Records Retention, Disposition and Writing Schedules and Amendments Training Script
1 | Records Management Schedule Training October 2016
Records Retention, Disposition and Writing Schedules and Amendments Training Script
Slide 1
Records Retention, Disposition and Writing Schedules and Amendments
Hello and welcome to this Records Management training on retention, disposition and schedules. My name is Felicia Kennedy and I’m the Management Analyst for the Maine State Archives. We hope this training will give you some further guidance for agencies which are either writing new schedules or in the process of updates.
Slide 2
Managing Your Records
In order to have the information you need (when it’s required), there has to be a way to identify, manage and retain records for the right amount of time.
Records are managed by creating agency schedules – a document that tells you how long to keep specific types of records and what should happen to them when they have served the business needs of the agency.
Slide 3
A Records Retention Schedule lists all the titles of a records series, length of time each series will be retained as an active record, the reason for its retention (administrative, legal, fiscal) and disposition (destroy or archival) agreed by the agency and Records Management.
A clearly defined plan for a record retention and disposal is a vital component of a records program.
Basically, the retention schedule is a set of work instructions for the people in your organization: "Keep this record six years, keep that record ten years." Without these written instructions, staff can’t be expected to be held accountable and keep records on a consistent basis.
For anyone unfamiliar with schedules, this Department Series Report, is the printout you would receive from us, listing all of your record series and these can be found on our website.
Slide 4
A records retention schedule can act as the following:
1. An agency policy document – So there are established requirements of how long to keep certain records and it would also give justifications for why you are doing so.
2. A list of work instructions – So agency employees know what records to retain, how long to keep them and when to destroy them.
3. A compliance document – A Schedule shows others you are complying with any legal duties to keep particular records for specified lengths of time.
Slide 5
Why You Need Schedules
· Ensure records are organized and maintained to be easily retrieved and identifiable as evidence of the agency activities (especially in the event of an audit, FOAA request or a discovery for a lawsuit).
· Helps to preserve those records that are valuable for historical or research purposes.
· Determines appropriate records media and the record copy to which the full retention should be applied.
· Maximizes use of appropriate storage.
· Helps to provide security for restricted records.
· Provides control throughout the records’ life cycle including final disposition.
The major goal is to provide clear guidance for agency employees on how long they should be retaining their records.
Slide 6
Some Risks of Not Having Schedules
- The more information an office retains, the greater the burden of identifying and locating records when needed for reference purposes and legal compliance.
- Unnecessary Storage Costs (Yes, this includes electronic records! Some agencies are under the misconception that if records are in electronic format there is no burden to the agency in keeping them indefinitely.)
- Possible destruction of records before they have met fiscal or legal requirements or possible destruction of archival records
- Having to produce records in Discovery proceedings that otherwise should have been destroyed (if you are keeping it, even though you shouldn’t be, the agency must produce it – again I go back to point #2 which also means electronic records must be purged)
Slide 7
Why Bother with Retention Schedules
For obvious reasons you need schedules because things need to be written down so you and everyone around you can remember what they are. (If you’re anything like me, I can barely remember why I’ve gone from one room to the next. I have to keep notes all the time.)
You might know what the record means to you today and how long to retain it, but will you still know tomorrow or the next day and will the person who comes after you know what those boxes of records are in the closet or on the server? You need written instructions for today, tomorrow and years to come that will make sense to whomever comes next.
Slide 8
What Records Need to Be on a Schedule
All state government records must be covered by retention schedules. This includes records that never leave the creating agency's custody. Let me make that clear because some agencies have the misconception that if they are not sending records to the Records Center or Archives, then they don’t need to be on an approved Agency Schedule. This is NOT the case and would only apply to records under the State General Schedules.
If you are creating and maintaining records in digital format, a retention schedule would still apply just as it would for paper, microfilm, and other "traditional format" records. The most important principle to remember is this: Content, not format, determines retention.
Slide 9
Record-keeping in Your Agency
Things to Consider
Ø What records will you retain and for what purpose?
Ø How long should you retain records for?
Ø What format are the records in?
Ø Do any statutory requirements apply to your records in terms of their retention?
Ø Do any Chapter Rules or Policies already exist which outline expectations about records, retention and destruction?
Ø How will records be managed?
Ø Where will records be stored and who will have access to them?
Ø What process will be in place to destroy records once retention is reached (for both paper or electronic records)?
Slide 10
Where Do You Begin?
Determine What You Have
It’s always best to start from the beginning!
Slide 11
Identify Your Records - Conduct a Records Inventory
An Inventory is an important step in determining what records your agency is creating and retaining. The Inventory is a high level survey of all types of information created, received and stored by your agency.
There are also some alternative methods of information gathering such as:
Surveys
The survey/questionnaire technique offers considerable advantages over a records inventory in terms of the resources needed to conduct it. If you have designed an appropriate form/questionnaire, you should yield quality results.
