To ensure the university has the necessary information and records to meet its legal, administrative, fiscal, research, and historical needs, Records Management provides a number of services to aid University departments in carrying out their responsibilities of safeguarding University information and records.
Services offered by Records Management include:
Records Inventorying and Retention
Before the University can determine how long certain records need to be retained, it first must know what types of records it creates. To determine the types of records, a records inventory must be conducted. A member of the Records Management staff will provide assist you in creating a listing of the types of records, the dates, volume, distribution of the records, plus other important information.
Once the records inventory is completed, Records Management staff will analyze the inventory for administrative, legal, research, fiscal and historical needs, review the findings with the department, and submit any new Retention Authorizations to the appropriate University approving authorities.
Records Center
To ensure that university records needing to be retained are kept in a safe appropriate environment, Records Management operates a systemwide records center. The University Records Center is to be used by all departments to store records that have to be retained to meet University Retention Authorization requirements, per University policy. In addition to paper records, the Records Center can also be used to store University records contained on magnetic tape reels and cartridges, video tapes and other media configurations.
The Records Center is not to be used for storage of magazines, extra copies of documents retained for convenience, newspapers, books or other non-record material retained for reference.
For additional information, contact recordsmanagement@umsystem.edu.
Forms Management
Appropriately designed forms enhance the information gathering process and reduce the amount of time and expense of gathering information. In addition to being responsible for the design and printing of UM System forms, the Forms Management staff is available to assist all university departments with designing departmental forms.
For assistance or questions about forms, contact recordsmanagement@umsystem.edu.
Disaster Prevention/Planning/Recovery
Records are the memory of an organization showing: what was done, how it was done, why it was done, when it was done, and who did it. Departments must take appropriate steps to ensure records and information are protected as much as possible from loss by natural or man-made disasters. When damage to information and records cannot be prevented, plans must be in place to recover the information as quickly as possible. Records Management staff can provide assistance to departments in developing disaster prevention and recovery plans.
For help with disaster prevention and recovery planning, contact recordsmanagement@umsystem.edu.
Filing Systems/Design
Several University Records are still in paper format. To retrieve this information in a timely, efficient manner requires that university departments use properly designed filing systems. To aid departments with their filing needs, Records Management staff is available to assist with any aspect of their filing practices including help with selecting filing equipment.
For help with filing issues, either electronic or by paper, contact recordsmanagement@umsystem.edu.
Training In Records Management
As part of the ongoing effort to provide information on the Records Management program and the services offered by the department, Records Management staff are available to present on-site training sessions about any aspect of the Records Management program. If your department has periodic staff meetings and you are in need of records guidance in your office, contact Records Management for a presentation.
To request a presentation, contact recordsmanagement@umsystem.edu.
Reviewed 2019-08-05