Information lifecycle management

The ILM policy encompasses storage and information policies that guide management processes. Policies are dictated by business goals and drivers, tying into a framework of overall IT governance and management; change control processes; requirements for system availability and recovery times; and service level agreements (SLAs).{{Cite journal |last1=Tallon |first1=Paul P. |last2=Ramirez |first2=Ronald V. |last3=Short |first3=James E. |date=2013 |title=The Information Artifact in IT Governance: Toward a Theory of Information Governance |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43590145 |journal=Journal of Management Information Systems |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=141–177 |doi=10.2753/MIS0742-1222300306 |jstor=43590145 |issn=0742-1222}}

Operational aspects of ILM include backup and data protection; disaster recovery, restore and restart; archiving and long-term retention; data replication; and day-to-day processes and procedures necessary to manage a storage architecture.

Infrastructure facets of ILM include the logical and physical architectures, applications dependent upon the storage platforms; security of storage; and data center constraints. Within the application realm, the relationship between applications and the production, test and development requirements are generally most relevant for ILM.

In business records management, five phases are identified{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=The Records Life Cycle |url=https://www.archives.nysed.gov/sites/archives/files/the-records-lifecycle.pdf |website=New York State Education Department}} as part of the records life cycle continuum, along with certain exceptions. The phases are as follows:

• Creation and Receipt
• Distribution / Access
• Use / Consumption
• Maintenance
• Disposition

Creation and Receipt refer to records at their point of origin, which can be the creation of records within an organization or the receipt of information from external sources. These records include correspondence, forms, reports, drawings, and computer input/output.{{Cite book |last=Pearce-Moses |first=Richard |title=A glossary of archival and records terminology |date=2005 |publisher=Society of American Archivists |isbn=978-1-931666-14-5 |series=Archival fundamentals series |location=Chicago}}

Distribution / Access refers to the management of information after it has been created or received, including internal and external distribution, as records that leave the organization document transactions with outside parties.{{Clarify|reason=Phrasing unclear. Intented statement could be "externally distributed records document transactions with third parties", but this is also confusing.|date=December 2024}}{{Cite journal |last=Gracy |first=Karen F. |date=2012 |title=Distribution and Consumption Patterns of Archival Moving Images in Online Environments |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43489631 |journal=The American Archivist |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=422–455 |doi=10.17723/aarc.75.2.085785x17862105t |jstor=43489631 |issn=0360-9081}}

Use or Consumption occurs after internal distribution and involves applying information to support business decisions, document actions, or serve other organizational purposes.

Maintenance includes records management, which involves filing, retrieval, and transfer of information. Filing entails organizing data in a structured sequence and establishing a system to manage it throughout its useful life within the organization. Effective filing is crucial for efficient retrieval and usage, while poor filing practices can hinder access to information. The transfer process encompasses responding to requests, retrieving data from records, and granting access to authorized users.

Disposition is the process of handling information that is accessed infrequently or has reached the end of its retention period.{{Cite web |date=2018-02-05 |title=Records Disposition Overview |url=https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/scheduling/rdo |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=National Archives |language=en}} Records used infrequently may be moved to an “inactive records facility” until they meet their retention limit. Although some information retains long-term value, most records lose relevance over time, with their highest value occurring shortly after creation. Records then transition from active to semi-active and eventually to inactive.{{cite book |last1=Stephens |first1=David |title=Records Management: Making the Transition from Paper to Electronic |date=2007 |publisher=ARMA International |location=Overland Park, KS |isbn=9781931786294 |page=34}} Retention periods are set by an organization-specific retention schedule based on regulatory, statutory, and legal requirements, business needs, and historical or intrinsic value. Information should be appropriately disposed when it is no longer valuable to protect privacy and confidentiality.

Long-term records are those with ongoing value to an organization. Retention periods may extend to 25 years or longer, with some records designated as “indefinite” or “permanent.” However, due to the impracticality of such retention, “permanent” is a rare designation outside of federal agencies. Long-term records must be managed to ensure persistent accessibility, which is relatively straightforward with paper or microfilm but more challenging for electronic records. Electronic records require policies for format viability and media accessibility, as media can degrade or become obsolete. Regular conversion and migration of electronic records help maintain accessibility for required retention periods.

Exceptions to the typical life cycle occur with non-recurring issues outside routine operations. For example, when a legal hold, litigation hold, or legal freeze is required, a records manager places a legal hold within the records management system, preventing the affected files from being scheduled for disposition.{{Cite journal |last=Seuring |first=Stefan |date=2004 |title=Introduction |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/greemanainte.45.3 |journal=Greener Management International |issue=45 |pages=3–8 |doi=10.9774/GLEAF.3062.2004.sp.00002 |doi-broken-date=29 December 2024 |issn=0966-9671}}

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• Application retirement
• ARMA International
• Automated tiered storage
• Computer data storage
• Data classification (disambiguation)
• Data proliferation
• Digital asset management
• Digital continuity
• Digital preservation
• Document management
• Enterprise content management
• Hierarchical storage management
• Information governance
• Information repository
• Records management

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{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080521003558/http://www.ediscoverylaw.com/2006/12/articles/news-updates/ediscovery-amendments-to-the-federal-rules-of-civil-procedure-go-into-effect-today/ U.S. Federal Rules on the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI)]

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Category:Records management