Every organization produces thousands of documents – contracts, minutes, invoices, correspondence, project documentation. A question that rarely falls directly, but is of great legal and operational importance: how long should each of these documents be kept, where and in what form? Records Management is a discipline that provides a systematic answer to this question, and Gimmal provides the tools to implement it.
Key findings
- Records Management is the systematic management of documents throughout their life cycle
- Includes classification, retention, availability and secure disposal of documents
- Gimmal automates the implementation of retention and corporate records management policies
- Lack of Records Management exposes the organization to legal, regulatory and operational risks
- Gimmal integrates with Microsoft 365, SharePoint and other document repositories
Table of contents
- What is Records Management?
- The life cycle of a document – from creation to disposal
- Risk of missing Records Management
- How does Gimmal implement records management?
- File Plan – the foundation of retention policy
- Automatic application of retention policies
- Compliance and auditing at Gimmal
- FAQ
- Summary
What is Records Management?
Records Management (corporate records management) is a systematic approach to creating, classifying, storing, sharing and ultimately disposing of documents and information within an organization. A key feature of RM is the management of documents throughout their life cycle – from creation, active use, archiving and final disposition (disposal or permanent archiving).
Unlike ordinary document management (document management), Records Management emphasizes legal, regulatory and business requirements for document retention. A document becomes a “record” when it acquires evidentiary, legal or historical value – and from that point on it must be protected from modification and retained for a specified period of time.
The life cycle of a document – from creation to disposal
Every document in an organization goes through a certain life cycle. The first stage is the creation or receipt of the document. The second is active use – the document is edited, shared, discussed. The third is the semi-active phase, when the document is no longer in current use, but may be needed for reference purposes. The fourth is archiving – the document is moved to the archive. The fifth is disposition – at the end of the retention period, the document is either permanently archived (due to its historical value) or securely disposed of.
Without a Records Management system, the organization has no control over the process – documents accumulate endlessly, costing disk space, and when it comes time for an audit or litigation, no one knows where the documents are needed or if they even still exist.
Risk of missing Records Management
The consequences of not having Records Management are multidimensional. First, the regulatory risk: The RODO imposes an obligation to delete personal data when the retention period expires. An organization that cannot prove that it is complying with the retention policy risks penalties. Second, legal risk: legal proceedings may require the provision of certain documentation. Failure to find it or providing an incomplete collection may be treated as withholding evidence.
Third, operational risk: employees waste time searching for documents in messy repositories. Fourth, security risk: documents with sensitive data that should have been deleted long ago still exist in systems and can be targeted.
How does Gimmal implement records management?
Gimmal provides software that implements Records Management in existing document repositories – primarily Microsoft 365 and SharePoint. The platform extends the native capabilities of these systems with advanced RM features not available in a standard configuration.
Implementing Records Management with Gimmal does not require migrating documents to a new system – the platform overlays existing repositories and manages documents where they already reside. Users continue to work in familiar environments and don’t have to change their habits.
File Plan – the foundation of retention policy
A File Plan is a hierarchical document classification structure that defines how each type of document is to be stored, for how long, and what to do with it once the retention period has expired. It is an organization’s strategic document that translates legal, regulatory and business requirements into specific document management policies.
Gimmal helps organizations build a File Plan tailored to their industry and jurisdiction, and then deploy it automatically in their document management systems.
Automatic application of retention policies
A key feature of Gimmal is the automatic application of retention policies to documents – without the need for users to manually tag each document. Based on the metadata, content and context of the document, the system automatically assigns the appropriate retention scheme.
When the retention period is over, Gimmal initiates a pre-disposition review process: authorized employees receive a notification asking them to confirm the removal or extension of retention. Once approved, the system automatically executes the disposition and records the entire operation in an auditable log.
Compliance and auditing at Gimmal
Every operation on documents managed by Gimmal is recorded: who accessed, who modified, when the classification was changed, when the disposition was approved. This audit is essential for external regulatory inspections and legal proceedings.
Gimmal generates compliance reports showing what documents are kept, for what length of time, according to what policies – making it much easier to demonstrate compliance to regulators.
FAQ
How is Records Management different from regular document management? Document Management focuses on day-to-day work with documents (editing, sharing, storage). Records Management manages documents throughout their life cycle, with a focus on legal and regulatory requirements for retention and disposition.
Does Gimmal support email as records? Yes – Gimmal integrates with Exchange and Microsoft 365 and can manage emails as corporate records.
How long does it take to implement Records Management with Gimmal? It depends on the scale of the organization and the complexity of the File Plan. Typical projects take from a few weeks to a few months.
Does Gimmal support paper documents? Gimmal can manage paper records as elements of the system, but does not support their physical storage.
Summary
Records Management is not an option for large corporations – it’s a requirement for any organization that takes compliance and risk management seriously. Gimmal provides the tools to implement systematic corporate records management in existing Microsoft 365 environments, automating document retention, classification and disposition processes.
