The Challenges in Managing Your Organization’s Information

The information age brings with it the ability to make informed decisions as never before. But the amount of information that flows through organizations today presents a unique set of challenges. Developing strategic and tactical plans for the creation, retrieval, sharing and maintenance of records and information can be complex and expensive:

• Identifying and protecting your knowledge assets
• Organizing the huge amounts of electronic information received and created daily
• Improving business processes and reducing environmental impact
• Developing and implementing internal policies, procedures and controls
• Reducing storage management costs
• Mitigating risk associated with eDiscovery, litigation and security breaches

Cadence Group provides critical solutions in Records and Information Management (RIM) Services designed to meet your business challenges.

Records and Information Management is the Solution

Completing Assessments
Cadence Group will gather information from key stakeholders in each of your separate business units. Leveraging that knowledge, our team analyzes each of the operating units needs and delivers a Findings and Recommendations Report that identifies gaps in best practices, a roadmap for execution and estimated timeline for completion. Recommendations address areas such as: legal and regulatory requirements, governance and program sustainability, technology options, business process improvements, cost reduction and risk mitigation priorities.

Developing RIM Programs
We typically start with an assessment to understand current records management practices, then build a program foundation and take your team all the way through adoption. A program foundation is critical to successful compliance and includes policies, retention schedules, guidelines and procedures that outline physical and eRecords best practices. Policies should address the latest technology and communication practices such as social media and information in the cloud.

We build on this foundation to ensure a successful implementation of your records management program:

• Communications and formal training (live and computer-based)
• Taxonomy and file plans
• Records and electronic information cleanup
• Software evaluation (ECM, EDRM, RMS)
• Offsite storage vendor negotiation
• Staffing and support

Merging/Simplifying Records Retention Schedules
Without a clear path, compliance by internal staffers is impossible. A current Records Retention Schedule is a critical component of any records management program. The primary objective of Cadence Group’s Records Retention Schedule Development Methodology is to support simplified records retention practices, so that employees can easily use, and management can easily administer, the schedule. Cadence Group experts can quickly assess and align your schedules to streamline business processes and improve compliance.

Global Legal Research into Records Retention and Privacy Law
Keeping a legal research team or hiring outside counsel is costly and unnecessary. Let our experienced team complete legal and regulatory research and provide legal citations for the U.S. and countries worldwide. Your Records Retention Schedule can then be updated based on best practices in risk mitigation, and legal and regulatory retention requirements.

Cleanup of Inactive Records
Documents and data have a way of accumulating. You want to clean out the obsolete information, but need to do it in a compliant manner. Cadence Group offers specific solutions to help you identify and destroy as many eligible records as possible, based on a risk and retention policy. Utilize our triage methodology, proprietary tools, and our understanding of legally defensible Records and Information Management destruction strategies to quickly reduce your risk associated with your growing stockpile of physical “records” and the digital wasteland of electronic content and email.

Operational Integration of RIM Policy and Procedures
Strong programs are effective when they align with real-world business practices—great RIM programs do not operate in a vacuum but rather in each and every work station. We understand that each department has their own business processes; we assure that each component of operations aligns with RIM policies. By carefully developing protocols that keep the end-user in mind, we assure that they easily become a seamless part of daily operations, assuring compliance and delivering increased efficiencies for the organization.

RIM Help Desk
Need occasional support? Our RIM Help Desk provides the information you need quickly, keeping your team focused on key business initiatives rather than searching for answers to their RIM questions. Cadence Group offers a RIM Program Help Desk to guide clients as they implement and support RIM Programs within their organizations. The Help Desk is supported by experienced operational records managers and certified records management consultants. You may not need a certified records manager as an FTE; but you want to have them at critical junctions of development.

Managed Services and Staffing - Onsite Records and Virtual Information Center
Whether you need records management leadership or staffing support, Cadence Group can help. Throughout the operational year, you may need different types of RIM skills. We can put together a program that addresses your scalable skill needs so that you invest in the skills you need when you need them.

We handle the recruitment of professional RIM personnel to staff the RIM Program office, or offer an outsourced RIM Program office that addresses all aspects of a record’s (electronic and physical) life cycle --saving you as much as 30% on the cost of running many business operations.

Review and Audit Programs
Keep your programs strong with review and audit programs. We offer annual Records Policy Reviews--a survey of existing business units conducted to solicit changes, additions, or deletions from the existing Records Retention Schedule and RIM policy. We’ll then input changes into the Records Retention Schedule and update the legal citations and retention, based on any new legal or regulatory requirements.

Additionally, an enterprise-wide RIM audit compliance review makes departments aware of the importance of following the RIM Policy and Procedures. Cadence Group will make comprehensive or random office inspections, analyze the results, summarize the findings, recommend steps toward compliance, develop future audit focus point areas, and can support training and cleanup activities.