Transcript Email As Records - University of Wisconsin

Email as Records
UW Colleges and UW - Extension
Dennis Larsen, CRM
Records Officer
February 20, 2014
Goals of Presentation
• Deleting email is a virtue
– Deleting unimportant email is necessary
– Implementation of Office 365 provides a good
opportunity to do this.
• Learn what email (records) should be
retained.
– After deleting many email some will remain.
– Most of these although retained will also deserve
deletion at a later date.
2
Email Retention or Disposition?
• Axiom of records management:
– Most records lose significance fast.
– Email are often records, but lose value fast.
• After the bill is paid, further reference is close to zero.
• Once you have attended a meeting, the email invitation
becomes much less interesting.
• When should we delete?
• What practices and official policy does the
University system have regarding email?
3
Business Communications
Official
University of
Wisconsin
Policy!
4
Identify email content
Is the email nonbusiness &
personal, an extra
copy, a draft, or
spam?
Yes
Wisconsin State Statue
16.61(2)(b) says it is not a
record. Delete it!
No
Is the email
business, but has
transitory, short
term value?
Yes
Retention Schedule*: Keep 7
days or until superseded or
event has expired. Delete it!
No
Is the email
routine business,
but with an ending
event?
Yes
Retention Schedule*: Keep
6 months after event,
project or activity. Delete it!
Yes
Follow appropriate
retention schedule
available at Records
Schedules
No
Is the email part of
existing a known
schedule?
No? Contact records
officer
5
Is the email
non- business
& personal, an
extra copy, a
draft, or spam?
Yes
Wisconsin State
Statue
16.61(2)(b)
says it is not a
record, it is a
non-record
Delete it!
No
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Statute 16.61(2)(b)(1-6) Public
Records does not include:
1. Records and correspondence of any member of
the legislature.
1m. Any state document received by a state
document depository library.
2. Duplicate copies of materials the original copies
of which are in the custody of the same state
agency and which are maintained only for
convenience or reference and for no other
substantive purpose.
3. Materials in the possession of a library or
museum made or acquired solely for reference or
exhibition purposes.
Statute 16.61(2)(b)(1-6) Public
Records does not include:
4. Notices or invitations received by a state agency
that were not solicited by the agency and that are
not related to any official action taken, proposed
or considered by the agency.
5. Drafts, notes, preliminary computations and like
materials prepared for the originator's personal
use or prepared by the originator in the name of a
person for whom the originator is working.
6. Routing slips and envelopes.
Speaking of Spam
Weeding out non-record
material is a best practice.
What are some examples of
spam?
Delete it!
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Speaking of Spam
Looks
phishy
to me.
Delete it!
Weed out non-record
material
Delete!
Delete non-records such
as advertising and spam
Non-records
Non-records
Non-records
Non-records
Non-records
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Is the email
business, but
has transitory,
short term
value?
Yes
Keep 7 days
or until
superseded
or event has
expired.
Delete
it!
RDA#UWBC0002
No
12
Business Communication:
Transitory
Also known as RDA #UWBC0002
RDA is Retention Disposition Authorization
Transitory communication is directly connected to the
transaction of public business that is conducted by
university employees, but it has a short-term business
value.
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
13
Business Communication:
Transitory
Transitory communication has no business value after the
information contained in the message has been conveyed or
superseded, or the event to which the message is related has
occurred. Transitory communication does not establish policies,
guidelines, or procedures; certify a transaction; become a receipt;
nor perpetuate or formalize business activities of the University of
Wisconsin System. Transitory communication is not necessary for
statutory, legal, or fiscal purposes; has no historical value; would
not be filed in a records management system; and should be
destroyed after one week, or when obsolete because the
communication has been superseded or the related event has
transpired.
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
14
Business Communication:
Transitory
Transitory communication can be memorialized using many different types
of business tools, and examples include but are not limited to:
(1) Messages that communicate information that is not the basis for
official action, such as news bulletins, holiday notices, charity and
welfare appeals, or information about workplace events.
(2) Scheduling information pertaining to an event that has already
occurred.
(3) Courtesy copies of communications that convey information but do
not require responsive action by the University employee who is the
recipient, but not the creator, of the communication.
(4) Communication that is created by, or received from, a distribution list,
listserv, or other resource provider for reference purposes.
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
15
Business Communication:
Transitory
(5) A preliminary version of a document that has been shared for review
and comment among colleagues after it has been superseded by a
successive version of the document. Preliminary versions of a record
may be classified as transitory only by the recipient, but not the creator,
of the communication.
(6) Transitory requests for information or materials to which a university
employee can easily reply, and in response to which a university
employee would not have to perform special research, engage
administrative processes, or seek supervisory review.
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
16
Delete Non-records and Transitory Email
from your Inbox
Delete!
See Email Clean-Up for O365 Migration
Transitory Records
Transitory Records
Non Records
Non Records
Non Records
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Deleting Messages
You can delete messages individually if you'd like, but there's also
two quick ways to delete multiple messages at a time.
• If you want to delete multiple consecutive messages: click the
first message, then press and hold the Shift key on your
keyboard. While still holding Shift, click the last email that you
want to delete. You can now delete all of the highlighted
messages at once.
