑world business operations.

For Warren and Rick, the event is about more than presenting—it’s an opportunity to connect with peers, exchange ideas, and learn from the challenges others are facing. Zasio is proud to support ARMA North Dakota and looks forward to meaningful conversations and shared learning in Bismarck this June.  |  Additional Details

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But behind the scenes, the ISHS had been managing these important collections with aging, unsupported records management tools and no internal records retention schedule. That changed when the state agency partnered with Zasio.

Through the implementation of Zasio’s physical records management solution, Versatile Enterprise (now known as Versatile 2026 with Advanced Physical Records Management) and a comprehensive records retention schedule developed with the help of Zasio’s Consulting Team, the historical society has improved daily operations and strengthened how staff locate, manage, and care for long‑term historical records.

Background

Spanning territorial-era documents from 1863 through manuscript collections, photographs, oral histories, and the archives of city, county, and state agencies, ISHS is responsible for preserving a vast and varied record set. With only 12 staff members, the agency required a system capable of efficiently managing high record volumes while maintaining the rigorous tracking and documentation standards essential to its mission.

Before Versatile, ISHS relied on two outdated systems: a legacy program “not necessarily developed for archives,” and a separate homegrown database at the State Records Center described as being on “life support.”

As State Archives Administrator David Matte noted, the system was unsupported, not user-friendly, and had been built by two programmers who were leaving. The transfer of nearly 35,000 active boxes from the Idaho State Records Center to the Historical Society underscored the need for a more robust and efficient records management system.

Implementing Versatile

After Zasio was selected and Versatile was implemented, day‑to‑day operations at ISHS improved significantly. Tasks that previously took hours (such as printing large spreadsheets and taping them together on a table for monthly billing) became fully automated and far easier and more reliable to manage with our records management software. Staff were able to work more efficiently with faster searching, bulk uploads, and dependable auditing tools (capabilities that simply weren’t possible with the previous systems).

Key improvements include:

• Automated billing and workflow processes, eliminating manual spreadsheet reconciliation.
• Faster, more precise searching, including the ability to drill down into sub‑entities within large agencies.
• Bulk inventory uploads, replacing handwritten box inventories and reducing errors.
• Robust auditing and space‑management tools, enabling staff to verify locations, correct past misplacements, and keep track of every box and its location during the move.

Versatile helped the agency conduct an audit of its archives for the first time. It’s also become a critical tool in the agency’s 50,000-square-foot expansion project (scheduled to open in 2027) and relocation of more than 30 semi-truck loads worth of boxes that will be transported to the new building.

“Versatile is key to the whole expansion project,” David said. “We know where every single box is from every agency and that information will be used in moving to the new building.”

Consulting

While Versatile solved system and workflow challenges, ISHS was in an awkward situation. It still did not have its own internal records retention schedule. Staff had long been responsible for helping and guiding other state agencies on proper retention, yet internally it relied on the general state schedule.

“It always felt a little weird… we should be leaders in that, and we couldn’t completely make the case for our leadership if we ourselves didn’t have a retention schedule,” David said.

The agency had wanted to develop a records retention schedule for years, but budget and timing never aligned. That changed once ISHS partnered with Zasio’s Records Retention Consulting Team. After a positive experience with Versatile, choosing to partner with Zasio to help create a new retention schedule was the obvious next step.

“I didn’t think of anybody else to create a schedule with,” David said.

Working closely with Frank Fazzio, Senior Analyst, ISHS and Zasio worked with departments across the agency to build the schedule. Frank and David went through multiple review sessions to refine, consolidate, and ensure retention rules were “as lean as they could be” while still aligned with the general state schedule.

“The retention schedule is amazing and everybody in the agency was very impressed with it,” David said. “It really has been one of the many highlights during the 18 years I’ve worked here.”

