Challenges of managing files in today's global marketplace
The world today provides a number of challenges for records management. Here are a couple of examples:

• The healthcare industry has some massive document tracking challenges (including tracking emerging global diseases, tracking environmental issues, and even day-to-day management and reporting). Some regional laws now dictate that documents must be retained for as long as 70 years -- some documents must even be retained as long as 100 years.

• In legal cases, the growing forensic success of DNA testing for evidence rediscovery, decades after the crime, has necessitated longer retention rates for evidence.

• While retention of financial records has always received careful attention, massive globalization, and the explosion of business conducted though the Internet has increased the volume of financial documentation that needs to be managed.

• Globalization has increased the need to provide automated bridging methods to reclassify records, which may flow from country to country and continent to continent, making it possible to conduct global business where classification laws differ.

Clearly, manual classification methods cannot hope to keep pace with the growing millions of records used to run business and government today. This is further exacerbated by the increased need to extend the retention rate to longer and longer periods of time, across multiple classification systems. An automated classification system is clearly the only way to keep things up to date.

While automated classification systems are coming to market using advanced technology, not all are created equal. How can you be sure you understand what matters about automated classification systems so you can make the right choice for your corporation?

Next month, we'll look at two different types of classification technology: Neural Network Clustering and Adaptive Clustering. Interestingly enough, these technologies use opposite methods to arrive at clustering or classification hierarchies. As a result, they each deliver a different business value beyond the immediate value of records classification for records management.

Stay tuned.

Bain McKay is an Executive Vice President of CORedge Software Inc. and Chief Scientist with Knowledge Management Technology, CIRI Lab. Bain can be reached at bmckay@tsg.com or at http://www.tsg.com.