The cornerstone of any business record keeping is having a solid record retention schedule in place. This policy clearly defines what documents need to be maintained and for how long. In addition, a retention schedule helps to ensure that businesses are in compliance with state and federal laws.

Retention schedules are designed to outline exactly how long documents must be retained and provide a policy for when and how to dispose of documents that are eligible to be destroyed. A retention schedule enables all employees to maintain the specific requirements that are pre-established by their place of employment and maintain consistency among all staff and documents.

A retention schedule serves a vital role in any organization, serving as the organization’s legal authority for retaining and destroying records. A retention policy will include all types of documents and records that are created on behalf of the company as part of a business. An important element of all retention schedules is a timeline, laying out how long each type of record must be maintained in the company’s records before it can be destroyed.

Storing versus deleting

A solid data retention policy helps you to comply with laws and regulations around the world. These rules tell you how long a record should minimally or maximally be stored. In litigations, having the right information available can be the difference between winning or losing a case.