"Plan Ahead: ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT in Emergency Situations," Construction Financial Management Association's Building Profits

In an article published in the January / February issue of Construction Financial Managements’ Building Profits, Kelley Halliburton discusses the importance of a solid document management foundation prior to an emergency or potential litigation situations occurs. She outlines how to create a document retention policy and what to include, as well as what to do when a litigation hold must be put in place.

“Successfully collecting electronically stored information (ESI) begins with taking inventory of your data – the key building block of your document retention policy and collection plan,” explains Halliburton.

She also mentions that not all types of ESI are easily organized by keyword so it is important to create a document management plan that can be followed from project to project with a basic data map to make it easier to access data and information.

In addition to storing the information, Halliburton urges you establish a document retention policy. “In addition to a system for organizing documents, it is also important to develop and implement a retention policy to manage risks and minimize costs,” said Halliburton. “Scheduling document disposal can provide many benefits, including the reduction of labor, storage costs, and risks of data breach. A robust document retention policy can lower both the risks and costs of e-discovery obligations when problems arise of litigation occurs.”

Halliburton also stresses the importance of having preexisting procedures ready to quickly implement a litigation hold. It is important that once a hold is in place and confirmed, that you continue to analyze both the people and the data involved.

To read the full article, you may click here.