Properly managed records protect personal and organizational rights, as well as supporting, defending, and accounting for the State’s business activities.

  • Business Efficiency Records document and support the work of your agency. Well-managed records promote efficient operations and informed decisions.
  • Transparency Ensures that information contained in the State’s records is available to the public when and where it is needed at the least possible cost to agencies.
  • Public Records Act requests, Audit, Lawsuit, Subpoena - While there are some exemptions that apply here, responsive documents must be provided to the requester within 10 days of the request—so it is imperative that records are accessible and organized for easy retrieval.
  • California History –Records created and received by your agency may be appraised as having enduring historical value necessary to document the work and contributions of the California State government. State agencies make history every day, and their records document that contribution!

Administering Your Records Management Program

In order for a records management program to be successful, support must come from the top down. Management should be included in the program’s goals. Records management policies cannot be enforced agency-wide without executive support.

Top and mid-level managers can support records management by:

  • Implementing records management policies and procedures for all staff
  • Incorporating records management into staff onboarding and offboarding
  • Appointing a Records Management Coordinator (RMC) to lead the records management program within the agency.6
  • (This role must be assigned at a level within the organization that has access to program managers and senior management officials.)
  • Support the records management staff on their team as they take records management training, implement records management policies, inventory records, and develop and manage the Records Retention Schedule for their agency.

Records Management Coordinator (RMC)

The RMC is in charge of the entire records management program for their state agency. The RMC serves as the contact person for all records management related issues for their state agency. The RMC also responds to questions from their agency and acts as the liaison between their state agency and the Secretary of State’s (SOS) CalRIM program and State Records Appraisal Program (SRAP). The RMC also serves as the liaison between their State agency and the Department of General Services (DGS)’s State Records Center (SRC).

The RMC is appointed in writing by the Chief Administrative Officer of the State agency using the Records Management Team Designation Form. Once the RMC is appointed, the designation form must be filled out electronically and emailed to CalRIM@sos.ca.gov. The RMC will then be designated to contact CalRIM with questions regarding Records Retention Schedules, transferring records to the SRC, confidential destruction of records, and any other records management-related questions. This designation form must be returned to CalRIM within 30 days of an RMC’s appointment.

The new RMC must also contact the SRC at (916) 375-6760 or via email at StateRecordsCenter@dgs.ca.gov to let the SRC know they are the RMC for their state agency. The SRC may need to contact the RMC regarding the transfer of records, the retrieval of records, record destruction, and other duties.

RMC Responsibilities

  • Coordinating the State agency’s records management program.
  • Conducting research into records retention requirements.
  • Reviewing Records Retention Schedules prior to official submission to CalRIM.
  • Tracking and maintaining Records Retention Schedules to ensure current approval status.
  • Reviewing and approving purchase or rental of filing equipment and shredders to prevent unauthorized destruction of records.
  • Responsibility for reports, written justifications, requests for offsite storage approval, or any other Retention Schedule documentation requested by CalRIM and/or SRAP.
  • Regular disposition of records that are not stored at the SRC. Records that are stored in the office, in departmental storage, or in other third-party systems must be accounted for on the retention schedule and dispositioned once they have met retention.
  • Disposition can mean one of two actions—it either includes the transfer of records to the State Archives (if the records are flagged “Notify Archives” on the schedule, or, for records that are NOT flagged, it means the records that have met their retention period can be destroyed.
  • Ensuring records are retained and disposed of according to the Records Retention Schedule, and that all records are accounted for on the schedule.
  • Disseminating announcements of records management activities, policies, and procedures.
  • Scheduling appropriate training of records management personnel. RMCs in medium to large agencies often need additional support for their records management program. This is where Records Management Assistant Coordinators (RMACs) can be identified.
  • Typically, RMACs are identified in each division and are knowledgeable about their division’s functions, responsibilities, tasks, and the records that they are creating, receiving, and using.
  • Attending CalRIM Records Management Coordinators Semi-Annual meetings and sponsored technology forums.
  • Periodically reviewing policies and procedures to ensure that the program is properly applied.

Being a Records Management Coordinator (RMC) is an important role. RMCs ensure their state agency is abiding by records management rules and laws in order to protect the agency’s information assets, historical records, and to ensure that their agency’s records are kept in consistent and transparent ways.

Records Management Assistant Coordinator (RMAC)

The ongoing maintenance of a records management program may warrant the need for additional assistance. When necessary, the RMC may need to assign the role of Records Management Assistant Coordinator (RMAC) to one or several employees to assist them with running the records management program.

The RMACs are staff who work closely with the units receiving or generating the records, and normally a part of their division they are assisting in. For mid-to-large sized agencies, the RMC may appoint multiple RMACs for each division, section, or unit to help support the Records Management Program agency-wide. RMACs are a great support system for an RMC, and it is recommended to identify RMACs within medium to large sized-agencies.

It is also helpful for CalRIM to know who an agency has assigned for those roles; in order to report your RMACs to CalRIM, RMCs may complete the RMAC Designation Form and email it to CalRIM@sos.ca.gov.

