# Records manager data referral: the sponsor handoff | SourceX

Canonical: https://refer.sourcex.si/guides/a-new-records-manager-can-clarify-the-introduction-path
Last updated: 2026-11-05

When a company hires a records manager, someone is about to write down what records exist, where they sit and who answers for each. That makes the hire a good moment to clarify the introduction path, and a poor moment to ask the new person for a decision. With the CEO's agreement, a records manager can help confirm which entity holds the records, which systems they live in and who runs each one. The CEO alone decides whether the company discusses licensing, and nothing is sent anywhere.

This page is for partners whose clients include established companies with years of operating history: IT and records consultants, accountants, document-imaging and systems partners. It covers why a new records role helps, what to ask for, when to wait, and the one-page handoff that keeps the records manager a guide rather than a gatekeeper.

## What a records manager's job puts on paper

The international standard for the field, ISO 15489-1, frames records management broadly. Its catalogue page lists a scope that runs from records, their metadata and records systems, through policies and assigned responsibilities, to recurring analysis of the business context and the processes for creating, capturing and managing records (our paraphrase). Two of those items matter here: records systems and assigned responsibilities. A records manager is expected to know what systems hold the company's records and who is responsible for each.

The working tool for that knowledge is the inventory. The U.S. National Archives, in guidance written for federal agencies, puts it plainly: "In records management, an inventory is a descriptive listing of each record series or system, together with an indication of location and other pertinent data." Its main purpose, NARA adds, is to supply the information needed for a records schedule (paraphrase).

A descriptive listing by series or system, with location and responsibility, is the level at which a licensing conversation begins: what kinds of records exist, roughly how many years, in which system and under whose care. A partner never needs anything below that level. The records themselves, samples and access all stay inside the company; the descriptive fields that are enough are listed in [preparing a metadata-only inventory](/guides/how-to-prepare-a-metadata-only-inventory-of-business-systems).

What an inventory does not contain is just as useful to know. It holds no view on whether the company may license its records, no sense of the CEO's appetite and no decision.

## Why a new hire changes the path, and when to wait

Before the hire, a common answer to "who would know what we have?" is nobody in particular. After it, there is a named person whose job is to find out, but who is new, still learning the company and in no position to commit it to anything. The partner's route therefore runs through the CEO, with the records manager as a source of facts the CEO chooses to share.

| Signal | Raise it with the CEO | Wait |
|---|---|---|
| The CEO mentions the new records manager or their first inventory | Yes | No reason to wait |
| A dated system retirement or retention review is on the calendar | Yes, naming the date as the company's own fact | No reason to wait |
| The records manager started in the last few weeks | No | Until the CEO says the first inventory exists |
| Records are under a legal hold, or counsel is involved in a dispute | No | Counsel decides; see [litigation holds and sharing records](/questions/litigation-hold-records-can-they-be-shared) |
| An audit, incident response or office move is under way | No | Until it ends |
| You heard about the hire through confidential paid work | No | Unless the CEO raises it with you |

Never approach the records manager first to ask a favor. A new hire asked about licensing by an outsider has no good answer: saying yes oversteps, and saying no feels unhelpful.

## What a records manager can locate, and what stays with others

| Question | Can the records manager help? | Who settles it |
|---|---|---|
| Which legal entity holds the records? | Yes, by locating where systems and contracts sit | The CEO confirms; after an acquisition, the acquirer's CEO |
| Which systems hold years of the company's own work, and since when? | Yes, from the inventory | SourceX's review assesses relevance to current programs |
| Who runs each system? | Yes, from assigned responsibilities | Nobody needs to; it is a fact to record |
| Do any records belong to clients, or sit under contracts that limit reuse? | Partly: they can say such contracts exist | SourceX's rights review, with the company's own counsel |
| Does the company talk to SourceX at all? | No | The CEO |
| What scope, if any, would be licensed? | No | The company decides scope; the CEO signs |
| Which partner, if any, is credited? | No | SourceX, from dated records |

## The records-role sponsor handoff

The handoff is a single page the CEO asks the records manager to fill, so that the CEO can decide with facts in front of them. The partner suggests the format and never sees more than the CEO chooses to share.

