Frequently Asked Questions

Client: Global Chemical Engineering/Manufacturing Corporation

Challenge: This growing Iowa-based company needed help determining how to transition from managing all its records in-house to providing better security and active records management by utilizing an external service. The company’s global footprint and a large amount of vital intellectual property meant that special considerations and handling would be necessary to ensure a high level of protection and security, yet access when needed.

Solution: MDS Records Management reviewed the existing in-house situation, the different types of records being produced, retrieval and access needs, and other management needs for the company’s records. MDS helped company executives determine retention and destruction plans and appropriate storage and security options for the different kinds of records and worked with the company to plan a records and information management structure that made sense to their situation. 

Client: A Leading Healthcare Management Firm’s Iowa Headquarters

Challenge: A major move to a new location highlighted this firm’s need for assistance in creating a file cataloging method and process to organize major file systems. In the new facility, large file libraries would be located in two areas, on two separate floors. In addition to the files already maintained by this firm, an additional file library from the corporation’s Illinois facility needed to be merged into the existing systems. The firm wanted a system that would help them organize and track all materials while they were managed in-house, and that would also merge seamlessly with the transition of files to off-site management and (ultimately) destruction.

Solution: MDS worked with the firm’s facilities manager to design a file cataloguing and barcode tracking system that would synchronize with the MDS barcoding system, so that any file could be located accurately and easily, whether it is in one of the firm’s two in-house file libraries or stored at MDS Records Management’s off-site facility. MDS personnel created a flow chart to guide decisions and timing related to scanning, on-site management, off-site management and shredding, and proposed procedures for file naming and labeling, annual file transfers to off-site management, file request processes, and related tasks. Finally, MDS showed the firm that it could save money by training personnel to do most of the tasks in-house rather than paying MDS to complete them.

Client: Major Regional Corporate Offices for a Fortune 500 national banking firm

Challenge:  The firm’s corporate headquarters was pressuring this regional office to align its records and information management program with corporate and industry best practices. Costs were high and productivity and value were questionable. The regional office managed and ran its own internal records storage and management program, managing 60,000 record containers. They had just re-signed a lease that committed the company to pay Class A rates for Class C space. The corporation paid two full-time and two part-time people at the corporate records facility, utilized a portion of time from support staff and one middle manager, and maintained and operated two vans for regular pickup and delivery of records. 

Solution: MDS Records Management assessed the situation and spent a year actually running the corporation’s leased records facility in order to oversee a comprehensive review of needs, create a transition plan, and implement the plan – work that was accomplished by one MDS professional in ½ day or less each weekday. Once the records were transitioned to MDS Records Management’s facility, management of the entire program was incorporated into the normal daily routines of our office. 

Client: A Third-Party Insurance Administrator and Risk Management Firm

Challenge: This firm needed assistance determining how to properly categorize and store its corporate records. 

Solution: MDS Records Management was recommended to this firm by a long-time MDS client, who was confident that our company would well serve the firm’s challenge. We worked with the Assistant Vice President of Claims to do a cost-benefit analysis, which showed that placing records into containers rather than storing them on open shelves would pay for itself over a short period of time. It was estimated that approximately 100-man hours would be required to pull documents off shelves, index them, and determine proper retention dates for each set of records. In less than one month, MDS personnel completed this process, barcoded all containers, transported and installed them in the MDS Environmentally Secure and Climate Moderated Records Warehouse. In addition, records can be retrieved as needed through MDS’s efficient and reliable access and delivery services.

Client: A national brokerage firm providing various types of insurance for individuals and businesses.

Challenge: The company realized it was exposing its claim files to risk by maintaining them in an open-shelf situation. Files included confidential and sensitive information that would have compromised the company and its clients if lost or shared improperly.

Solution: MDS Records Management worked with the company to create a plan of action, then cataloged all files, containerized them appropriately, and transferred them to MDS’s  Environmentally Secure and Climate Moderated Records Warehouse, where they could be protected and managed securely; yet still allow access as required for company use.

Client:  Corporate Offices for a leading national media and marketing firm

Challenge:  Records of the firm’s early history were in jeopardy because publications from as early as the late 1800s were not well protected from humidity and other vulnerabilities.

Solution:  MDS Records Management worked for two and a half years with the Client to create and implement a process that began with identifying the oldest and most sensitive publications. These were placed individually into archival-quality acid-free envelopes or wrapped in acid free paper, stored in acid-free cartons and placed in an MDS Environmentally Controlled Archive Vault. Proper temperature and humidity control, and a non-water fire suppressant system, and other safety and security features ensure that the firm’s treasured historical documents are well protected and will be there for future generations to study and enjoy.

Client: Mid-Sized Records Storage Firm, acquired by MDS Records Management

Challenge: MDS’s acquisition of this company required the assessing, organizing, and transitioning of 67,000 client records containers plus over 63,000 tapes while maintaining continuous, uninterrupted service to all clients – all in the midst of MDS’s construction of its records and information management facility in Des Moines. The acquired company utilized outdated records tracking and management methods, so the process included updating the systems being used in addition to transitioning the records. 

Solution: Once MDS had acquired all the previous company’s tape and hard copy records accounts, MDS went about bringing the whole system up to speed with current technology. Clients were informed of the plan, and service continued seamlessly during the entire transition. All hardcopy record containers were barcoded for tracking purposes, set up on temporary pallets, and scanned to track their locations as they were loaded onto trucks to move to the new facility. Tapes were moved and barcoded as well, with care taken to keep them in proper temperature and humidity conditions while they awaited transport. Over a month of working normal shifts and then working on this project during after-business hours and on weekends, MDS staff accomplished the entire move smoothly and securely. MDS knew where every container was at any point in time and never missed a tape or file request. Clients experienced no interruptions or slowdowns in service.