Capturing Records from Line-of-Business Systems

When people picture records, they think of documents and email. But a huge share of an organization’s records live in line-of-business (LOB) systems — ERP, CRM, case management, HR, financial, and other databases and applications — as structured data and transactions. Bringing those records under management is one of the hardest, and most overlooked, parts of recordkeeping.

Why LOB systems are a challenge

Records as data, not files. A “record” may be a set of database rows or a transaction, not a tidy document.
The system isn’t a records system. LOB applications are built for operations, not retention and disposition.
Long-lived data, changing systems. The application will be replaced long before the records’ retention ends — so records must outlive the system.
Defining the record. Deciding what constitutes the official record (a snapshot? a report? the underlying data?) takes real analysis.

Approaches to capture

Integrate at the source. Connect the records system to the LOB application so records are captured (or governed in place) with the right metadata — ideally automatically via auto-classification.
Generate record snapshots. For transactional data, capture defined outputs (statements, case files, reports) as records at the right trigger point.
Apply retention to the data. Where records stay in the system, ensure the retention schedule and holds reach the data itself.
Plan for decommissioning. When a system is retired, migrate or preserve its records first — a frequent point of loss.

Trustworthiness still applies

Records captured from LOB systems must still be trustworthy: complete, with enough context to be understood and authenticated, and protected from unauthorized change. Capturing the data without its context produces records you can’t rely on.

Why it matters

If you only manage documents and email, you’re missing where much of the organization’s evidence actually lives. Extending recordkeeping into LOB systems — capturing the right records, with retention and holds — is what makes a records program truly enterprise-wide. See the electronic records management hub for more.