CalRIM recommends that RMCs keep a log of their identified RMACs in each division, unit, or section. This way, it is easy to identify who the RMC can reach out to and which division they are in, and if an RMAC leaves, the RMC can then work with that division to establish a new person for the role.

CalRIM also recommends that RMACs attend RMA trainings. The CalRIM team offers classes to assist all records management employees via CalHR’s CalLearns site. These classes, the RMA classes, are free of charge and are available to all current State employees. It is best practice for RMACs to forward their emailed attendance certificates to their RMCs so that the RMC can keep track of who has attended classes and who may need the extra help. CalRIM also tracks this information; if an RMC ever wants to know how many classes or hours an RMAC has attended, please email CalRIM to ask.

By designating additional staff members as RMACs, the agency RMC can create a network of individuals who share the responsibility for oversight of the records management program and help support the RMC in their role.

The role of the RMAC is to act as a liaison between the RMC and the staff of a particular program area within a state agency. The RMAC should be a staff member who works closely with program staff creating and working with records. While the RMC is responsible for the records of the entire State agency, the RMAC is more specialized and knows fewer records, but in greater detail. This proximity allows the RMAC to help program staff make appropriate decisions regarding the management of their records and allows them to support the RMC in creating the best retention schedule possible.

One of the suggested responsibilities of the RMAC is to conduct regular inventories of the records in their program area. Inventories are required to be conducted at least every 5 years per SAM section 1612. By conducting regular inventories every few years, the RMAC ensures that the records and volumes listed on their Records Retention Schedules are correct.

Records inventories and retention schedules will be covered more in-depth in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 in this Handbook.

RMAC Responsibilities

  • Determining if records series on a retention schedule need to be created, updated, or discontinued.
  • Conducting inventories to update the records and volume of records on the Records Retention Schedule.
  • Working with program staff to accurately describe records series and identify the records contained within those series.
  • Ensuring that internal office procedures have been established that will allow all authorized users to have access to office records.
  • Assisting the RMC with the correct disposition of records according to retention periods listed on the Records Retention Schedule.

NOTE: If the State agency only has an RMC and no RMACs, the RMAC duties must also be performed by the RMC.

RMACs are an essential part of the records management program. RMACs, again, work directly with program staff and have a closer relationship with the records being generated by their agency. It is essential that this direct knowledge of the records be translated up to the RMC and to middle and top-level management.

Establish Records Management Policies

When it comes to building a best-run and compliant program, written Policies and Procedures are an important part of your foundation within the agency. While writing policies and procedures may not normally be part of an RMC’s job duties, discuss this with your manager; there is likely someone you can coordinate with in your agency who can help make this a more manageable task. In our RMA 201 training for RMCs, we provide a template records management policy you can also use as a foundation if you need help getting started.

Not every employee will be expected to know all records laws, but everyone works with records within an agency and should have a basic understanding of expectations for handling their records. Policies should be written to provide instruction for all the different roles within an agency, including management, the records management program, and all agency employees. Policies and associated procedures are a good way to communicate some basic records management knowledge.

Does the agency have a specific records management policy that sets expectations for creating, managing, and protecting records assets in accordance with the retention schedule? A dedicated policy is a useful tool for explaining why records management is important and requires staff time and commitment.

For Procedures, consider writing down how things are done in the agency as of now. Then consider how these processes could be improved or changed, and what that change might entail. Drafted policies and procedures help document expectations for your records management program also.

These expectations include:

  1. Accounting for ALL records on a retention schedule and reading a retention schedule,
  2. Preferred file naming conventions,
  3. Having an inventory of where records stored or saved so they cab be properly protected,
  4. Assigning retention periods for records based either law and by business need,
  5. Only disposing of records in accordance with the retention schedule making sure that records flagged “Notify Archives” are transferred to the State Archives and that records on legal hold should be protected from destruction or transfer until the legal hold is removed,
  6. Who to reach out to with agency records management questions (the RMC),
  7. Agency-specific processes.

Make sure that the agency’s policies and procedures are current and that they are being communicated to staff at the appropriate level.

CalRIM will review additional details and instruction throughout this handbook about various things that can be included in an agency’s policies and procedures; some of these will be discussed as new topics are introduced (see chapters 3, 9 and 10). This section will provide a basic layout for the agency policy setup.

Include Instructions for Onboarding/Offboarding

Most agencies have procedures for onboarding and offboarding employees. CalRIM recommends also incorporating records management into the Onboarding and Offboarding process to ensure that records are being maintained and accounted for, despite staff being new or departing.

Making sure employee start off with the foundational knowledge about their records responsibilities will be integral to building a records management culture within the organization.As new employees are onboarding, this is a great time to get them into training. That way, they will be acclimated to records management from the get-go, and will have an idea of what is expected. This may look like asking for 15 minutes to present during an existing new employee orientation, or it could be making sure the retention schedule and records management policy are provided to every new employee along with the contact information for the records management program.

Employees need the information from the retention schedule and instruction of file naming conventions, file storage, and management practices in order to maintain consistency within the organization.

