Industry Articles The following is the current list of articles: Articles RE: Records Management in general Synopsis of articles Re: The Need For Records Management Synopsis of articles Re: Information As A Liability Did you hear about... These documents should have been destroyed many years ago. No one
thought to do so because there was no company policy to do so and no system in place to
remind anyone to do so. These articles are just a few that we see monthly. Needless to say,
many of these companies could have avoided or minimized their problems if they had ERS
with its intelligent retention scheduling document management in place. THE NEED FOR RECORDS MANAGEMENT: by Dr. Mark Langemo, CRM (Certified Records Manager) The author stresses the importance of proper filing and the need for a
records management program. "The filing systems for paper records have evolved
without much planning or ongoing management attention. Frequently, the results are stuffed
file cabinets, overcrowded file folders, haphazard file organization, worn folders, a
mixture of handwritten and computer-printed or typed labels, and the lack of file guides,
color-coding and a charge-out or tracking system. Because of failure to make periodic
purges a priority and the lack of an approved retention schedule, the volumes of paperwork
retained are more than double what really needs to be kept." He further says that, in most companies, there is no central information
system and that filing systems need careful attention. The article continues with steps to
develop or upgrade a paper filing system. The Messy Business of Culling Company Files by Alex Markels The Management of Local Government
Records: A Guide For Local Officials by Bruce Dearstyne Records needed (by the public and/or staff) can’t be located when
requested. Office space is crowded with too many records and those no longer needed for
day-to-day business are mixed in with those needed every day. The situation gets worse
each year ... as more and more records are created. Records no longer needed for any legal or administrative purpose are
kept just because no one is sure what should be done with them. Older records are banished
to attics, basements, closets, and garages. No one keeps a listing of them, and after a
while, no one knows what records are stored where. Trying to find anything in the
accumulated mass of records is a task everyone tries hard to avoid. Records are stored in areas where they become covered with dust or dirt,
where dry air makes the paper brittle, or where high humidity promotes mold and mildew
growth. These conditions speed the destruction of the records and make handling them
difficult and unpleasant. Records with continuing value for historical and other research
are not identified or organized. They become lost among the mass of other records and may
be destroyed. As a result, important historical developments are obscured or lost sight of
entirely. People sense that technological advances such as microfilm or computers
can help solve records and information flow problems, but are unsure how to proceed to get
the right equipment and systems. Records problems accumulate until a crisis forces action.
The records closet gets full, the fire marshall says that something must be done with the
old records because they’re a fire hazard, a leaky roof soaks the records in the
attic, or a broken pipe soaks records in the basement. There is a flurry of action, often
wholesale destruction of the accumulated old records. But once the crisis is over, the
same records problems continue to build up. Drowning In Your Financial Paperwork by Lynn Asinof by Joshua Macht He had high-tech systems designed to free his employees from the printed page. He
developed a software program called CareerQuest to handle the registration process of job
applicants and resumes through his web site via E-mail. He also built a large database to
store al the candidates' information. Another process to be automated was sending job
descriptions from the client to a number of larger job banks. A scanner was placed on
every employee's desktop, which led to phasing out more paper. Palmtop PCs were issued to
all employees to abolish schedule books and paper calendars. Caulfield contended, "We
certainly haven't totally eliminated paper--I'm not sure that we ever will." Document/Image Management -- Ending The Paper Chase by Ben Z. Gottesman RE: INFORMATION AS A LIABILITY: Nothing’s Lost and Gone
Forever, Says EPA, as Miners Dig for Paper By Carolyn D. King According to the EPA, this information is historical and is needed to help determine
who is responsible for polluting the panhandle’s Silver Valley. If the companies do
not present the material to the EPA, fines of $27,000 a day can be charged. Although the
