By Adam Turteltaub

Document retention is one of those persistent issues that comes with a great deal of complexity. As Michael Kearney (LinkedIn), Head Solution Architect, Redgrave Data explains in this podcast, organizations have to deal with a dizzying array of rules. HIPAA has one set of requirements, state laws for medical records another, financial documents have a third, employment records a fourth and on and on it goes.

In addition, there are business needs for retaining and disposing of records.

So, what’s a compliance team to do? He recommends working with the business unit and other affected teams to write policies that meet the needs of all involved and work out any conflicts internally or among the regulations.

Work, too, with employees who may want to hold on to documents longer than policy dictates. You may find that what they want to keep is the data, not the document itself.

And, if there is a litigation hold, be prepared to work quickly with legal, IT and others to ensure that the relevant documents are preserved while your ongoing document retention processes continue.

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