Records Management

Answer:
E-MAIL is a method of delivering information. It is not a kind of record.

• E-mail is a lot like regular mail. You get junk mail and advertisements. You may also receive correspondence from human resources, other departments, contracts and purchase vouchers, etc.
• You manage your e-mail the same way you manage your paper records by subject and business function.
• In order to run the university business and meet UTEP legal obligations, we have to maintain much of the information we receive by e-mail in the same way we manage paper records.
• Keep e-mail to the “content” of the e-mail.

Setting up E-mail filing system:

• Separate out junk mail and delete them.
• Sort thru your business-related e-mails. Save e-mails that document business and its processes.
• For example: save e-mails that include price quotes and changes to a work control issue.
• Do not save e-mails which contain general discussions, private e-mails or other e-mail which do not include business matters.
• Create a filing system for e-mails which you may need and be able to retrieve quickly.
• For example: create an e-mail folder called “facilities work order/schedules”.

Answer:
In short, you are. The Records Management Department does not act in an enforcement or policing capacity. We provide guidance and services designed to promote compliance with the Texas State Library's regulations, but the ultimate responsibility for the orderly maintenance and disposal of university records lies squarely in the hands of the departments/programs to which the records themselves belong.

The important thing to remember is that good Records Management is not a "project", undertaken periodically like spring cleaning. It is a business practice, and should be incorporated into the everyday routine of any university employee who handles official departmental records.

Answer:
As defined by the Government Code, §441.180(11), a state record is any written, photographic, machine-readable, or other recorded information created or received by or on behalf of a state agency or an elected state official that documents activities in the conduct of state business or use of public resources.

To put it another way, a record consists of any document created or received by your department in the course of official university business. It can be a sheet of paper, a computer file, an e-mail, a videotape, a sound recording, a photograph - the medium is pretty much irrelevant. Whether hand-written in calligraphy on parchment or whipped up in seconds on a PC, a record is the property of the state, and must be handled according to established regulations.

Answer:
For a number of reasons. An organization's records serve as the principal artifacts of its own institutional history, preserving day-to-day business, internal and external communication, financial transactions and more. Without complete and accurate records, responsibly maintained, an organization is highly vulnerable to any number of consequences resulting from accidents, natural catastrophes, lawsuits, etc.

The scenarios listed below are fictional, but are fairly typical of the sort of consequences that can befall organizations that fail to take adequate measures to preserve its documentary resources.

Scenario One: Total Loss of Records
A fire breaks out in the main offices of Widgets, Inc., and the entire building burns to the ground. Even though (in this scenario, at least) nobody was injured and the building was insured from the ground up, Widgets, Inc. is in serious trouble -- because all of its records were destroyed. The building and equipment can all be replaced, but the information contained in several years' worth of files is gone. Hiring records. Paycheck stubs. Address lists. Sales vouchers. Receipts. Correspondence. Permits and licenses. Not just gone, but irretrievable. So when a client files a lawsuit six months later, demanding reimbursement for the 2000 widgets it paid for but never received, Widgets, Inc. has no way of proving that the order had been filled two days before the fire. Sounds bad? This could be just the beginning.

Scenario Two: Improper Disposal
Auditors at the Onceler Corporation, parent company of Widgets, Inc., notice a few irregularities in the budgetary documentation that Widgets, Inc. submitted some years back. It appears as though a couple of digits on one of the expense sheets were reversed. Was this simply a case of input error previously unnoticed, or a telltale sign of something illegal going on? The auditors contact Hugh DeMann, the director responsible for the account where the irregularity has appeared. They ask him for documentation that will account for the discrepancy. In his own mind, Hugh knows that the digit reversal must be a simple typo -- after all, this was his expense account, and he would probably remember having embezzled $9,500 of company funds. The problem is that he can't prove it, since just the previous week he had shredded the files that would have cleared everything up. "But they were three years old," he says. "I didn't think we needed them anymore."

It is important to realize, though, that proper Records Management means more than just locking documents away in a closet and forgetting about them. While most hazards associated with poorly maintained records are the consequence of premature destruction or loss, others are brought about by an organization's failure to destroy records in a timely manner.

Scenario Three: Coming Back To Haunt You
They say that the Onceler Corporation will never see another year like 1961. They were at the top of their game then, their products were in demand, and there was little to no competition. At the end of the year, their president decided to reward his employees with very generous holiday bonuses. The checks were written, signed, and stuffed into envelopes. Almost overnight, though, the bottom fell out of the market. Unable to afford handing out the bonuses, the president held onto the envelopes. Since this had all been done as a surprise, no one knew to expect the bonuses, and nobody complained when they didn't arrive. The whole thing was forgotten. Last year, though, Noah Vale, a new employee at Onceler, found a stack of old payroll envelopes in a storeroom. On one of the envelopes he spotted the name of Ira Caull, an old family friend who had worked for the company for many years. Not knowing what it was, Noah snuck the envelope out of the office and showed it to Ira. Seeing as how the check was accompanied by a handwritten letter from the long-retired president, it was hard to misinterpret the envelopes' content. Now Ira, along with dozens of other retired Onceler employees and their families, is demanding that these bonuses be paid (adjusted for inflation and lost interest, of course).