The Result: A Scalable Partnership for Preserving Idaho’s History

David repeatedly emphasized how positive the working relationship with Zasio has been, describing the company as customer‑oriented, highly skilled, and supportive from start to finish. He praised the software and the technical support during Versatile’s implementation. He also recognized Frank who provided steady guidance, and a collaborative approach to build the much-needed retention schedule.

David said he appreciates how Zasio took time to understand how the agency works and structured the project around those needs.

“We couldn’t have done it without Zasio,” he said.

The ISHS’s transformation shows how much of a difference the right software and support can make. ISHS has moved from outdated systems and informal processes to a more organized, efficient operation that’s better prepared for future growth. It can now preserve Idaho’s history with greater accuracy, efficiency, and confidence than ever before.

With Versatile and Zasio’s Consulting Teams’ expertise, ISHS has not only improved operations for today but also put tools in place that will support its work for years to come.

To learn more about Versatile 2026 with Advanced Physical Records Management, and our Consulting services, call 800-513-1000 or email connect@zasio.com

The post Idaho State Historical Society Modernizes Records Management with Zasio’s Versatile software and Consulting Services appeared first on Zasio.

The Legal Landscape: What’s Required?

In the United States, federal and state laws impose strict requirements on records retention, particularly for public entities and regulated industries. The Federal Records Act mandates that government agencies preserve records that document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, and essential transactions of the agency. Similarly, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state-level open records laws require that certain communications be accessible to the public.

For private-sector organizations, regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA, and SEC Rule 17a-4 impose retention requirements that can span years. These laws apply to all communication mediums (email, text, or encrypted messaging), requiring organizations to retain any qualifying business record.

Messaging Apps and Auto-Deletion: A Risky Combination

Apps like Signal and Telegram offer auto-delete features that can erase messages after a set period—sometimes in as little as 30 seconds. While these features enhance privacy, they can also undermine compliance if not properly managed. Without a clear Records Retention and Disposition Schedule (RRS), organizations risk losing critical data, legal penalties, and damaging public trust.

Case in Point: Denver’s “Strike Force”

In early 2025, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and 14 senior staff members formed a group dubbed “Strike Force” to coordinate the city’s response to the migrant crisis. They used Signal, an encrypted messaging app, and enabled auto-deletion for their communications. This decision came just weeks after legal watchdogs filed open records requests related to the city’s handling of the crisis.

Critics, including the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, argued that this was a deliberate attempt to circumvent transparency laws. Although the mayor’s office later adjusted the auto-delete settings and eventually disabled them, the damage to public trust was already done.

Lessons for RIM Professionals

This incident underscores the importance of proactive records management policies. Here are key takeaways:

• Audit Messaging Tools: Know and regulate which platforms your employees use and know whether they support auto-deletion or encryption. Ensure disposition practices align with policies and procedures.
• Update Your RRS & PIM Policy: Ensure your retention schedule and records and information management policy account for records and non-records in all communication channels, including ephemeral messaging apps.
• Train Staff: Employees must understand that convenience should never override compliance.
• Implement Governance Tools: Use enterprise-grade solutions that integrate with messaging platforms to archive and manage records automatically.

Zasio Can Help

At Zasio, we specialize in helping organizations navigate the complexities of modern records management. Our solutions are designed to ensure compliance across all communication platforms, including those with auto-delete features. Whether you’re updating your RRS or conducting a compliance audit, Zasio provides the tools and expertise to keep your organization protected.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on information governance software. 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.

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Picture this: you open your fridge, and a sour smell hits you. Expired milk, wilted lettuce, and last week’s leftovers are all taking up space. Now, imagine trying to find what you need to cook a meal from that mess. Frustrating, right? If only you had cleared out the old food before it became past its prime, you wouldn’t waste time when you just need to get cooking. Similarly, just like a cluttered fridge makes it harder to find what you need, a disorganized records and information management (RIM) system can slow down operations and create unnecessary and significant risks. By using a records retention schedule (RRS) to prompt regular disposal of what’s no longer useful and keeping only what’s fresh, you can create a system that helps your organization run smoothly.

