Client
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company - Milwaukee, WI

Problem
Northwestern Mutual Life [NML], the nation's leading provider of individual life insurance, needed a consistent records management program and formal guidelines for retaining or destroying records at the end of their useful lives. They also needed procedures for the management of digital records, separate from standard computer backup and disaster recovery procedures.

The Naremco Solution

• Developed records retention schedules for 170 distinct work units.
  
  
• Negotiated retention schedule approvals with each department, including the Tax and Legal departments.
  
  
• Provided recommendations for Information Systems on the management of digital records, including:
  
  
  • Responsibilities
  • Methodology for evaluation of digital records
  • Digital media and equipment specifications
  • Digital records reliability assurance procedures
  • Data retention procedures
    
    
• Installed a records management database to assist in maintaining records retention schedules.

Client Benefits

• Freed up office space by destroying more than 6,000 cu. ft. of obsolete records stored in active office areas and sending 3,000 cu. ft. to inactive storage.
  
  
• Of 15,200 boxes of records stored at an offsite warehouse facility, 40% were destroyed, and the remaining 60% were properly identified and transferred to a commercial records storage facility.
  
  
• Established the foundation of consistent records management practices, which allowed for the planning of an integrated document management system.

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