Focus on CA
Information Governance
Optimizing Performance and Mitigating Risk

For example, if state regulations require that organizations retain employment-related documents until seven years after an employee is terminated (as long as there is no pending or ongoing litigation or regulatory review), then a single policy needs to be implemented across the enterprise and across all systems as it relates to managing these documents. Moreover, information governance must apply to both records and non-records, such as transitory documents and copies. Under an information governance model, an organization will define how all documents are maintained, when they are considered official records, when and how they can be destroyed and how to find and discover diverse documents, when required.

Achieving Business Value with Compliance
Ultimately, the implementation of a successful information governance model through process, product, policy and procedure will help an organization mitigate potential legal or regulatory problems. Yet, this approach can also help a business realize a substantial number of additional benefits. In fact, a well-executed strategy can:

• Centrally manage document lifecycles, rather than inconsistently or by user preference;
• Develop a consistent set of policies and procedures for legal, regulatory and business requirements;
• Reduce the number of unstructured documents—and stale content—spread across the enterprise through the constant and consistent disposal of records and non-records;
• Substantially shorten the collection step of the discovery process, because information is proactively managed—reducing cost, risk and disruption of worker productivity;
• Re-use and apply the data gathered during a discovery process to information governance—saving time and money for future, often unrelated, discovery requests;
• Simplify business-specific access to information, because information governance assures that proper access and security
  are appropriately and uniformly applied across the enterprise;
• Provide and capture a complete chain of custody through metadata or audit trails.