RIM may feel overwhelming as it touches nearly every function within an organization. However, complexity shouldn’t be a roadblock. A well-structured RRS provides a clear framework for filtering vast amounts of data, ensuring only the most relevant information remains. As a result, organizations benefit from simpler decision-making, reduced risk, and easier compliance. What once seemed like an insurmountable challenge becomes a streamlined, efficient process.

Why a Records Retention Schedule is Your Best Friend

In your fridge, fresh food stays and expired items go. An RRS works the same way, guiding organizations on how long to keep records and when to securely dispose of them once they are past their prime. This process ensures compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, reduces storage costs, and enhances information security. By keeping only what’s needed, organizations improve efficiency, making information easier to find, manage, and protect.

 How Zasio Simplifies the Process

At Zasio, we believe RIM should be simple, not stressful. Our tools and expertise help organizations streamline their records management processes. One example is how we recommend managing redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data. ROT is typically addressed through a policy that requires the exclusion of transitory information from the RRS and mandates the prompt deletion of transitory or non-record materials once they are no longer needed. A well-developed RIM program provides the necessary governance, processes, and training to ensure that ROT is properly identified and disposed of. When partnered with the appropriate software, this process allows you to identify, and filter outdated and redundant records. This ensures organizations maintain only the most relevant and up-to-date versions of their records reducing clutter and improves compliance.

Keeping RIM Simple

RIM doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It just needs the right approach. By implementing a structured RRS and leveraging tools such as Zasio’s Versatile 2025, organizations can transform records management from a daunting task into a seamless, efficient process. Just like maintaining a well-organized fridge, regularly reviewing and decluttering records keeps everything running smoothly. A strong records retention schedule records and information management approach ensures that outdated records are eliminated on time and relevant data remains accessible.

Ready to simplify your RIM strategy? Let Zasio help you build a smarter, stress-free approach to records management.

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 Fresh Records Only: Using RIM and Your Records Retention Schedule to Eliminate ROT appeared first on Zasio.

That said, here’s the catch: if you’re still relying on a template or a one-size-fits-all solution, you’re not managing your records—you’re babysitting them.

Let’s break down why a customized retention schedule is, hands down, the best approach, including why templates may be unnecessarily increasing your exposure.

Generic Retention Schedules: Why Your Business Is Not a Fill-In-The-Blank Exercise

Just plug in your name, industry, and voilà—instant compliance, right? However, that’s incorrect.

Every business has its own cocktail of legal, regulatory, and operational considerations. Whether you’re governed by HIPAA, GDPR, SEC, or just trying to keep the auditors happy, a customized retention schedule speaks your businesses’ native language, or more precisely, it’s specific dialect. It doesn’t just check boxes—it translates the rules into actions that make sense for you.

Templates give you vague generalities. Customized schedules give you peace of mind.

You Can’t AI Common Sense

Sure, a template might tell you to keep invoices for seven years. But what if you operate in three countries with different tax laws, or in California? Or your finance team relies on certain records to model future trends?

A tailored schedule digs into the nitty-gritty:

• What does your business actually produce?
• Who touches the records?
• How do workflows and processes vary by department?
• What will work for users so it can be implemented?

Templates don’t know about details like the implications of storing electronic pay slips in France, or that your HR Management application can’t delete information about active employees. Custom schedules do.

Hoarding Is Not a Compliance Strategy

A one-size-fits-all approach almost always errs on the side of “keep longer,” because generalizing prohibits detailed accuracy. But that bloated database full of stale, unnecessary records is a ticking liability creating:

• Bigger breach target
• Time-consuming searches
• Pricier storage
• Slower systems
• Painful e-discovery
• Privacy sanctions

A customized schedule knows what to keep, what to toss, and when to do it—no guesswork, no digital junk drawers.

Your Business Changes. Your Schedule Should Too.

