One of the things I oversee in my department is records retention. a
When I first started most of the records were printed on paper. a
Legally, there is a requirement to keep specific types of records for
designated periods of time. It a violation that can have financial
penalties if either records are kept too long or not long enough. a The
first thing I did was evaluate the cost of maintaining the paper files
and the cost of storing them for the required period of time and the
cost of destroying them when the time expired. a I also evaluated the
risks and penalties of missing the deadlines. This was very early on in
the "going paperless" movement. a The decision that needed to be
made was if we should continue with the current process or go ahead
and transition to a digital process.
Looking at the 5 steps of decision making, it matched my process at
the time. I was presented with the project, and then researched and
collected all the relevant data. a I knew that moving away from paper
was only a matter of time, but needed to predict if it was the right
time. The financial aspect or quantitative data clearly indicated it
would be more cost effective to move away from paper even with the
need to purchase a software program that would periodically scan
files and archive and then delete them automatically at the
designated time. There needed to be an entire project to organize
files in a uniform way that they new software would be able to
interpret without error. That consideration against the qualitative
factor that a transition to paperless was not going to be a matter of it
but when. I presented everything I had collected to management and
it was an easy decision to go ahead and change initiate the project to
move to digital records. It has proven to be a real money and time
saver and I am glad we tackled it early especially when I see other
departments struggling now because they had decided to wait until it
was mandated.
The cost of the software now has increased dramatically and has
extended waiting periods to activate, which may have been a deal
breaker back when I was doing my research, and businesses that were
used to store records have struggled to stick to the required timelines
of destroying the records timely through the pandemic resulting in
financial penalties. The opportunity cost has meant that the staff and
storage space that had been necessary for records retention is now
idle and is being downsized.
