TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Records are an essential business tool. If handled properly, they can help you be effective in your job. If managed improperly or not at all, you may lose access to important information you need to do your job. Records can document compliance and important actions taken or decisions made. Moreover, in most agencies, they can be subject to legal requirements.
At Sacramento State, records matter, and that is why policies exist to manage them. The University Records Management Policy governs standards for retaining and managing both paper files and electronic media. All employees are responsible for following these policies covering records retrieval, retention, recovery and reduction.
According to University Records Management Coordinator Kem Gravenberg, good records management has many benefits:
- Data integrity
- Data accessibility
- Cost reduction
- Elimination of clutter
Kem offers these tips for managing records effectively.
- File in an orderly, intelligible and systematic fashion (records are of no use unless you can retrieve them when you need them).
- Eliminate working versions and drafts when final versions are complete.
- Move records to departmental or centralized files when you’re finished using them.
- Re-file current working papers to clear your work space.
- Prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information by locking up paper files and following computer security guidelines.
- Records should be reviewed at periodic intervals to determine appropriate disposition – destruction, erasure or continued retention.
You can find comprehensive information about how to manage and dispose of University records on the University Records Management website at http://www.csus.edu/aba/records-management/.