How to Create Retention Schedules in iManage Govern Records Manager: Part 3 (Electronic Records)

iManage Govern Records Manager (IRM) is records management software utilized by many law firm and professional services organizations. As a consultant with many years of experience in designing, implementing and teaching IRM, I have found similar questions arise on how best to use it. I will periodically produce posts on IRM topics I think each user should know to get more out of their iManage Govern Records Manager software.

Retention Schedules are one of the core functions of iManage Govern Records Manager. This post is Part 3 in the series “How to Create Retention Schedules in iManage Records Manager” where I will review how to configure a Retention Schedule in IRM.

In Part 1, I discussed gathering your retention information together, reviewing the information and how it applies to your current file plan.

In Part 2, I discussed how to configure a Retention Schedule and some typical Retention Events.

Let’s now take a look at the electronic Retention Events available to manage iManage Workspaces.

Electronic Retention Events

There are two types of Retention Events that are available to manage retention of iManage Workspaces:

1. Workspace Clean Up
2. Workspace Destruction

Workspace Clean Up

There are 4 Retention Event Types that can be utilized to do an iManage Workspace cleanup, which is typically done when the work for a Matter or Project related workspace has come to an end:

1. Declare All Versions
2. Declare Latest Version
3. Declare Latest Version and then Destroy Undeclared Versions
4. Destroy All Undeclared Versions

Declare All Versions: When a Workspace or Folder is selected in the IRM File Plan and this Event Type is selected during a Dispose Records action, the contents of the selected item will be declared as a record in the iManage Work DMS. Once the all versions of a document are declared as records, they will be filed in the IRM File Plan as individual declared records.

Declare Latest Version: When a Workspace or Folder is selected in the IRM File Plan and this Event Type is selected during a Dispose Records action, the last version of any documents contained within the selected item will be declared as a record in the iManage Work DMS. Once the last version of each document is declared as record, they will be filed in the IRM File Plan as individual declared records.

Declare Latest Version and the Destroy Undeclared Versions: When a Workspace or Folder is selected in the IRM File Plan and this Event Type is selected during a Dispose Records action, the last version of any documents contained within the selected item will be declared as a record. Any remaining versions will be destroyed from the Workspace or Folder in the iManage Work DMS. Once the last version of each document is declared as record, they will be filed in the IRM File Plan as individual declared records.

Destroy All Undeclared Versions: When a Workspace or Folder is selected in the IRM File Plan and this Event Type is selected during a Dispose Records action, any remaining undeclared document versions will be destroyed from the Workspace or Folder in the iManage Work DMS.

You can add variations on the retention events in order to more closely match your desired process for workspace cleanup. For example, if you want to first have a designated person review the workspace and manually perform records declarations in iManage Work they can do so. Then, a records administrator can perform a Destroy All Undeclared Versions event to clean up any lingering documents in one bulk action at an agreed upon time. Your IRM event list might look like this:

• Destroy All Undeclared Versions 60 Days after Matter Close Date
• Destroy 7 Years after Matter Close Date

If you want to add bulk records declaration as a records administrator duty instead, your IRM event list might look like:

• Declare Latest Document Version and Destroy Undeclared Versions 60 Days after Matter Close Date
• Destroy 7 Years after Matter Close Date

Workspace Destruction

If you are one of the many firms or companies who do not declare documents as records within iManage Work, you are not alone. Rest assured you do not need to declare a single record within an iManage Workspace for IRM to perform a destruction.

The Destroy Event Type can be used to destroy a selected Workspace or Folder.

Destroy: When a Workspace or Folder is selected in the IRM File Plan and this Event Type is selected during a Dispose Records action, the object and its contents will be destroyed in the iManage Work DMS.

Want to learn more about iManage Govern Records Manager from Nitza Medina-Garcia, CRM and like-minded IRM users? Join the next Records Manager Mastermind Group that is starting this January! Register here: https://icbsolutions.net/products.html  Space is limited!

Nitza Medina-Garcia, Certified Records Manager, Records and Information Management Consultant

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