• If you want to delete multiple messages that are not all in a row:
Click the first message you'd like to delete, then press and hold
the CTRL key on your keyboard. While still holding CTRL,
select the next message you'd like to delete. Repeat this until all
of your desired messages are highlighted. You can now delete
all of the highlighted messages at once.
Source: page 3 Email Clean-Up for O365 Migration
Is the email
routine
business, but
with an ending
event?
No? Contact
the Records
Officer
Yes
Keep 6
months after
event, project
or activity.
Delete it!
RDA# UWBC0001
No
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Folders for Routine Projects
Retention 6 months from “event”
“Event” refers
to a defined
point which
starts the
retention
clock ticking.
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Business Communications Routine
“Routine communication has continuing value as a
public record, because it is directly connected to
the transaction of public business that is conducted
by university employees… comprises the normal
communication that occurs when university
employees, and sometimes their colleagues who
are not university employees, work together to
transaction public business on behalf of the
University… has no historical value; never includes
records that set forth university policies, guidelines,
procedures, or directives;…does not formalize
business processes…”
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
21
Business Communications Routine
Routine communication can be memorialized using many different types of
business tools, and it includes but is not limited to communication that:
(1) Allows university employees, and sometimes non-employees, who are in
different physical locations to discuss and perform routine aspects of business
activities or projects on behalf of the University of Wisconsin System;
(2) Records routine aspects of the decision-making process that occurred
between colleagues during the lifecycle of a business activity or project;
(3) Assists employees in administering routine facets of a university activity or
business project; or
(4) Allows employees to disseminate to their colleagues routine, substantive
materials that are related to a university activity or business project.
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
22
Business Communications Routine
How long should we keep routine business communications i.e. E-Mail?
Due to its routine nature, this type of communication is necessary only for a
period of six months after a business activity or project is finished, and
thereafter, it can be destroyed.
As the user and manager of your own email, you have the chance to
determine when to start the retention for the 6 months of retention. The
starting point or trigger of retention periods is often called the event . That
event as described above is after a business activity or project is finished.
The business activity might the end of a semester, session, cycle of work,
quarter, fiscal year…The event could be signified by a committee or task force
ends. The event might be triggered by a final presentation, a final document,
a report, a recommendation…
Source of definitions: University of Wisconsin System Business Communication General Records Schedule.
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Business Communications Routine
What are recommended practices for retaining and
deleting routine email?
• Classify email and store email in folders
according to content and the retention rule of 6
months.
• Use clear names for emails in subject which
match folders.
• Plan time regularly manage email (Best Practice)
• Use automated methods where appropriate to
gain efficiency in managing email.
Business Communications Routine
All these emails are part of a routine project:
Option: Move emails to I-Drive to
Project File
I-drive, My Documents
Copy email to here
Conversations in Email (tip)
Click
From View tab Click to show
email as
conversation.
Helps identify
email subject.
Helps with
deleting or
naming a folder
for retention.
Is the email part of
existing and known
schedule?
No? Contact
records
officer
Yes
Email can be part of
many diverse
records series
defined in General
Records Schedules
such as Human
Resources,
Financial Aid, Fiscal
and Accounting,
Administrative
Records, Student
Records, etc.
Ask the records
officer and also see
General Records
Schedules at:
http://www.uwex.uw
c.edu/records/sched
ules/posted/
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e.g. Agreements
and Contracts
UWS General
Records Schedule
Is the email part of
existing and known
schedule?
Yes
UWADM013
Contracts between a
university… private
entities…also
include any
correspondence
clarifying or setting
terms in the contract
itself.
EVT + 6 years then
Delete it!
No? Contact
records
officer
Duplicates? Delete
when no longer
needed.
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Suggestion: Copy Longer Term Email to
Your I-Drive
Continuing with example Agreement and Contracts
A pre-existing set of folders you might have already for documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
etc. might work for you.
You can save messages one at a time or by selecting multiple messages. See Email Clean-Up
for O365 Migration sent via email on 2/24/14
Suggestion: Copy Longer Term Email to
Your I-Drive
Multiples email not in a row? Then click first message, hold CTRL key, and while holding select
a second email. Copy selected email using right click then paste to your I-Drive, My
Documents, and to desired folder.
See Email Clean-Up for O365 Migration sent via email on 2/24/14
1st click
2nd click
What do these UWADM013
Agreements and Contracts include?
Per official description:
This series consists of
Contracts between a university
or smaller unit and other
government or private entities
retained by the office or
department. This series may
also include any
correspondence clarifying or
setting terms in the contract
itself.
Retention: EVT + 6 Yrs
EVENT= Close of the
Contract date or
fulfillment/supersession of
the terms.
Some contracts may be scheduled in
other series for shorter or longer
retention periods; consult your
institution’s records officer.
Copies: Destroy when no
longer needed.
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Email In Various Devices?
• What if your email records exist in multiple
computer and systems, even devices of your
own; is it possible for it to be open to a public
records request?
• What if you use alternate non-university email
e.g. G-mail or Hotmail, is it possible for it to be
open to a public records request?
Answer: Yes See Open Records Requests
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Questions or Comments
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