Idaho State Historical Society would like to see this quest get results, the real
intention and motivation is for litigation purposes. The final word in this article was
from agency spokesman Mark MacIntyre, "I haven’t the slightest idea what is
going to happen to all that paperwork once we are finished with it." Texaco’s Race-Bias Inquiry Faults Three Executives By Allanna Sullivan The charged former executives placed blame on lawyers taking unnecessary amounts of
time collecting documents during the discovery process. An interview, it was commented
that "piles of stuff were never produced in response to discovery requests." Ex-Texaco Official Is Indicted in Case Tied to Bias Suit by Terzah Ewing Records Detail Toxic Dumping - Plaintiffs Will Use
1940’s-60’s Documents in Lawsuit Against JPL by Robin Lloyd E-mail Trail Could Haunt Consultant in Court by Elizabeth MacDonald The article remarked, "For one thing, today's complex information technology
provides more opportunities for costly glitches." The email messages will be used in
the suit. Conflicting Reports Are At Center of Landfill Fight by Marc Lifsher A civil suit questions the accuracy and thoroughness of the project's 25,000 page
environmental record. Rutter's projet analyst remarked that, in areas of poor data
quality, there would be faults. GTE Studied For Allegedly Destroying Or Withholding Data in Billing Probe
by Benjamin A. Holden Electronic Discovery Proves an Effective Legal Weapon by Geanne Rosenberg EPA Now Says It Destroyed Some Files by Marc Lifsher If you would like to see further proof
INDUSTRY ARTICLES
"Records Management Rides
Again" by Bruce Silver (full article)
OfficeSystems97 Magazine, June 1997
SYNOPSIS: The volume of paper documents in most organizations
continue to grow and, according to Dr. Langemo, "getting control of paper records
should be a high priority." He states that, "Paper records make up 80% to 90% of
the recorded information in small and large organizations. The consumption of paper in
offices throughout the United States continues to increase at the rate of about 15% per
year." Digital technologies have created a "myth" that we’ll use less
paper however, the current office technology systems (laser printers, photocopiers, fax
machines, etc.) are paper producing technologies. "The challenge is not the
elimination of paper, but rather the appropriate management of paper-based records." 
The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 1997, Marketplace Section
SYNOPSIS: Every year Amgen Inc. has a mandatory "Trash Bash" to clean out
company files, both paper and electronic media. By taking steps to "purge the rising
heaps of paper and electronic debris," management feels that problems (relating to
subpoenaed records) can be avoided. Attorney Richard T. Sampson with Semmes, Bowen &
Semmes states, "Most companies keep far more information in electronic media than
they should," and advised, "If you aren't required by law to keep the records,
then get rid of them."
"The Ten Curses of Records Keeping"
REPORT: No one is specifically in charge of records. Records are
everyone’s problem but no one’s specific responsibility. Everyone complains
about the problem, but no one knows what to do about it. Records needed for office
business are inadvertently discarded or difficult or impossible to locate when needed.
Much valuable time is lost in frustrating and fruitless searches through the files.
The Wall Street Journal, January 17, 1997, Money & Investing Section
SYNOPSIS: With mounting paper and full file cabinets, it is a good time, at the
beginning of a new year, to make a fresh start and get organized. Financial adviser J.
Michael Martin says, "The principal value of having organized files is it results in
better decision-making." Martin developed a filing system called Homefile to help his
clients get their paperwork under control using 22 categories to break down topics into
usable groupings. New York attorney Martin M. Shenkman, developed his own system using
three-ring binders. "Whether you buy a ready-made system, adapt one from a book or
create your own, remember you need to make it fit both your life and your organizational
style," explains the staff reporter.
Inc. Technology Magazine, 1997 No. 1
SYNOPSIS: The premise of this article was ridding your office of paper. Dan
Caulfield of Hire Quality Inc. in Chicago, made a dramatic move when he gathered every
shred of paper he could find around the office and set it ablaze inside a barrel. His
belief was that, with paper abolished, his employees would no longer waste time looking
for paper. He spent almost $400,000 on information technology which had a negative impact
on profit margins but achieved some short-term benefits, such as time and cost saving
elements.
