Records Management 101

University Records Management is mandated primarily by Chapter 40.14 RCW.  

The basic tenets of this law are:

• All information prepared, owned, used, or retained by Western in carrying out its public mission is considered "public record" material.
• The definition of a public record is format neutral (it applies equally to all formats, digital or non-digital, and regardless of where they reside).
• All public records must be accounted for, accessible, and kept according to a retention schedule.
• All retention schedules must be approved by the State Records Committee.
• No public record may be destroyed except as governed by an approved retention schedule.

A public record is

1. recorded information (i.e. information "written" to a medium)
2. prepared, owned, used, or retained by a state agency (e.g. WWU)
3. relating to the conduct of its affairs or the performance of any institutional or proprietary function

This definition applies regardless of medium, format, physical characteristics, or subject matter.  It also applies to drafts and secondary copies of records. 

Essentially, you should assume that all of the records you use in carrying out your work at WWU are classified as public records and subject to these requirements. 

A Records Retention Schedule does the following:

It encodes records retention requirements

A records retention schedule specifies the length of time that records must be kept or retained before they can be disposed. 

• The length of time that a record must be retained is called a retention period.

It encodes records disposition requirements

A retention schedule also specifies what action to take after a record's required retention period has passed. 

• The action taken after a record's retention period has passed is called disposition.
• Typically, disposition involves either destruction/deletion or transfer to University Archives.

It provides disposition authority

In Washington State, the State Records Committee must approve all retention schedules, and no public record may be disposed unless authorized by an approved retention schedule.  

At WWU, the University Archivist is the university's liaison to the State Records Committee for the purpose of gaining approval of retention schedules for use by WWU. 

University Archives and Records Management then publishes the official versions of approved retention schedules for use at WWU.

Retention schedules at WWU

There are two types of retention schedules at WWU: 

• WWU General Records Retention Schedule
• Office-specific retention schedules

It's important to understand the different records systems you interact with to create and manage records. Where records are stored affects how they are managed--and this can include the extent to which you are responsible for managing them. 

Generally-speaking, the more you take care to store records in a formalized system, the more likely you are to attain better compliance with records management requirements. Therefore, it's a good idea to create a mental map of the systems you interact with.

Common types of records systems

Systems used by your office

• Special system(s) your office uses for its unique work
• SharePoint, Teams

Systems used university-wide with which you interact

• Banner, OnBase, Travel, Marketplace, P-Card, E-sign forms, etc.

Systems used only by you

• Your OneDrive, your Teams chat or other personal spaces aligned with your user ID such as Google Drive

Email

• Your own WWU Outlook account
• Your unit's group/program account(s)

Find the right home for records that need to be kept

Make it a goal to store "final," official records in the systems that have shared or centralized management.

• These are often coordinated at the office level
• This enables shared responsibility for ongoing retention and supports:
  • Authenticity
  • Integrity
  • Accessibility
  • Reliability
  • Efficiency

Clean up unneeded copies and other records

In spaces only accessible by you, try to only store drafts, reference copies, or other transitory records that can be deleted at any time--and do so on a regular basis.

Do not store records in personal accounts or devices

University records should not be stored on personal devices – not only does that prevent others who may need to from accessing the records, it can also seriously compromise your, and others’, security and privacy.

Public records created and stored on personal devices are still subject to disposition holds, public records requests, and records retention requirements. If there is a public records request involving records on your personal device(s), you will need to produce them, just the same as if they were in a university-owned location. Additionally, your personal devices may be subject to discovery or subpoena during litigation if there are public records stored on them. This may lead to your personal data being open to exposure during those processes.

For more information, see our guide to records management while working remotely.

Use a retention schedule

Finally, whenever you have responsibility to maintain records, you will need to use a retention schedule. Take some time to browse the retention schedules published on our site and see if you can map your records to relevant titles on the schedule. As always, please feel free to ask us for help if needed!

Know your inbox

Offices often use program or group email accounts in support of their business processes. These kinds of centralized email accounts can support program continuity as employees come and go, as well as shift email retention responsibility from individual employee accounts.

However, because you are assigned your own, individual email account, it is inevitable that you will need to take steps to manage your own email on a regular basis.

Decide whether to retain or delete email records

There is no single retention period for email. Each email must be retained according to the retention policy governing the business process the email documents. That said, a lot of email may be transitory in nature and can be deleted as soon as no longer needed. 

Emails with likely retention obligations will meet the following criteria:

1. You are the sender or recipient (the email could be in your Inbox or Sent Items), AND the email is related to WWU or your job duties, AND
2. You need to take action based on the contents of the email, OR
3. The email documents a formal business process or job function that you are responsible for performing.

Soon there will be retention labels deployed in Outlook to assist WWU employees in retention obligations for email records. Training to learn how to use the labels will be extended to all employees. The flowchart below has been developed to model a decision process for employees to follow when applying retention labels in Outlook. 

All of the records you manage or interact with are important, and some will have historical value. One of the goals of University Archives and Records Management is to create a rich and well-rounded archival collection documenting Western's history. To that end, all Western employees can contribute.  

You can be a steward of history by doing the following:

Ensure that records remain intact and in their appropriate context

• Keep records intact with other related records
• Records are best understood with respect to the context of their origin

Align records with the most relevant record title on an approved retention schedule

• Using the proper title from a retention schedule adds important context to records, especially when records are transferred to the University Archives
• The title used for records possessing historical value should have an "Archival" designation
• Be alert for records that might possess historical value but do not appear to have an applicable title on a retention schedule
  • Contact us if you have questions

The university records management policy identifies key roles for each office to act as unit authorities and liaisons to UARM.  These individuals can give you additional information about how records management policies are implemented in your work unit.

UARM staff can identify the individuals in those roles for your office - feel free to contact us!

Please contact us if you have any questions or if you would like additional training on records management topics.