Records Management FAQs

All documents, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, images, sound recordings and most content that staff create, update or refer to in the course of carrying out their contractual duties at the University are records.  Records can be in both paper and electronic formats.

Example:
While quite different in their function and format, all of the following are records: the minutes of a meeting documenting decisions; an invoice requiring payment; an email approving expenditure; a letter of complaint, a regularly updated database of student information; a formal research grant application; a legal contract; a spreadsheet of external contacts; a podcast of a lecture; a photograph taken at a graduation ceremony for use in promotional materials.
 

A master record is the definitive version of a record held by the ‘records owner’.  The records owner is the individual who either created the master record or the current member of staff who is formally responsible for the master record as part of their contractual duties.  Identifying the Master Records, and the corresponding Records Owner, usually will be straightforward. However, due to the devolved nature of the University, and the fact that numerous individual members of staff in multiple Institutions may access and use the same records, on occasion it can be difficult to pinpoint the Master Records and corresponding Records Owner.  Guidance and examples are included in the Master Records Retention Schedule but if you are in doubt, please contact the Information Compliance Office for advice.

There is only one master record within the entire University, meaning that in your Department or Division you may in fact hold a duplicate copy of the master record rather than the master record itself.

Example:
Staff working in the Schools might create their own informal guidance for students concerning the admissions criteria for their degree programmes.  However, the formal record of such criteria, and therefore the only master record for these purposes, is held within the central team in Education Services.

A master record could be a letter, a document, an email, a spreadsheet, a database – indeed, pretty much any format in which information can be held.  However, where identical digital (electronic) and paper copies of a record exist, a decision needs to be taken on a case by case basis by the records owner as to whether the digital or paper copy equates to the master record.  In most circumstances the digital record will be the master.

No.  As well as master records, there are duplicate records and transitory records.

Duplicate records are copies of the master record held by anyone other than the records owner – these should be destroyed once they are no longer required.

Example:
A committee member who receives the minutes of meetings holds a duplicate record rather than the master record.  They should retain the minutes while required, for instance to enable them to correctly fulfil any follow-up actions, after which the document should be destroyed.

Transitory records, meanwhile, are records of purely ephemeral value which do not need to be retained for any particular period and should be destroyed in the normal course of business when no longer required, to keep offices and servers free of unnecessary and redundant material.

Example:
A draft letter annotated with minor suggestions and typographical corrections is a transitory record and may be destroyed as soon as the changes have been incorporated into the final version.  Similarly, an email received solely for information is a transitory record and should be deleted once the information is no longer of use.

Secure storage of records is especially important if they contain sensitive material, such as commercially confidential information, the personal data of individuals, legally privileged communications, or valuable financial statistics.  This applies equally to master, duplicate and transitory records – a spreadsheet containing confidential information is still confidential even if you only have a duplicate copy. Policy and guidance about information security is published by UIS.

The Master Records Retention Schedule sets out recommendations on the periods for which records owners should retain copies of master records within their Department or  Division.  It also informs records owners about what to do with the master records once that retention period has run out.  It is important to remember that the retention periods listed in the Schedule relate solely to master records.  Duplicate records need not be retained for as long as the master record and staff should actively endeavour to destroy them when no longer in use.  Transitory records, precisely because they are of temporary interest, do not appear in the Schedule at all and therefore should be destroyed whenever appropriate.

The Schedule is principally modelled around the University’s functions and systems rather than its organisational units.  While it is split into sections often named after the different UAS Divisions or other administrative units, it is important to note that some master records may not physically be held or maintained by the Division in whose section they appear.

Example:
Some master records relating to teaching, such as course handbooks or reading lists, will be maintained by Departments and/or individual members of academic staff rather than the central Education Services section of the Academic Division.

The retention period given in the Schedule is the formal recommendation for the retention of the master record.  All periods are based on national guidance and sector best practice.  There are, however, some circumstances in which staff are justified in keeping their master records for periods longer than those listed in the Schedule.  In such cases, staff should mark or annotate their master records with an appropriate date for future destruction.