Offboarding Procedures are an incredibly important part of records management and can result in the loss of records if staff are unaware of how to properly account for and store their records before they depart from the agency.

  • First off, have staff managed their email? Substantive emails that document our work are records that need to be stored per their retention schedule.
  • Next, ensure staff are properly storing records that are still within retention prior to their departure. The retention schedule, and RMAC for that division or unit, are both incredibly helpful resources for ensuring these records are properly stored and not lost.
  • Finally, ensure that staff are documenting any records that are destroyed. The RMC can draft a template to distribute throughout their agency, or they are welcome to use CalRIM’s template, the CR-1 Destruction template. CalRIM does not review this form, but it should be kept internally and provided to the RMC. That way, upon a person’s departure, the agency is aware of what records of theirs met retention and were destroyed.

CalRIM recommends establishing a process to check in with employees as they depart your organization. This will help make sure records are not lost when an employee moves to a different position or departs state employment. Consider implementing a check-in process concerning the records in their care and a process to ensure program records stored on employee OneDrives, local hard drives, in email, and so on, are moved to shared spaces so they can be properly managed.

Basic Template for Policy

This is a basic template for how a policy and procedures document might look for a state agency’s records management program.

Program Name: Agency-wide Records Management Program

Coordinator: (First and Last Name)

I. Program Scope

State records are any writings, recordings, data, or electronic documents that are created or received by a state agency (or local agency conducting state business) containing information related to the conduct of the public’s business.

This program covers policies, procedures, directives, and actions related to the management of state records at this agency.

II. Record Access and Controls

Information at our agency should be made available to the greatest extent possible to agency officers and employees, as well as to the public.

Confidential information should be kept separate from other records and should only be made available to those who require access to conduct agency business. Where a record relates to private information of an individual member of the public, that record may be required to be made available to that individual under the Information Practices Act.

The following laws may apply to records at our agency, restricting their disclosure and requiring they be kept confidential:

  • (Relevant legal references)

The Public Records Act requires that we make all our records and writings available for public inspection. The Public Records Act has a number of exemptions to this requirement; however, unless there is a specific law (listed above) that requires a record to remain confidential, all of the other exemptions are discretionary.

III. Record Retention and Disposition

Our agency has created a general retention schedule that applies agency-wide, listing common record series for records found throughout the agency. We’ve also created unit-specific retention schedules for dealing with particular program records.

Both sets of retention schedules can be found on the network folder at: 
(URL/address)

Or can be requested by emailing: 
(email)

The retention schedules document what kind of records are maintained at our agency along with instructions for how long to store those records and how to destroy or preserve those records.

Each line item on a retention schedule represents a Record Series which is a broad category of records. Each series will have a title and description, and each physical or electronic record of the agency will clearly be covered under one of these descriptions.

For example:

Title & Description: Legislation Development and Analysis

Records relating to the development of agency-requested legislation and analysis of the impact on the agency of any legislation (federal or state). Includes, but is not limited to:

  • Bill Drafts.
  • Fiscal Notes.
  • Bill analysis reports.
  • Related correspondence/communications

Retention Length: Keep for 2 years after creation

Disposition: Do not destroy send to State Archives

With this example, any record that is described by the record series would be kept for two years and then sent to the State Archives permanently. 

A retention schedule will contain several entries like this almost like a menu of different options. Ideally, there will be enough entries with enough broad descriptions to cover every record at the agency someone should be able to hold a record in their hand or look at it on their screen and be able to place that record as belonging to one of the series on the retention schedule.

If records are being created or maintained that are not covered on a retention schedule, alert the Records Management Coordinator by emailing:

(email)

Some records, once they have met their retention period, must be destroyed using “confidential destruction methods.” We contract with a vendor to provide these services if destroying confidential records, please coordinate with the confidential destruction contact.

(email)

For all non-confidential records, destruction can be accomplished using the office recycling program.

Some record series will be marked on the retention schedule as being stored permanently or sent to the State Archives these records may have historical significance. Do not destroy them, but rather, at the end of their retention period, contact the State Archives by emailing:srap@sos.ca.gov 

IV. Physical Record Storage

  • Paper documents should largely be stored in filing cabinets for easy access. Depending on their function, different filing schemes may be appropriate, for example (these are just guidelines):
    • Records about individual people can be stored alphabetically, by their last names.
    • Records pertaining to dates and events can be stored chronologically.
    • Records with serialized ID numbers can be stored in order with an index attached

Records stored long-term should be boxed-up and sent to the State Records Center (SRC). To send and retrieve files from the SRC, talk to the Records Management Coordinator:

(email)

V. Electronic Record Storage

Our agency utilizes Microsoft OneDrive/Teams/SharePoint to store and share files. Everyone is responsible for keeping their electronic files well-organized and logically stored with proper meta data and filenames.

VI. Training

All officers and employees of this agency are expected to know and understand their role in our records management program. For most workers, this simply means ensuring that records are properly maintained and disposed of according to our retention schedules. For other staff, there may be additional responsibilities for conducting inventories, destruction, and creating retention schedules.

The Records Management Coordinator will ensure each officer and employee receives annual training appropriate to their responsibilities.