Good records management saves time, effort, space, money, and other resources.

Well managed records are: Easy to locate, because they are well-organized and named; and Accessible to those who need them (but not accessible to anyone not authorized to access them).

When records are managed according to a formal records retention policy, it is easier to respond to an audit or litigation; record owners know what they have and where it is (and they know what they no longer have because it was destroyed according to a legally valid record retention policy).

Never underestimate the value of being able to locate needed information easily and quickly. Think about how much time you spend searching for documents, recreating them when you can't find the original, comparing versions to try to determine which one is the most recent... the list goes on and on, and the waste of resources is enormous.

Good records management allows us to identify records that have permanent, historical value to the University. These records continue to be used by University administration so that they may continue to run the University in accordance with Princeton's values and mission, and they are also used by researchers.

Finally, well-managed records take up less space because there are fewer of them. With a good system, fewer records are created to begin with (no unneccessary duplicates) and more records are disposed of in a timely manner. What would you do with more space?