Example:
Where the master record needs to be kept for a certain period as the result of a binding contract, for example a research grant entered into on behalf of the University, it should be retained in accordance with those contractual terms.  Similarly, if an audit investigation or court case is ongoing it is sensible to keep any master records for a certain number of years after the conclusion of the relevant formal processes (the precise length of the extension will depend on the circumstances of any individual investigation or case).  Finally, there may be occasions where ongoing business requirements dictate that master records should be kept for longer than the period listed in the Schedule.

The majority of retention periods given in the Schedule are based on a straightforward timescale.  However, for some sorts of master record it is more appropriate to grant the maximum possible flexibility to staff to make decisions depending on local circumstances or the particular case in hand.  Usually the best course of action where a particular retention period appears vague is to ask for advice amongst your colleagues and, if appropriate, the relevant central UAS Division.  The Information Compliance Office is able to comment on the ‘theoretical’ records management position, but this may not be the most appropriate course of action in all situations.

Your records could be classed as transitory, meaning that they are of purely ephemeral value and therefore need not be retained for any particular period once you have finished using them.  Alternatively, it could be that your records are indeed master records but are featured in the Schedule under a slightly different or broader description.  Try keyword searching using similar or related terms.  Once you have carried out all sensible searches and sought advice locally, please contact the Information Compliance Office if you still think that your records do not appear in the Schedule.

Wherever possible, you should clearly label the files with their contents and the dates when they are due to be destroyed.  The file, or box of files, should then be retained within your Department or Division until the destruction date when it should be shredded or placed into confidential waste.  Labelling files while you are fully aware of what’s contained in them will save a lot of time and effort in the future.

Example:
If the Master Records Retention Schedule indicates that a particular type of file should be kept until ‘End of current academic year + 3 years’, you should first calculate the relevant destruction date.  If the file relates to the academic year 2025/26, for instance, it would be due for destruction three years after the summer 2026 year-end, i.e. in summer 2029.  You should label the file accordingly and store it somewhere within your Department or Division until the date for its destruction is reached.

The practical steps surrounding the fixed-term retention of digital master records should mirror those used for paper records.  You should create wherever possible an electronic folder which is clearly labelled with the contents and a future deletion date.  Any such folders should be stored within the collaboration tool (e.g. the SharePoint site) or shared drive used by the relevant part of the Department/Division so that future colleagues can perform the deletion in case you have changed roles or responsibilities by the deletion date and are no longer the records owner.  As a general point of good practice, try to get in the habit of sub-dividing your electronic folders by date as well as contents to make sorting your records as simple as possible in the future.

When you simply delete a digital file in the normal way, it may remain accessible for a set period from backups managed by UIS or Departmental IT (or suppliers on their behalf).  However, these backups are created for business continuity/disaster recovery purposes to enable the emergency retrieval of material and are not deemed to be active records.  Therefore digital copies of master records (and indeed duplicate and transitory records) are considered to be ‘destroyed’ when the records owner performs the deletion (and will be irretrievably destroyed when backups are destroyed/overwritten).

The University has set up a Deposit Service for the secure transfer of digital records to the University Archives. Please contact University Archives staff to begin the transfer process. 

Example:
Committee agendas, papers and minutes of many University-wide committees should be transferred to the University Archives in the University Library where they will be kept in perpetuity as an enduring record of the University’s activities. 

Good records management is necessary for a variety of reasons which are detailed in section 2.2 of the Statement of Records Management Practice.  Many of these relate to legislative requirements to either keep or destroy various classes of master record at certain times and the Master Records Retention Schedule has all of these built in.

Example:
The University needs to keep certain financial or contractual records for a fixed period in order to be able to defend itself against any future act of litigation.  Once that period expires, the paperwork legally need not be held and may be destroyed.  Conversely, UK data protection legislation states that the personal data of individuals should not be retained for longer than necessary and therefore the Schedule has been designed to ensure that the University does not needlessly keep personal information when it is no longer required.
 

