Appraising the value of statistical records of the European Central Bank for retention scheduling purposes
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09565690810916456 |
| Published date | 03 October 2008 |
| Pages | 205-220 |
| Date | 03 October 2008 |
| Author | Paloma Beneito Arias |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Appraising the value of statistical
records of the European
Central Bank for retention
scheduling purposes
Paloma Beneito Arias
Records Management Specialist, European Central Bank,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the practice of records retention in relation to
statistical records and to provide answers and solutions to the challenge of retention from two
perspectives: by offering some recommendations on how to approach the identification of validated
retention periods and by presenting findings resulting from the practical use of this recommended
approach.
Design/methodology/approach – The research presented in this paper was conducted for the final
dissertation of the BSc (Hons) Information and Records Management Programme at the University of
Northumbria. A Delphi study was used as the method to achieve the research objectives.
Findings – While answers to the question of what retention value should be attributed to records
vary enormously depending on who is asked, this research shows that the involvement of end-users to
gather feedback and attempt to reach a consensus of opinions on retention periods is successful and
provides meaningful results, and can also help in gaining end-user support in the subsequent schedule
implementation.
Practical implications – Successful implementation of a retention schedule is more likely to
happen if end-users are involved from the start in the design process and if they understand the
benefits of this tool. In this respect, involving end-users in the retention decisions throughout the
performance of a Delphi Study has revealed to be very effective and is therefore recommended for
attaining similar objectives.
Originality/value – The paper presents a validated method for assigning retention values to records
that could be applied by practitioners in other organisations. Further information on the resulting
retention schedule can be obtained by contacting the author.
Keywords Retention, Statistics, Records management, Delphi method,Europe, Central banks
Paper type Research paper
Context
This paper is based upon research carried out in the context of the final dissertation for
a BSc (Hons) Information and Records Management Programme for the European
Central Bank by the University of Northumbria.
The research question that triggered this research was the need to identify the value
that should be allocated to the statistical records received and created by D irectorate
General Statistics (DG/S) of the European Central Bank (ECB) with the purpose of
designing a retention schedule. In this context, the research was motivated both by an
academic desire to offer answers and solutions to the challenge of retention of statistic al
records and by an urgent professional need to provide a useful, usable and user-friendly
retention schedule for DG/S, one of the areas of responsibility of the researcher.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
Value of
statistical
records
205
Records Management Journal
Vol. 18 No. 3, 2008
pp. 205-220
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/09565690810916456
The research method chosen for this research was inspired by one of the pieces of
advice most often heard in records management conferences, which is the need for
records managers to involve management and staff in records management decisions,
including the design and implementation of records management tools (ret ention
schedules, filing plans, etc.). However, as regards the participation of ECB end-users in
the corporate filing plan and retention schedule design, direct experience at the ECB
had shown that involving staff members and management can result in one of the
following:
(1) Lack of interest and a consequent lack of feedback.
(2) Lack of interest but nevertheless offer of feedback. As a consequence, results
need to be revised again in the implementation phase when the end-user realises
that the uninterested feedback provided was not good enough and resulted in
the design of an inadequate tool.
(3) Moderate to high interest and a consequent submission of useful feedback. This
was certainly the example of some DG/S end-users when questioned on the
allocation of retention periods to statistical records. However, as they engaged
in truly animated discussions and provided quite diverse opinions, it was
difficult to reach agreements.
Hence, the choice of research method was triggered first, by the conviction that
end-users need to be involved in retention decisions and, second, by the awareness that,
to do so, it is necessary to get them interested and motivated in order to guarantee
that their involvement is fruitful and provides some useful results.
Research aims
The primary aim of the research was to obtain enough quality expert feedback to be able
to present clear, justified, usable and as far as possible unanimously agreed retention
periods for the 29 classes of records received and produced by DG/S as identified by the
ECB in its corporate filing plan[1]. The (functional) ECB filing plan was taken as a basis
in light of the decision that the corporate retention schedule should mirror the ECB filing
plan. The unit of management for retention would be the file.
In addition, this research intended to provide a validated approach for appraising
the value of records that could help other organisations with similar needs. It also
aimed to enlarge existing knowledge on retention of statistical records, with the hope
that the results could be applied by organisations of a similar nature.
Methodology
According to Stephens and Wallace (2000), retention periods are likely to be in the
organisation’s best interest if they are based “on a consensus of opinions by
professionals most knowledgeable about the value of the information and the costs,
risks, and benefits of its preservation and disposal after various periods of time.”
Following their advice, and for the reasons identified above, the research method that
was considered most suitable to achieve the objectives was the Delphi study, which is
the method generally used to obtain expert views on complex problems with the aim of
obtaining some sort of consensus (Turoff and Hiltz, 1997) “by a series of intensive
questionnaires interspersed with controlled opinion feedback” (Dalkey and Helmer,
1963, p. 458). The essence of the Delphi is quite simple: it includes a series of
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