What to retain and why.
WHY IT MATTERS
Disputes, audits and questions are resolved on records.
WHAT TO KEEP
Anything agreeing terms Anything committing money Instructions received and given Complaints and their resolution Decisions and their reasoning
WHERE TO KEEP IT
Somewhere findable by more than one person.
WHY NOT A MAILBOX
Personal mailboxes are lost when people leave.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IMPORTANT AGREEMENTS
Store them with the contract, not in email.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT DECISIONS MADE IN CHAT
Move them somewhere durable.
WHY
Chat history is hard to search and eventually expires.
WHAT TO NAME FILES
Consistently, with dates.
WHY
It makes them findable without opening.
HOW LONG TO KEEP THINGS
Per your retention obligations, and per data protection requirements.
WHY BOTH
One requires keeping and the other requires deleting.
WHAT TO DELETE
Personal data with no continuing purpose.
WHAT TO NEVER DELETE
Anything relevant to a dispute or investigation.
WHAT TO DO WHEN A DISPUTE ARISES
Preserve everything, immediately.
WHY IMMEDIATELY
Routine deletion may otherwise remove it.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Who owns the record for each kind of communication.
WHAT TO REVIEW
Whether people can actually find things.
