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Not every email needs to be kept. Only those emails that are official records must be retained. In order to effectively manage emails, Â鶹ÊÓƵemployees must be able to identify and separate official records from transitory records.

Official records are records that are evidence of the university’s administrative activities, transactions, and decisions. These records are created, received, and accumulated by all university departments, governing bodies of the university, and individuals engaged in university business. Official records must be retained and disposed of in accordance with an approved Records Retention Schedules and Disposition Authority (RRSDA). More information about RRSDAs can be found in the Directory of University Records.

Transitory records are records that have temporary usefulness and are only required for a limited period of time, in order to complete a routine action, or to prepare a subsequent draft, etc.

Transitory records:

• have no further value beyond an immediate and minor transaction;
• are produced or received in the preparation of other records which supersede them; and/or
• are not needed as evidence of a business activity.

Transitory records can be destroyed once their usefulness has expired, provided they:

• are not part of an ongoing FIPPA request and/or current litigation hold; and/or
• are not required to meet legislative or regulatory obligations.

For more information please see: Guideline 56 Official, Transitory and Personal Records: A Guideline for Â鶹ÊÓƵEmployees.

Tips for deciding which emails to keep

If you answer Yes to any of the questions below, the email is an official record and should be retained. If you answer No to all of the questions, it is a transitory record, and it can be destroyed.

• Does the email approve or authorize an action?
• Does the email signify a policy change or development?
• Does the email commit the university to an arrangement or to a business deal?
• Does the email contain advice, provide guidance or constitute formal communications with people inside or outside the organization?
• Is the email something I have used at work to make a decision?
• If I left this job tomorrow, would my successor need the information in this email to ensure business continuity?
• Is the matter to which this email relates one which may be reviewed or audited later?

Deleting transitory email records

As long as transitory email records are not part of an ongoing FIPPA request or litigation hold, as per RRSDA 1996-061 Transitory Records, they can be deleted once their usefulness has expired. Reviewing and deleting transitory email records will reduce the clutter in your email account, save storage space, and help you find information quickly. It is recommended that you regularly schedule time to review your inbox, sent items, and additional user created folders, to identify and delete transitory emails. For additional guidance on the difference between transitory and official records please see GDL-56 Official, Transitory and Personal Records: A Guide for Â鶹ÊÓƵEmployees.

Saving official email records

It is considered best practice to save official records in a shared filing system (e.g., shared drive, SharePoint, etc.) in which records (including email), are captured, protected, retained and destroyed in accordance with approved RRSDAs.

There are two methods for saving email.

1. Drag and drop email (from the Outlook desktop app) to the appropriate location (e.g., your department’s shared drive or SharePoint site). This will result in the creation of either an MSG file (on a PC) or an EML file (on a Mac).
2. Export the email message from your email account as a PDF document and save it to the appropriate location (e.g., your department’s shard drive or SharePoint site).

Keep in mind the following before saving email.

• It is not necessary to capture every email in an email conversation thread separately. Instead, emails should be captured at key-points during the conversation (i.e., when decisions are made).
• Email attachments should be saved as part of the record (i.e., email message and its associated attachment equals one complete record) to provide context to an email.
• If the title of the email does not accurately reflect the content of the message, then it should be re-titled at the point at which it is saved.
• If saving email as a PDF, add the date (or date range) to the title for clarity.

Email Formats