How to Appraise Records: Value-Based Retention Decisions

Appraisal is the analytical heart of retention. It’s the process of evaluating records to determine their value — and, from that, how long they should be kept and whether any have enduring value worth preserving permanently. Appraisal is what turns a records inventory into a defensible retention schedule.

The four kinds of value

For each records series, appraisal weighs several kinds of value:

Administrative — how long the records are needed to conduct current operations.
Legal / regulatory — how long the law, regulation, or contract requires them to be kept (often the controlling factor).
Fiscal — how long they’re needed for budget, audit, or tax purposes.
Historical — whether they have enduring value worth preserving permanently.

The highest applicable requirement generally drives the retention period.

Temporary vs. permanent

Appraisal also makes the most consequential call: is a series temporary (destroyed after its retention period) or permanent (preserved indefinitely, and in government transferred to an archives)? Permanent records are a small fraction — often just a few percent — appraised as having lasting legal, evidential, or historical significance. Misjudging this either destroys something of lasting value or buries the organization in cost by keeping everything.

Doing it well

A sound appraisal:

Involves the record owners, who understand how the records are used.
Researches the requirements — citing the statute, regulation, or recognized schedule (such as the GRS) behind each period.
Documents the rationale, so the schedule is defensible if questioned.
Considers risk and cost — including over-retention’s privacy and discovery exposure.

Why it matters

Appraisal is where retention periods come from. Done well, it lets an organization keep records exactly as long as required — no more, no less — and preserve the few that truly matter. Done poorly, it produces schedules that are either legally risky or impossibly expensive. See the retention and disposition hub for the next steps.