General Guidelines for the Generating Unit: Managing Digital Records
Managing and Preserving Records in a Digital Form is a Shared Responsibility
Overview
For the purposes of this guideline, digital records are all records, regardless of their digital form, prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by university administrators, faculty acting in administrative capacities, and staff of university units in the performance of an official function. A number of new technologies create records. Individual records may be created in electronic mail systems, as web-based publications, and as documents created and stored in administrative information systems.
The Benefits of Managing Digital Records
There are a number of benefits associated with the implementation of sound records management practices and procedures for digital records. Some of the benefits include
- fulfilling legal mandates
- facilitating records retrieval
- identifying strategies for the preservation of records
- reducing the costs of storing obsolete records
- ensuring the creation and management of accurate and reliable records.1
Maintaining and providing access to digital records over time will be a shared responsibility. Establishing and operating effective recordkeeping systems and good business practices are best achieved through a multidisciplinary approach. University offices should make effective use of the necessary range of expertise available throughout the university. Effective teams would include individuals with expertise in
- archives and records management
- information technology
- data and information management
- business system analysis and design
- auditing and risk management
- law 2
The University Archives staff is available to review systems at the time systems are modified or during the design of new systems. As an aid in developing a digital records policy, a document "Standards for An Electronic Records Policy" created and endorsed by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation University Archivists Group is linked from this manual.
Notes
- Section IV. Statement of Benefits, Standards for an Electronic Records Policy, Committee on Institutional Cooperation University Archivists Group (UAG).
- Section V. Statement of Responsibility, Standards for An Electronic Records Policy, Committee on Institutional Cooperation University Archivists Group (UAG).