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Customer Audits and Compliance

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Customer Audits and Compliance

BIS welcomes audits by customers of its facilities and procedures. Announced and un-announced audits of our facilities have been conducted by customers such as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov and Time Warner Cable http://www.timewarnercable.com. BIS operations are always open to inspection by our customers.

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (AKA “Sarbox” and “SOX”)  requires covered entities to ensure the validity of their published financial information. BIS regularly participates in audits for customers like Frisch’s http://www.frischs.com/and Kendle International www.kendle.com that insure their compliance with Sarbox.

SAS 70

The Statement on Auditing Standards Number 70 (“SAS 70”) was promulgated by the American Institute of CPAs www.aicpa.org. Codified as AU324 to provide auditors of financial statements with guidance on factors they should consider when auditing the financial statements of entities that use service organizations to process certain transactions. Strictly speaking, BIS is NOT subject to the requirements of SAS 70 because it simply stores financial information rather than process transactions. Nonetheless, BIS welcomes the opportunity to participate in our customers’ SAS 70 audits.

PCI Data Security Standard (DSS)

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was established by the American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc. to specify the requirements for all businesses to use in conjunction with their electronic payment-processing systems. BIS holds a Payment Card Industry DSS Certificate of Compliance for PCI Level 4 “Merchant” Classification issued by Trustwave Information Security & Compliance www.Trustwave.com.

Professional Records & Information Services Management

BIS has been a member of PRISM (including its predecessor organization ACRC—Association of Commercial Records Centers) since 1983. PRISMwww.prismintl.org promotes the professionalism of its members through education. PRISM also requires its members to adhere to its “Values Statement & Code of Ethics” http://prismintl.org/values-statement-code-of-ethics.

Performance Enhancement Group (PEG)

BIS is an active participant in a PEG consisting of leading independent record centers located in 11 different U.S. cities. Organized by the Management Growth Institute http://www.managementgrowth.com, the purpose of PEG is to benchmark each member’s performance against the industry Best Practices.

PEG audits span a three-day period during which each member is assessed in the areas of Organization, Finance and Control, Operations, and Sales and Marketing. The result of each PEG audit is a comprehensive report listing performance-enhancing recommendations in each of these areas.

Other members of BIS’ PEG are:

National Records Centers Specifications

As an affiliate of the National Records Centers http://www.nationalrecordscenters.com BIS’s facilities and procedures are reviewed by third-party inspectors to ensure compliance with NRC standards and industry best practices.

Help raise money for a GREAT cause.

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For more than 10 years, Frank has served on the Board of Trustees for Cincinnati Works, a non-profit workforce development initiative dedicated to promoting self-sufficiency through employment.

This holiday season, he’s helping them raise money to help with their cause. He hopes you’ll join him in this effort with a donation.

To read Frank’s blog on the subject: Are You Thankful for Your Job?

 

 

When It Comes to Records, Less Is Best

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Frank J. Albi, BIS’ CEO, gives his wisdom on records control:

Less is more. I’ve been in the records management business for over 30 years (but who’s counting, right?) During that time, I’ve learned a thing or two about best practices for business—from Cincinnati’s smallest mom-and-pop operations to Fortune 500 global corporations.

People often ask me which records they should hang on to and which records they should shred. Here’s what I tell them. Think of these as “Frank’s Rules of Thumb”:

  1. Keep only what you must to achieve compliance. The definition of “compliance” may change over time, so take note of new legislation or policies that affect you. It’s smart and savvy to play by the rules and do what’s asked of your business.
  2. If it’s not required or you don’t plan to actually use it in the next 12 months, throw it away. There’s no use in letting unnecessary papers pile up or e-files clog up your servers. Clear them out and let them go. It’s liberating (literally and figuratively!).
  3. What you keep can produce more risk and liability than what you don’t keep. Some people think they should hold onto anything and everything “just in case”—but what if the “just in case” actually ends up hurting your business? If you don’t need something for compliance or your own purposes, you are better off getting rid of it.
  4. The less you retain the easier and faster you can find what you do need. Think about your kitchen. How many times have you tried to match up a lid with the right-sized container for leftovers? All those mismatched lids and containers do you no good if you can’t put two of them together. It’s the same with your records. When you have to go through so many extras to retrieve what you really want, you’ll waste time and effort.
  5. The less stuff you have, the less it costs for storage boxes and the labor to pack and label them. Believe me, we’re more than happy to keep and manage as many boxes as you’d like. But we don’t want our customers to waste money. It’s more important to us that you manage your records (and your budgets) wisely.
  6. The smaller your volume of stored records, the easier it is to keep them organized and purged according to your company policy. If you’re concerned about the risk and liability of the items you keep, you want to make sure you only have them as long as you need to. If, however, you have an excess of files, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of things and limit your risk. With less to keep track of, you can be more in control.
  7. These same concepts apply to computer files and other electronic records. They may not take up physical space the way paper does, but e-files can certainly weigh heavily on your computer systems. Ultimately they’re just as much of a liability and hassle. Minimize electronic records, too. You’ll be glad you did.