Just the question of what data to keep is more complex than most people realize. As technology has advanced, document retention laws (FOIA, state sunshine laws) were developed or amended to include most of the structured and unstructured data mentioned above.

Even if policies could keep up with changing requirements, expecting staff to manually archive data creates several challenges, including:

• Classifying and managing data may be considered over and above an employee’s typical job responsibilities
• Most employees lack sufficient training to classify and manage data effectively
• Many retention policies are difficult to understand
• In many cases, employees consider themselves to be the owners of “their” data, so it never leaves their personal drive, phone or email system
• The number of data sources employees have access to continues to grow and evolve at an ever-increasing rate
• Employees can't keep up with the continuing changes in public records laws and requirements
• The amount and complexity of data security risks keeps increasing

In sum, most employees lack the time, knowledge, and incentive to classify and manage the enormous volume of data that they encounter every day, so it never gets done.

As a result, when compelled to respond to a public records request, employees must manually sift through a ton of old, uncategorized and unmanaged data. This takes a lot of time, and the response is often late, incomplete, and/or includes redundant, obsolete or transitory data. Data archiving and production for legal requests or public records inquiries can no longer be satisfied with traditional, paper-based processes. This leaves government agencies vulnerable to legal liability, security risks and reputational damage.