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Maricopa Steward

Information Lifecycle Management

Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is the practice of applying certain policies to the effective management of information throughout its useful life (Wikipedia). Although the concept isn’t new to business infrastructure, the term became a buzzword for vendors specializing in information management in 2004. The elements of ILM–structured data, backup and recovery, tiered-storage, robust archival policies, hierarchical data management, data warehousing and business intelligence applications–are essential building blocks in every IT architecture and data center operation (HCL Technologies). The broad concept is to manage data and storage needs while keeping costs of data storage down. As information becomes less valuable over time, it is moved to less expensive storage media until its lifecycle has ended and the information can be disposed of. As with paper records, information has a lifecycle based on the value it has to the institution.

Lifecycle Phases

The lifecycle of records, regardless of form, has five phases:

• Creation or receipt–point of origin of a record and assigning a value to its contents
• Distribution–where the record goes (internal/external); also serves as a record of transactions with others
• Use–how a record is used and for what purpose; also how it is used to generate business decisions
• Maintenance–management of information (how it’s stored, who has access, security issues, as well as considerations for movement to alternate storage sites as its value decreases over time)
• Disposition–those records whose lifecycles are complete and subsequently destroyed (no value)

The Arizona State Library, Archive and Public Records (ASLAPR) only recognizes two media for the storage of historical documents (documents which need to be maintained ‘forever.’) Historical records can only be maintained as paper documents or on film.

Technology Assurance Agreement

Additionally, Maricopa must sign an agreement with the State Library that any business operations that are conducted soley via electronic means (i.e., HRMS and SIS) will be continually updated as technology shifts and all records will be accessible for the duration of the records retention period. If MCCCD wishes to adopt a new technology for business operations, this assurance agreement stipulates that all efforts will be made to ensure that the old data will be migrated to the new system seamlessly or that the old technology will be maintained so that older records are still available as needed. (See Sample)

Maricopa Steward, Fall 2010

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