PC Magazine, October 24, 1995, Graphics Section
SYNOPSIS: Although more tools are created to obviate the need for paper, other
tools (such as "improved word-processing and desktop publishing packages and
high-speed printers with huge paper capacities") encourage the use of more paper. In
acknowledging that the paperless office will not ever happen, there is movement toward the
task of managing it. The article goes on to review various different emerging software and
hardware solutions for people to manage their paper documents.
The Wall Street Journal, July 29, 1997
SYNOPSIS: Who would think a company should keep certain records forever and end up
in serious trouble for not doing so? That’s what has happened to 71 Idaho mining
companies. The Environmental Protection Agency has demanded that these companies present
every scrap of paper that has ever been produced in the last 117 years, from faxes and
phone messages to scribbled notes dating as far back as 1880.
The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 1997
SYNOPSIS: Three former Texaco executives are being investigated for obstructing
justice in a class-action race-discrimination suit filed against Texaco by six black
workers. The company's finance department received little guidance on how to respond to
the lawsuit.
The Wall Street Journal, June 30, 1997
SYNOPSIS: A former Texaco executive was indicted on charges that he shred or
disposed of documents sought in a race-discrimination lawsuit against the company.
Documents which were concealed or destroyed consisted of statistics and minutes of finance
department meetings convened to discuss minority hiring and promotions.
San Gabariel Vally News, June 26, 1997
SYNOPSIS: In a lawsuit against JPL filed in January, plaintiffs obtained documents
from the Pasadena Department of Water under the California Public Records Act which show
the dumping toxic chemicals near the lab. Inspection reports and correspondence date from
1946 through 1960's and were presented as key evidence that the chemicals from JPL caused
Hodgkin's disease and other illnesses in people near the vicinity.
The Wall Street Journal, June 19, 1997
SYNOPSIS: A big petroleum processing technology company, UOP, files a lawsuit
against Andersen Consulting, the consulting company it hired to develop new computer
systems. UOP alleges breach of contract and fraud and Andersen files a counter-suit for
defamation. The thing making this case unusual is, in the course of preparing for trial,
UOP's computer analysts uncovered email messages from Andersen consultants left behind on
UOP hard drives. The emails revealed conversations about the project that soured and
misgivings the consultants had about their own colleagues.
The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 1997
SYNOPSIS: In a seismic-survey dispute between Waste Management Inc. and Cadiz Land
Co., reports do not match up with a Texas firm, Rutter & Wilbanks and its contractor,
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. of Pasadena. Second and third versions by Jacobs of an
11-foot-long printout of a survey were not as alarming as the first version by Rutter.
Cadiz attorney claims, "The administrative record was a corrupted record."
The Wall Street Journal, May 15, 1997, Law Section
SYNOPSIS: The article states, "GTE Corp. is being investigated by California
regulators for allegedly destroying or withholding documents that were the subject of a
false-billing probe." The article also reports that GTE's former general counsel
Kenneth K. Okel was concerned about some documents sent up in a package as being
"discoverable items" and recommended that the company shred all the information.
The New York Times, March 31, 1997
SYNOPSIS: Electronic documents and mail lurk in archived tapes by the billions. The
articles states that "deleted" documents are often preserved in a computer hard
dries and on back-up tapes came to public attention a decade ago." By not integrating
this knowledge into the company's document management policies, the result is that
"electronic discovery in legal cases has become a mini-industry, with the discovery
process itself having an increasing impact on the outcome of litigation."
The Wall Street Journal, November 12, 1996
SYNOPSIS: The California Environmental Protection Agency destroyed documents
dealing with "a powerful pesticide, a controversial cancer drug and an unpopular
Southern California landfill," according to an internal memo. The Health Hazard
Assessment office ordered that research data and internal documents which differed from
their administrators' final decisions be destroyed. Their retention policy was
"designed to protect the confidentiality of sensitive internal debate over
research." According to the staff reporter, "The discovery of these destroyed
documents will prolong the legal battle between the state and the Natural Resources
Defense Council."
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