Where there is no strict legal requirement, the retention periods in the Schedule have been developed by the Information Compliance Office in accordance with national guidance and sector best practice as well as consultation with colleagues across the University.  It is recommended that these periods should be adhered to as closely as possible because records and information are one of the University’s most important resources and it is important to ensure consistent practice.  In addition, spending a little time to sort, archive and destroy your own records should prove hugely beneficial by streamlining your working environment and ensuring that redundant material is not left to clutter up offices and digital file space.  You should find that you have the correct information available whenever necessary, that it is kept for as long as required, and that it is destroyed when no longer of use.

Ideally, records management should become part of your Department's or Division’s day-to-day working environment.  Where this is not possible, you may find that a scheduled termly or annual exercise of sorting and clearing out old records helps to keep your office and digital file space in good order.  For many academic Departments the summer months may prove a good time to do this but this will not be the case for other areas and timings should be set locally.

Emails created for the purpose of University business should be considered as a formal means of communication, just like a letter on headed University paper, and therefore as potentially important master records.  There is no reason to handle emails in a different manner to other electronic or paper records – depending on their content, many emails will be transitory records of no long-term value, many others will be duplicate records solely for your own short-to-medium-term use and information, but some will be master records which you, as the records owner, should maintain in accordance with the Master Records Retention Schedule.  It is generally recommended that copies of emails that class as master records are managed and maintained either in shared mailboxes or are otherwise stored outside an individual user’s email inbox so they can be referred to by colleagues as appropriate.

The central University databases – such as CamSIS, CHRIS or CUFS – are managed by UIS in collaboration with relevant business areas and are controlled using certain protocols.  Staff should not attempt to delete individual entries based on the Master Records Retention Schedule.  However, locally-maintained databases (or even just large MS Excel workbooks) should, as far as possible, be regularly weeded to delete old entries in accordance with the Schedule.

Example:
A log of low-level complaints is maintained in a large Excel workbook by a UAS Division.  The appropriate retention period for master records relating to such complaints is set out in the Schedule and the records owner should weed their database accordingly, just as they would destroy paper and doigital master records relating to those complaints at the conclusion of the retention period listed.

Committee papers are an essential record of the University’s business as they detail the planning, approval and implementation of its strategies, policies, and procedures – both academic and non-academic.  Committee Secretaries normally are responsible for maintaining the master record copies of committee agendas, papers and minutes.  These should be retained by the Secretary until the retention period has elapsed as listed in the ‘Governance’ section of the Master Records Retention Schedule.  Thereafter, please refer to the Master Records Retention Schedule for guidance on what to do with your specific committee’s papers.

Example:
Committee agendas, papers and minutes of central University committees, as listed in Cambridge University Reporter, should be transferred to the University Archives in the University Library where they will be kept in perpetuity as an enduring record of the University’s activities.  However, for many other committees this would be both inappropriate and unnecessary and an archival review process should be triggered to see if the records are suitable for permanent preservation.

Faculty Boards set their own requirements based on guidance issued by the General Board’s Education Committee.  You will therefore need to ascertain what policy is in place within your Department.

A distinction needs to be drawn between the everyday use of the word ‘archive’ and the formal term ‘University Archives’ that features in the Master Records Retention Schedule.  In records management terms, informal ‘archives’ maintained locally (or even off-site) by Departments or UAS Divisions often equate to collections of ‘semi-current records’.  This means that they are being stored in order to comply with legal requirements or for administrators’ reference purposes but are due for destruction at a specified date in the future.  For the purposes of the Schedule, then, they do not form part of the formal University Archives and are still being retained within the Department or UAS Division even if physically they are deposited within an archive room, cupboard or off-site storage facility and only accessed occasionally.  The term ‘University Archives’, by contrast, is reserved for master records that are to be retained in perpetuity by the University.

This process involves a professional assessment of those records for which, at the end of their retention period within a Department or Division, the Schedule does not set out a straightforward action of destruction or permanent archiving.  For most classes of master record, it is clear that they should be either destroyed or archived at the end of their normal retention period within the Department or Division.  For some, though, the long-term value or utility of the records will require consideration by the University Archivist with input from the records owner.  It is important that records are kept where they are pertinent to a particularly important development in the life or workings of the University.