Maybe you’ve merged, expanded globally, gone paperless, or started using AI to enhance processes. Your operations evolve—and a static template won’t evolve with you.

A custom retention schedule can be agile and is more durable. It covers more initially, and grows with your systems, people, and compliance requirements. Think of your customized records retention schedule as a living document, not a relic gathering dust in your shared drive.

People Actually Use Things That Make Sense

Let’s be honest: no one’s reading that 80-page generic retention policy with joy in their heart. If you want employees to follow it, it has to feel relevant. And employees who help build it are natural champions for it.

Custom schedules:

• Use your org’s terminology
• Fit into your actual systems and processes
• Make it easy to understand who’s responsible for what
• Lower a top hurdle- implementation
• Already have buy-in and promotion from those who collaborated to create it.

If your retention rules are intuitive, they’ll be followed. If they’re written in legal groupings from 2015, or by AI, they’ll be ignored—it’s as simple as that. And we all know that having a policy that’s ignored creates unnecessary risk, as there is documented proof that you know better.

Bottom Line: Templates Are for 3D printers. Not Compliance.

If you want your records retention strategy to be more than a liability—if you want it to reduce risk, cut costs, and support your business long-term—you need a customized records retention solution. Not a borrowed template with your logo slapped on it.

Don’t settle for sub-average and un-implementable. Your records (and your legal team) will thank you.

Want help designing a retention schedule that actually works for your organization? Zasio can help. We’ll build something that fits like a glove—and keeps your digital house in order. Zasio’s Consulting experts leverage their top industry certifications combined with legal licensures and decades of experience to efficiently collaborate with stakeholders to collect information and build customized records retention schedules specifically designed for each client.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on Information Governance solutions. 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.

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And the best part? Your stakeholders are no longer bashful about asking you questions—a promising sign that organizational RIM awareness is on the rise. But just as you begin basking in your newfound success, a curveball arrives: “how do our retention periods affect records in backup and recovery systems?” a curious stakeholder asks. Suddenly, you’re adrift in uncertainty. Do retention periods cover backup records? What happens to ‘deleted’ data lingering in backups? And how do litigation holds apply to records and information in backups?

If you’re indeed unclear about how to answer these questions, consider yourself in good company.

Backup and recovery systems are often an overlooked but essential piece to any RIM program. In many organizations, backup and recovery systems have been the exclusive domain of IT departments. And while the technical complexity of backup systems requires IT’s expertise, RIM professionals must also have a seat at the table. This means understanding—and often helping establish and maintain—backup and recovery policies and practices to ensures consistency with your organization’s overall RIM strategy.

So, if you haven’t yet considered how backup and recovery fits into your organization’s RIM program, this article provides you some basics.

What exactly is a backup and recovery system?—Understanding your terms

A backup and recovery system stores a copy of your data for quick restoration if the primary data is lost. This loss can happen for many reasons, such as server failure, cyber-attack, or any number of human- or natural-caused disasters. That’s why you’ll also hear backups called disaster recovery systems. Having reliable backups can be a lifesaver if your organization ever loses access to its primary records and information.

Historically, backups were mostly stored on magnetic tape drives, a medium with both advantages and drawbacks. On the plus side, backup tapes require little storage space and their cost is only growing more affordable. On the downside, however, data on backup tapes is only searchable once fully restored, which prevents indexing or organizing their voluminous files. Finding individual records also often requires searching multiple tapes to recreate the multitude of documents existing when the backup was made. And the older the system, the more difficult restoration becomes. Given this, restoring backup tapes for retrieving individual files can get expensive, fast. Nowadays, most backups use cloud-based storage, significantly easing the identification and retrieval of specific records, although tape usage persists.

Backup versus archive systems—A distinction with a difference

Although backup and recovery is used interchangeably with disaster recovery, it’s incorrect to think of your backup system as a records archive—the two concepts serve different purposes. A true backup is concerned only with restoring records and information after an unplanned loss. On the other hand, an archive is where you store long-term records and information that must still be maintained in an accessible form, even if they’re no longer active or are only infrequently used. Vital and historically valuable records are commonly stored in archive systems, which should then be backed up in case the archive is lost.

