Abstract
With the advent of big data and the ability to correlate and discover new value, information may render current retention practices obsolete. Information is now becoming a more distinct asset and can no longer be thought of as an object without significant business value. Overall, big data and infonomics presents the possibility of analyzing vast quantities of data that could not have been addressed before and appraising it for business value. In the future, applying retention to information may become more about uncovering and measuring business value than of just following legal mandates.
TopBackground
Maturity Models
Maturity models are tools that organizations and industries use to set benchmarks for measuring their practices and processes (Caralli, Knight, & Montgomery, 2012).
A maturity model is a set of characteristics, attributes, indicators, or patterns that represent progress in a particular domain towards a specific goal (Caralli et al., 2012). The objects that make up the model are typically obtained through the particular subject domain or discipline, and validated through application and a continuous process (Caralli et al., 2012). The maturity model provides an organization with a benchmark and path for continuous improvement. The Capability Maturity Model was initially funded by the United States Air Force in the 1980s, for a study conducted at the Carnegie-Mellon Software Engineering Institute to create a model for the military to use as an objective evaluation of software subcontractors. The result of the study was the development of the Capability Maturity Model. Since the development of that first maturity model, it has spread to other domains, including government, finance, information management, human resources management, and project management (Katuu, 2016).
Maturity models typically have set “levels” defined on a scale that measures phases from one level to another (Caralli et al., 2012). These phases or levels allow an organization to assess its current organizational state, determine its future or “to be” state, and identify what it must do to reach that future “to be” state (Caralli et al., 2012). The maturity model provides an initiation point, description of benefit gained through prior experience, a common nomenclature, a framework for actions, and a process that defines what improvement will look like. These levels vary among models, but most have five or six levels (Katuu, 2016). Regardless of the differences, all models have key principles and different levels of progression. The next section will review the ARMA GARP Maturity Model.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Big Data: Broadly defined as information whose size is beyond the ability of typical data and information software tools to capture, store, manage, and analyze it.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP): The FRCP governs civil procedure or civil lawsuits in U.S. district (federal) courts. The FRCP has specific rules on how information can be discovered and what is discoverable.
InterPARES: Is an international research project researching the preservation of electronic records and the maintenance of their authenticity and reliability.
Diplomatics: Is the discipline that attempts to verify the authenticity of documents (regardless of format) by analyzing their internal and external relationships.
Records Management: Work that includes identifying, classifying, prioritizing, storing, securing, archiving, preserving, retrieving, tracking, and destroying of records.
Records Retention Schedule: A document that identifies and describes an organization’s records, usually at the series level, and applies a minimum retention (how long to keep) to that information. AU46: (Copyrighted Image)
Record: A piece of information created or received by a business in the course of its official activities.
Appraisal: The application of a certain set of methodologies and/or values to a body of content to derive and define the value of the content. The content may be in any medium or format.
Information Governance: An all-encompassing term for how an organization manages the totality of its information.