A Records Retention Schedule is a planning document for the creation/use, transfer, and ultimate disposition of records. As a planning document, the RRS should be referenced regularly to track the use, creation, and disposition of records. Retaining expired physical records in any storage facility—the office, departmental storage, external storage, etc.—costs money and makes it difficult to find current records that are needed to conduct the State agency’s business. When arranging the transfer and destruction of records, it is important to refer to the records’ retention periods on the Schedule as well as the State agency’s business practices.
After a Records Retention Schedule has been approved and returned to the Records Management Coordinator (RMC), the retention schedule should be distributed to program staff who work with the records listed on the schedule. Program staff should be able to use the Records Retention Schedule (STD. 73) and the Records Inventory Worksheet (STD. 70) to find information regarding the disposition and location of each record maintained in the office. The Retention Schedule should also be available on your Agency’s intranet site for easy access. If there is ever a question of how long a record should be retained, the information from the records inventory and retention schedule should be used to determine the retention period.
Program are encouraged to look for records stored in the office that have passed their retention period. Expired records can be disposed of according to the Records Retention Schedule. If staff are unsure about the retention period for a record, they should contact the RMC for their State agency. Empowering staff to properly dispose of records on a regular basis will help ensure a regular flow of records through the office and avoid costs pertaining to storage.
Records management should be incorporated into onboarding training for new employees. If the State agency conducts regular new employee orientations, records management policies and procedures should be included. The RMC or RMAC should make sure all new staff receive a copy of the Records Retention Schedule for their unit.
Highlighting the proper destruction of records helps remind staff that not all records need to remain in the office permanently.
The RMC should regularly check in with units within their state agency to ensure records are being handled correctly per the retention schedule. If there are RMACs assigned to each unit, the RMC and the RMACs should meet regularly to discuss records management topics and to make sure the State agency’s policies and procedures are being properly applied.
The Records Management Policies and Procedures should also cover the implementation of the approved retention schedule. RMCs and signing managers are responsible for ensuring that retention schedules, upon completion, are distributed to the staff that need to use it.