Your RRS should already account for records relevant to a historical archive, as these records typically come from across the organization and have long-term business value or must legally be retained. Accordingly, once a retention period for a particular record has passed, it should be deleted from archive, even if it’s no longer stored in a separate, active system. Archived records, though, typically have longer retention periods, and many are “forever” records.

So how should I account for retention in a backup system?

Backups, by their nature, should be duplicates of other active or inactive record storage. And, traditionally, most retention schedules have not addressed backup retention. Instead, backup retention has been the domain of separate business continuity and disaster recovery policies. However, integrating backup retention into your RRS is an easy way to enhance its comprehensiveness and functionality.

Where an RRS addresses backups, it should be through one or more separate, dedicated record series. This approach ensures that all copies of a record, regardless of storage method, are removed you’re your organization’s collective systems.

Short retention periods for backups

Because backups are for restoration only, they generally should not be retained for substantial periods, and instead be regularly rotated and overwritten. In a system designed for disaster recovery, it shouldn’t be necessary to restore records and information that no longer exists in a primary system. But that’s not to say backups aren’t being retained longer—often much longer—pursuant to outdated legacy practices.

Owing to the portability and low cost of backup tapes, many organizations have historically retained backups for many years, sometimes indefinitely. Cloud storage compounds this problem for electronic records since there is a minimal physical footprint to backup storage. As tempting as it may be to retain backups indefinitely as a ‘way back’ machine for your organization’s records, perpetual backup storage can set up a direct conflict with your records retention schedule, as records intended for deletion may still exist within your organizational structure for long after. It can also create litigation and data privacy and security concerns, and undermine an otherwise thoughtful defensible deletion strategy.

Whether long-term backup retention makes sense is a conversation you should have with your organizational stakeholders. But unless there’s a compelling reason, the old justification of “just in case” is no longer persuasive when it comes to retaining backup systems indefinitely.

Regular and automated

Backups should be performed regularly and automatically to minimize the risk of data loss. The schedule should be appropriate to your data’s importance and how frequently it changes. Many systems operate on a schedule of daily, weekly, and monthly backups, with an appropriate retention period for each. The following is one example of how this might look in practice:

Daily backups: Retain for 7 days

Weekly backups: Retain for 4 weeks

Monthly backups: Retain for 12 months

Backup system managers often refer to your organization’s recovery point objective (RPO). This shows the maximum amount of data—as measured by time—that would be lost from a system failure, assuming restoration was possible from your most recent backup. For example, with the above backup retention strategy, your RPO would be 24 hours, meaning no more than 24 hours of data should be lost after successfully restoring records and information from the most recent backup.

Do backup and recovery systems affect litigation hold and discovery obligations?

Absent special circumstances, courts are generally reluctant to order the production of data found on backup systems. This is because restoring backup systems can be costly, and backups should ideally only duplicate information stored elsewhere. Thus, a litigation hold under ordinary circumstances should allow the regular rotation and overwriting of backup systems to continue under the established backup retention or policy.

But even with this general rule, context and nuance can drastically alter your preservation obligations—particularly where a backup contains the only copy of highly relevant data. This means it is critical to thoroughly consult with your legal and IT teams before making any decision regarding backups and legal hold or discovery obligations.

Conclusion—working together to ensure a healthy backup and recovery program

As a records manager, you have a duty to help ensure your organization’s backup and recovery systems are in good order and retention and backup and recovery policies are in agreement. Backups are one area where RIM and IT professionals should better understand each other’s roles and responsibilities. When a system failure leads to lost records and information, timely restoration from a backup is your only hope for recovery. Aligning these policies today may be a lifesaver for your organization’s critical work tomorrow.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on records management software 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.

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