Global Retention Policy and Schedule Management

Overview

IBM Global Retention Policy and Schedule Management is a single, cohesive retention management system with natively integrated workflows and analytics for information governance stakeholders.

Global Retention Policy and Schedule Management eliminates the “Big 4” information management risks– those that have the highest likelihood to occur and the greatest financial impact:

Defined retention periods for physical records only — no schedule for electronic records
Departments with no knowledge of actual procedures, information, location, use or value
Inability to pass internal audit
Inability to respond to regulator or court requests

Global Retention Policy and Schedule Management enables companies to maintain centralized retention control with localized responsibility. It manages a corporate taxonomy and library of retention, privacy and discovery laws with appropriate roles and change management processes for field-level authorization. Quickly publish accurate, dynamic schedules that are value-based and in line with the needs of business unit and country operations. The software manages change requests and controls to enable your global records coordinators to easily and consistently maintain schedules.

Combine Global Retention Policy and Schedule Management with the workflows of Disposal and Governance Management for IT and Atlas eDiscovery Process Management to understand what information has legal obligation and value and achieve routine, defensible disposal.

Global Retention Policy and Schedule Management Features and Benefits:

Establish lifecycles for all information	Define retention periods for records, drafts, and copies Establish retention periods for record classes and non-record categories Incorporate both electronic and physical information in one program Centrally and consistently manage schedules for all information
Publish accurate, dynamic schedules	Quickly conduct global information inventories by business, function, and country and link proper retention, data management and discovery procedures to each information repository Author retention schedules that reflect business value and legal requirements Publish corporate and country master schedules, as well as group and departmental schedules that link to the master taxonomy or pre-approved country specific exceptions Update procedures and practices immediately when laws, systems, or business objectives change
Host a comprehensive, shared law library	Catalog laws for all operating jurisdictions Incorporate retention, discovery and privacy laws for more comprehensive instructions Author and share governance procedures and internal protocols, identifying their specific requirements Link laws and protocols to retention schedules, and identify governing laws down to requirement subsections Utilize a full jurisdictional model with support for governing regions such as EU
Synchronize and maintain centralized retention control with localized responsibility	Unify data protection and retention procedures by country, function, system, and business process Manage information by common taxonomy, business value and country laws Establish roles, privileges and authorities for program staff Establish and coordinate a network of global records coordinators: allow country or business unit leads to manage their own records coordinators and schedules in a common system and program Delegate specific responsibilities to local coordinators, including schedule development with proper approval workflows
Establish communications across legal, IT and business staff	Publish bulletins and other communications globally by role, country, and business unit affiliation Systematically alert stakeholders when laws, repositories, staffing or procedures change Publish policies, training, and procedures to people based on role, program participation, country or business affiliation Ensure all new systems have retention procedures and schedules from day one
Enable an auditable program	Prevent spoliation or regulatory challenges with version history and audit controls Audit by business group, country, or information category, and enable internal audit with convenient reports and reminders Demonstrate program effectiveness to regulators and management with controls, authorized procedures, and compliance history