Interviews
The results of the interview can be considered more informative and detailed than can be obtained from a standard survey form.
For more information on inventory methods you can go to our website.
Slide 12
What You Need to Know When Gathering Information
You must understand why the information is being recorded.
· What is the purpose of the record for the business needs of the agency?
· What about once business needs are met?
· Who might look at it and why?
· What business process does it support?
Answers to these questions provide key information in developing your retention schedules.
Slide 13
When looking at reasons a record is kept, you may want to consider the following:
Day-to-day business operations
Audit and Budget
Agency Policy
Strategic planning
Regulatory requirements
Claims or investigations
If a record is required by law or statute, it may have a retention period that you can apply to it. In this case, you would need to research and cite your source.
Unfortunately, most state records don’t have any precise retention times written in Maine statute (believe me, I have looked) so it will be up to you and your agency to understand the records being created and the needs they serve to your department.
Slide 14
Building a Structure
Once you know something about your records, you can begin building a structure.
You will need to know what to label records and how to arrange them. Remember you are building something for every employee in your agency to use so it has to provide instructions that will not only make sense to you but to everyone in your agency. This is the agency's instruction booklet on how to manage and retain all of the agency records so make it as user-friendly as possible.
Analyze your results and think about the functions of the records. Once you have determined what each record is used for, you can then build a structure that reflects those different uses.
For example, lets look at part of the General Schedules.
Slide 15
General Schedule Example
Records can be placed within categories (or records series), and when a record comes along that doesn’t fit into any category, a new category can be created.
Records such as:
Cash Receipt Statement/Income Statement
Bank Deposit Slip
Agency Receipts
Could be considered part of an Income category
But records such as:
Employee Training Records
Direct Hire Applications
Would not fit in the Income category so a new category would need to be created (GS 10 – Personnel Series)
Categorizing records can only be done if you understand the records use and function to your agency. This includes updating an outdated schedule list – you would need to know the functions of the records on the pre-existing schedule.
Slide 16
How Big is Your Bucket - Determine Your Record Series
Slide 17
What Makes a Record Series
A series is a grouping of records that support similar business processes or contain similar information and have related legal or operational retention requirements.
Creating record series allows an office to apply consistent retention practices to similar types of records.
Each record series consists of a description of the process the records support and examples of the types of records that fall under the series.
A retention period is associated with each record series (and must be the same for all records in a series). A retention period may be stated in terms of months or years, or may be expressed as contingent upon the occurrence of an event such as the termination of a contract or conclusion of a project. The retention period can be “in agency” only or at the Records Center or a combination of both.
Slide 18
Series to AVOID
Avoid series categories such as “miscellaneous” or “general.” Agency schedules should list “unique” records (apart from the General Schedules) and there isn’t any place for a “general” record at the agency level. Every record should be about a specific topic or agency function. Creating a general category is like developing some “catch-all” type of category for unrelated records, creating the exact opposite effect of what the agency retention schedule is supposed to provide – exact instructions for your employees on what to do with specific records. A retention period assigned to a series is based upon the assumption that the records are similar. When a series is titled “Miscellaneous Records” this isn't possible.
Slide 19
How Much to Fit in One Bucket
How to Divide Up a Series
Consider General Schedule 10, Series 1, Employee Personnel Records. There may be several different documents within the folder, some of which might have more retention value than others but it wouldn't make sense to separate out all the records so they are grouped together under one series.
However, there may be other instances where it’s easy to distinguish long term from short term retention in related files and to create two series. Also there may be circumstances where records are similar but should be retained as a separate series for other reasons.
The goal is to select a structure that best accommodates your agency’s needs while minimizing retention duplication or longer storage of documents when it's possible to separate them out into their own manageable series.
Slide 20
Use the Right Terms
What you are creating is like a roadmap for your records so employees know how to navigate throughout their records day – the schedule is going to give them clear guidance on the directions they need to take. Again, using broad topics that give no direction such as “general” can lead people in circles with no clear direction on what to do with their records.
Another thing to avoid is using acronyms. AG could stand for Attorney General or Associated Grocers. Spell things out whenever possible and never assume that everyone knows what an abbreviation stands for.
The structure and terms of your series will be the foundation of your retention schedules so make sure you have all the appropriate pieces in place at the beginning. Your primary objective is to have clear, concise directions for your agency so everyone is keeping the right records for the right amount of time.
Slide 21
You Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em (And When to Fold ‘Em) – Determine Retention and Disposition
Slide 22
Determine Retention and Disposition of Your Records
Unfortunately, there is no universal guide to determine retention periods and disposition methods. Each record series needs to be examined individually in regard to usage patterns, departmental needs, historic value and legal issues.