The American Records Management Association (ARMA) has published some simple tips for companies seeking improved regulatory compliance and reduced risk in the face of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. The checklist offers advice on minimizing the risks from ‘embarrassing’ e-mail discoveries and costly class-action litigation.
Bier
ARMA director Marilyn Bier said, ‘Information is a vital, strategic asset to the organization whose management demands the attention of legal, IT and HR leaders, executives and corporate boards. Unfortunately, most companies fail to recognize that proper IM can be the most effective means of reducing their risks, while also increasing compliance.’
Tip # 1
Assess your ‘RIM IQ’ by boning up on SOX and SEC rulings on data protection. You can start with the RIM IQ quiz on www.arma.org/rimIQ.
Tip # 2
RIM* is everyone’s job. Start at the individual’s desktop and make sure that everyone is aware of what needs to be saved, when, why, and for how long.
Tip # 3
Train your employees in RIM litigation, audits, document preservation, and daily RIM tasks. You might like to check out the DVD-based training program, ‘Keeping Good Company’ produced by ARMA and Kahn Consulting. A compliance web seminar co-authored with Stellent is also available from the ARMA website.
Tip # 4
Evaluate your electronic records policies including e-mail, voice-mail and instant messaging and look into the ISO 15489 (Oil ITJ Vol. 7 N° 3) standard for electronic records management.
Tip # 5
Form a compliance team with members from legal, IT and RIM all be at the table. No one department can provide a complete solution to your company’s regulatory compliance needs. Online self-assessment tools are available at www.arma.org/profiler.
* Records and information management.
© Oil IT Journal - all rights reserved.