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APPROVAL OF RETENTION SCHEDULES
Government Code, Section 14755, requires Department of General Services approval before the records of an agency may be destroyed. Within the Department of General Services, this responsibility has been assigned to Information & Systems Management. Approval by the CalRIM constitutes a five-year authorization to dispose of the records listed on the schedule; no further approval is necessary unless the agency changes the way the records are treated, in which case the schedule must be amended.
APPROVAL PROCEDURE
After an office has scheduled its records on the STD. 73, two copies are made and a Request for Approval, STD. 72 is completed in triplicate and attached. The three sets are then forwarded to the person in the agency who has been assigned the responsibility for acting as Records Management Analyst. If the schedule is satisfactory, the RMA then forwards all three sets to the Statewide Information & Records Management in the Department of General Services.
When the CalRIM has approved the schedule, the three sets will be forwarded to the Chief of Archives for identification of material with potential archival value. The Chief of Archives will mark any records that appear to have historical or research value with "Hold/Notify Archives." Before these records may be destroyed, the Chief of Archives must be notified and arrangements made for examination of this material.
After selections have been made, the Chief of Archives returns the original and one duplicate set to CalRIM and keeps one set for Archives files. The CalRIM files the original set and returns one set to the RMA who submitted the schedule. The RMA then makes a copy of the approved schedule, including the Request for Approval, and sends it to the originating office. This procedure is illustrated below.
Any State Department Department of General Services Informations and Systems Management Secretary of State State Archives Organizational Unit Records Management Analyst 1. Prepare Schedule (Std. 73)
Collate with and
Prepare Request for Approval (Std. 72) 2. Review and Approve 3. Review, Approve, and Assign Approval Number 4. Review, Select Items, Flag, and Sign 8. File and Use 7. Make a duplicate package
File and Reference 6. Original Package
File and Reference 5. Original Package
File and Reference
AMENDING RETENTION SCHEDULES
You may request changes in approved schedules. To affect a change, prepare three copies of form STD. 73 for each page. Next to your schedule number enter "Amendment 1" or "Amendment 2," etc.
An amended schedule (or page(s) of a schedule) must be clearly identified with the schedule and page(s) it is amending.
Items on a page may not be amended without submission of the entire page. If this forces one page to expand to two pages, use and alpha or decimal suffix for the additional page, such as 2A or 2.1.
Prepare three copies of Form STD. 72, Request for Approval of Records Retention Schedule. Send all copies of Form STD. 72 and STD. 73 through regular channels.
This procedure is also used for deleting and obsolete record series or adding a new one. Do not delete an obsolete record series until ALL the records have been disposed.
The Information and Records Management may require an agency to amend a schedule to retain specific records longer than the agency proposes if a longer retention period appears necessary to protect the interests of the state. In such cases, the Information & Records Management notifies the agency that specific records on the approved schedule must be retained for a longer period of time. This notice is by memorandum and must identify the records affected. It must also indicate the longer retention periods. A copy of the memo is sent to the Chief of Archives.
APPLYING RETENTION SCHEDULES
The purpose of a retention schedule is to establish a process for the transfer or destruction of records on a continuing basis. A records retention schedule is of little value unless it is applied regularly. If, after the initial house cleaning, the schedule is ignored, the results will be disappointing and the problem of accumulating unneeded records will remain unsolved.
WHEN SHOULD A SCHEDULE BE USED FOR DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS?
Careful timing of the transfer and destruction of records minimize handling costs both in the agency and in the records center. Records become ready for transfer or destruction every day of the year; however, to dispose of them so often would be impractical and inefficient. Experience has shown that generally records should be transferred to storage or destroyed once a year. Deviations from an annual timetable may be justified if records accumulate so rapidly that more frequent disposition is necessary.
ENSURING APPLICATION OF SCHEDULES
To ensure compliance with retention schedules, effective control must be maintained over all records in office and storage areas. Two techniques that have proved useful for this purpose are:
- All requests for filing space or equipment (including paper shredders) must be reviewed and counter-signed by the RMA to determine that the requesting unit is applying its schedules promptly and not storing records that should be transferred to storage or destroyed.
- Periodic reports to the agency RMA on the quantity of records destroyed or transferred and the amount of space or equipment released are also helpful. Such reports are valuable not only to ensure the application of retention schedules, but also to determine the savings that have resulted from the program.
KEEPING A SCHEDULE UP-TO-DATE
A retention schedule must be kept up-to-date if it is to be of value. Any addition, elimination or significant change in an existing function makes it necessary to amend the schedule to reflect the change. Also retention periods for scheduled records may have to be revised periodically to reflect changes in their referral rate.
It is important that any change or addition to a retention schedule be made promptly and that those persons using the schedule be notified immediately. Any delay increases the chance of someone relying on an incorrect schedule.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
Avoid interference with current operations. Records should be transferred or destroyed during a slack period, if possible.
Handle by bulk. It seldom pays to destroy or transfer records in very small quantities.
Tie-in with file breaks. Distinguishable file breaks make the transfer of records to storage to their destruction relatively easy. File breaks permit the transfer or destruction of records in large blocks with a minimum of handling (Example: income tax returns filed by year of the return.)
Hold purging to a minimum. It is costly to purge files on a paper-by-paper basis or when each folder must be reviewed completely. Normally, purging should not be done unless the disposable material can be separated easily from an individual folder, such as temporary records on one side of a folder. In most cases, records can be kept in an office area several years and in a records center even longer before the storage costs equals the cost of purging.
Before any agency undertakes a purging project, it should estimate the costs of the job and the potential savings. If necessary, a pilot test can be undertaken to validate the estimate.
Exceptions To This General Rule Must Be Carefully Identified: Personnel Files and other personal information require regular purging. Consult Section 1667 of SAM, the Information Practices Act, Personnel Rules and Regulations, or your personnel office for guidance
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