Mass of technological records a serious issue for the city
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
The city has a lot of data on its hands, and it’s struggling to figure out what to do with all of it.
Oshawa’s Records and Retention Schedule, which manages just how long records are kept around city hall, refers to hundreds of different types of document or records used by all of the city’s departments.
An updated review of the document and the the associated retention policy were slated for the third quarter of 2015, but that didn’t happen.
According to Jason McWilliam, the city’s manager of records and information systems, the review is an in-depth process with many facets. One of the big issues to be addressed is the growing number of electronic records.
“One of the big things that a lot of organizations are struggling with is the management and volume of electronic records,” he says.
The review has been ongoing since 2013, and must analyze approximately 500 different categories of records and their different retention schedules.
“That’s different for every function, that’s different for every record that’s created, that’s different for every business activity we have here at the city…a lot of work goes into creating that retention schedule and figuring out just how long we have to keep this stuff,” McWilliam says.
At issue is a way to determine a process for designating which emails are worth keeping and which are simply useless communications, such as lunch invitations or other personal messages.
Timing can also be a tough item to finalize as the determination of how long to keep certain documents could land the city in legal troubles.
“There’s the possibility that if we keep some stuff around too long, you may not necessarily have the context of why those records were created or why those people said the things that they said and they can actually be misinterpreted or misrepresented and actually work against the organization,” McWilliam says.
The current policy also does not deal with the city’s backups and how long those are retained.
The review has made progress, McWilliam says, but adds that he wants the process to be fully complete to avoid presenting to council a “piecemeal” process.
“I think it’s better to bring forward a revamped program and explain all at once how the different pieces and all the changes that may result from this, how they all fit together and provide a holistic review.”
According to the business plan for the corporate services committee, the revised Records and Retention Schedule is slated to be functional in the second quarter of 2016.