I read an intereting post at Computer World. Robin Harris wrote a post called the Two-minute guide to Electronic Data Discovery. There is some pretty interesting points in there that I believe everyone responisble for data in a business should understand.

I think that this is a prime example of how IT and business managers really need to work together to be ready for eventualities in business especially when it comes to document management policies.

One thing that struck me was that it is not IT responsibility to define data retention or destruction strategies. She made three important points:

• Your company’s lawyers and record management folks are responsible for setting electronic data retention policy – not IT

• IT must take the lead, working with policy makers, in architecting an economic and effective infrastructure to ensure compliance

• IT needs a documented process whose ownership lies outside IT for unscheduled data destruction – such as when a VP wants all their emails to a client deleted – and staff must be trained on it.

There is a lot of information on electronic data discovery. Take a look at the US Courts website for more information.