Unit 4: Identifying Records for Retention and Disposal

Records Retention and Disposal: the practice of managing records throughout their lifecycle, including determining how long to keep records and how to dispose of them when they are no longer needed.

Retention schedule: a document that outlines how long records should be kept and how they should be disposed of. It is a key component of a records management program.

Vital records: records that are essential to the continued operation of an organization. These records should be given special attention and protection.

Non-record material: information that does not meet the definition of a record. This can include duplicates, drafts, and other items that do not need to be retained.

Example: An email that is a duplicate of a record already in the system would be considered non-record material.

Legal hold: a process that is put in place to preserve records that may be relevant to ongoing or anticipated litigation.

Example: If a company is being sued, a legal hold would be put in place to ensure that all relevant records are preserved.

Disposition: the process of disposing of records that are no longer needed. This can include destruction, transfer to an archival repository, or other methods of disposal.

Example: A retention schedule might specify that financial records should be destroyed after seven years.

Record series: a group of records that are related by a common function or activity.

Example: Employee personnel files would be considered a record series.

Appraisal: the process of evaluating records to determine their value and to decide whether they should be retained or disposed of.

Example: An appraisal of a company's financial records might determine that records related to tax audits should be retained for ten years, while other financial records can be destroyed after seven years.

Transfer: the process of moving records from one location to another. This can include transferring records to an archival repository or to another department within an organization.

Example: A company might transfer its inactive records to an offsite storage facility to free up space in its offices.

Destruction: the process of permanently disposing of records. This can include shredding, burning, or otherwise destroying the records.

Example: A company might destroy financial records that are no longer needed by shredding them.

Archival repository: a place where records are kept for long-term preservation. This can include a physical repository, such as a library or museum, or a digital repository, such as a server or cloud storage.

Example: A company might transfer its inactive records to an archival repository to ensure that they are preserved for future use.

Electronic records: records that are created, stored, and maintained in electronic form.

Example: Emails, word processing documents, and databases are all examples of electronic records.

Metadata: data that provides information about other data. In the context of records management, metadata can include information about when a record was created, who created it, and what it relates to.

Example: The metadata for an email might include the date it was sent, the sender, and the recipients.

Life cycle of a record: the stages that a record goes through from its creation to its disposal. These stages can include creation, maintenance, use, and disposal.

Example: An employee's personnel file would go through the following stages in its life cycle: creation when the employee is hired, maintenance as the employee's employment continues, use when the file is needed for a specific purpose, and disposal when the employee leaves the company.

Challenges of records management: managing records can be challenging due to the volume of records that are created, the need to keep records secure, and the need to ensure that records are accessible when they are needed.

Example: An organization might struggle to manage its records if it does not have a clear retention schedule in place or if it does not have the resources to properly maintain its records.

Best practices for records management: some best practices for records management include:

• Developing a clear retention schedule
• Implementing a secure system for storing records
• Regularly reviewing and purging records
• Providing training for employees on records management practices

Example: A company that follows these best practices would have a clear retention schedule in place, a secure system for storing records, a regular schedule for purging records, and trained employees who understand the importance of proper records management.