Client
Standard & Poors - New York, NY

Problem
Standard & Poors, a provider of independent financial information and analysis for over 140 years, was moving to a new location, which had sufficient space for filing and storage, but did not allow for additional file cabinets. The equipment to be installed in the storage rooms needed to meet the needs of all departments. Inactive, obsolete or abandoned records were being sent to two records storage centers and an off-site warehouse, and were not protected, putting the company at risk. A location for hard copy records in the new offices needed to be determined, and the planning and services were needed to pack, move and install the files.

The Naremco Solution

• Prepared Records Management Policy.
  
  
• Prepared records retention schedules for over 225 distinct work units.
  
  
• Negotiated retention schedule approvals with each department and with representatives of the Tax and Legal departments.
  
  
• Identified and transferred historical records to McGraw-Hill's archives.
  
  
• Developed a plan for purging records.
  
  
• Assured that inactive records were sent to the approved records storage center.

Client Benefits

• All departments developed retention schedules, purged their files, allocated the files to be moved and were ready to move on time.
  
  
• Freed up space and reduced moving costs by destroying 15,000 cu. ft. of obsolete records stored in active office and sent 3,000 cu. ft. of inactive records to storage.
  
  
• New procedures for the storage and retrieval of inactive records were developed.
  
  
• Provided almost 50% more room for future growth in one department by reclassifying and reorganizing files prior to the move.
  
  
• Methodology to calculate when records should be destroyed and a methodology to prevent unauthorized records from being sent to storage was established.
  
  
• Increased confidence that needed records will be retained and retrievable.
  
  
• In case of litigation, exposure during discovery proceedings and the cost of responding to subpoenas have been substantially reduced.
  
  
• Avoided the need for staff to pack and unpack files.
  
  
• Reduced staff down-time after the move since files were in place.
  
  
• Provided timely and critical information to staff to increase their awareness of the new office space and encourage early buy-in to the new open-plan design.
  
  
• Provided prior planning and assessments, which led to the ordering and installation of proper file and storage equipment.
  
  
• Created sufficient file space for active files and room for growth.

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