ORNL groups 'Go APE" over excess paper
Like any war, a war on paper is a hazardous undertaking. Consigning shelves full of old documents to the shredders, dumpsters or recycle bins invariably leads to the dismaying discovery, usually one day later, that something’s been tossed that shouldn’t have.
Instead of declaring war, ORNL’s Chemical Technology Division recently “went ape” over reams of paper that had piled up throughout the division. By partnering with the Computing, Information and Networking Division’s Records Policy and Management, Chem Tech rid itself of a mountain of excess, nonrecord documents.
The records group and Chem Tech did it in a controlled, systematic—that is to say, safe—fashion. The Go APE (assault on paper excess) project went beyond discarding dusty documents, says RP&M’s Juli Stewart.
“It was a highly controlled review of all the information, regardless of format. This approach ensures that only nonrecord and obsolete record copies were discarded.”
Stewart estimates that the 1,216 cubic feet of paper recycled or destroyed would fill one-and-a-half tractor trailers. In the new era of space charge, that’s a lot of space that’s going to be better used.
Roger Jones, the project’s Chem Tech liaison, says Go APE helped reduce a paper problem for the division, which is one of ORNL’s largest.
“I’ve seen offices with paper stacked up because we didn’t know how to disposition it,” Jones says. “We took an overly cautious approach and kept everything, which wasn’t productive.
“Each of the division’s sections made appointments with RP&M and Chem Tech’s own records management group, who interviewed, coached and answered questions. It went exceptionally well.”
Records Policy and Management has the responsibility for helping assure that official records—those that by law and regulation must be retained—are properly stored and inventoried. All divisions and offices work from a records retention schedule that specifies how records are stored and how long they have to be maintained. Lab Records is the nerve center for records storage at ORNL (it is located, some might say appropriately, in Building 4500-North’s “attic”).
The National Archives and DOE prescribe what sort of records must be kept. Kept, but not everything, and not forever.
“It’s most often decision-making info: health and safety supporting documentation, training records, human resources records,” Stewart says. “Of course, records of research must also be kept, and these include notebooks, raw data, proposals and summary reports.
“The Go APE project is part of a more aggressive records program for the Lab. We can help people recognize, through active information management, what they have to keep. For instance, if you’re working for the first time with electronic information, we can help assure that it’s retrievable, unalterable and retainable.
“It’s life-cycle management,” Stewart says. “By having retention periods, you are in compliance with DOE and the National Archives. But we’re also trying to make this system work for the Lab.
“Once you know what to keep and what not to keep, you can make the decision on whether to keep, destroy or move to long-term storage.”
Chem Tech’s Jones says the rewards might not be limited to more shelf space.
“We found missing records on one project that might help us save as much as $100,000 in some ongoing work,” Jones says.
If you’d like to Go APE over your division’s excess paper, call Stewart at 576-5061.—B.C.