| Field | Filled by | Example (Illustrative) | Never contains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating entity that holds the records | Records manager | The property management operating company | Holding-company guesses |
| CEO, and since when | Records manager, confirmed by the CEO | Founder and CEO since 2003 | Anyone else's name as the decider |
| Parent or acquirer | Records manager | None | Speculation about a sale |
| Systems with years of the company's own work | Records manager | Work orders since 2012, run by the maintenance director; accounting since 2008, run by the controller; resident communications since 2015, run by the operations manager | Files, exports, screenshots or logins |
| Dated events | Records manager | Old work-order database read-only from March | Plans the company has not announced |
| Contracts that may limit reuse | Records manager, existence only | Management agreements with property owners | Contract contents |
| The decision | The CEO | Not yet made | A records manager's view |

**Worked case (Illustrative).** A regional property management company with about 260 full-time employees at its peak hires its first records manager in June. In September the CEO tells the company's outside IT partner that the first inventory lists eleven systems. The partner explains the program's screening facts and asks whether the CEO would like the inventory summarized at the level above. The CEO asks the records manager to fill the handoff. It flags one real question: some records may belong to the property owners the company manages for, which SourceX's rights review would have to settle. The CEO reads the page and decides.

The handoff ends with a short note from the records manager to the CEO:

> [CEO first name], I have listed our systems at the level SourceX screens on: entity, systems, years and who runs each. Nothing has been sent outside the company. The question for you is whether we want a conversation with SourceX about licensing our own operating records for AI training and evaluation. [Partner] told us SourceX could pay them a referral reward, and that our payout would be the same either way.

That last sentence rests on section 4 of the terms: the reward is paid separately by SourceX and is never deducted from the company's agreed compensation.

**Method note.** The handoff fields follow the scope of ISO 15489-1 and NARA's description of an inventory (both search excerpts), SourceX's who-qualifies page and terms (Version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04), all read on 2026-10-27. The fields, the timing table and the worked case are this page's design; no data has been published on how often a records hire leads to an introduction. A retired employee who remembers where an old archive sits is a different situation, covered in [the retired administrator who knows the archive location](/guides/the-retired-administrator-who-knows-the-archive-location); more business-change moments sit in the [guides collection](/guides).

## Owner and sponsor, checked before anyone is introduced

- **Owner.** The entity named on the handoff. A company that has been bought answers through its acquirer's CEO; one still waiting for its sale to close answers through its own. Every entity in a corporate group draws on one shared reward cap.
- **Sponsor.** If the CEO wants to go ahead, the records manager can become the internal sponsor who prepares the description and joins the first call, or the executive they report to can. Neither authorizes; that stays with the CEO. After an acquisition, finding the sponsor is a task of its own, set out in [a post-close integration review](/guides/a-post-close-integration-review-can-reveal-the-right-sponsor).
- **Earlier contact.** Ask the CEO whether the company has ever applied to, corresponded with or held an account with SourceX. If so, it is a duplicate, and no partner is credited.
- **Dates.** A new hire's first inventory is provisional. Date each field and confirm it again if months pass before the introduction.

If the CEO says yes, sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting, then make the introduction and let the company apply itself. SourceX credits one partner only: whoever first validly introduced the company, provided the company was new to SourceX and filed a verified application inside 90 days of that introduction.

## Where the records-manager route misleads

- **The first inventory is incomplete.** New records managers find systems for months. An empty row means unknown, not absent.
- **The person in the middle.** A records manager asked to carry a licensing question may feel pressure, or assume it is theirs to decide. The CEO's explicit request is what protects them.
- **An inventory is not fit.** Records that belong to clients, personal information and short histories can all rule records out, and full-time headcount must have reached 50 at its peak, contractors excluded.
- **Their own obligations come first.** Company policy and the records manager's professional duties outrank anything on this page.
- **Fit is decided in review.** Rights and current demand are assessed only by SourceX, and each program applies its own criteria.

## Next step

> **Refer a company. No cap on rewards.** Default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; further qualifying transactions first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15%. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, including the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.

When the CEO has the handoff and wants a conversation, [register as a partner](/register), check the handoff against [who qualifies](/who-qualifies) and read the [program terms](/terms) before you submit anything.

## Sources

- https://www.iso.org/standard/62542.html
- https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/scheduling/inventory-intro
- https://refer.sourcex.si/who-qualifies
- https://refer.sourcex.si/terms