Washington State University
BUSINESS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL

---

Retention of Electronic Mail

Records conveyed by e-mail are subject to University and departmental retention schedules. See 90.01. E-mail records may also be subject to public records requests, legal discovery, and audit review.

For retention purposes, e-mail is considered a method of delivery rather than a record type. E-mail, like conventional paper-based mail, can convey many kinds of records and messages. As such, e-mail is to be managed by its content.

The University does not have a central process for managing e-mail records, thus management responsibility resides with University staff and departments.

The retention of personal e-mail messages (unrelated to official University business) on University computers is discouraged. See 20.37 for policies regarding personal e-mail use.

Most e-mail consists of transitory messages. As such, most e-mail and attachments may be deleted when no longer needed.

Meeting notices and requests for meetings may be deleted when no longer needed.

Copies used for informational/reference purposes may be deleted when no longer needed.

E-mail that has no administrative, legal, fiscal, or archival retention requirements may be deleted as soon as it has served its purpose. See "Administrative Materials With No Retention Value," in 90.01.12. Such records include:

• Information-only copies, or extracts of documents distributed for reference or convenience, i.e., announcements or bulletins


• Copies of published materials


• Telephone message notifications


• Preliminary drafts


• Transmittal memos


• Reservations and confirmations


• Copies of memoranda, bulletins or directives of a general information and noncontinuing nature

E-mail records meeting the definitions included in "Office Reference Files," and "Transitory Administrative Files" in 90.01.12-14 may be deleted when no longer needed. Such records include:

• Reference files containing copies of correspondence, memoranda, copies of reports, studies, articles, reference copies of minutes, distribution lists, and other general reference information on office administrative issues and concerns, used to support administrative analysis, planning and development.


• Records temporarily required in day-to-day administrative operations. May include notes, routine requests for information, and similar documents of a transitory nature.

E-mail and attachments that contain record material must be retained in conformance with the applicable retention schedule. See 90.01. E-mail messages and attachments that may be records with specified retention periods include the following:

• E-mail that authorizes some official action, transaction, or effort.


• E-mail that supports or explains a business transaction.


• Documents that complete a business transaction.


• Final reports or recommendations.


• Documents relating to audit or legal issues.


• Drafts circulated for comment or approval.


• Official correspondence that does not fit in another records series. (Correspondence is to be retained for at least 30 days. See 90.01.12.)

Most executive records are retained for four years after the end of the current fiscal year. This includes official correspondence concerning policy issues, concerns, actions or issues. (NOTE: For purposes of this policy, officials with the status of dean or above are considered executives.) See 90.01.10-11.

It is important to determine who holds the primary record of a document for retention purposes. Reference or informational copies may be deleted when no longer required by the record holder (see above).

The retention schedule usually identifies the office responsible for retaining the official record copy. If the retention schedule does not provide sufficient guidance, refer to the following:

• Ask how would this record be handled if it were a hard-copy transaction or letter? Usually, in such cases, the recipient is responsible for retaining the record copy.


• If an e-mail is sent to a large number of recipients, the sender is usually responsible for retention of the e-mail as well as the distribution list.

A draft of a policy is sent to a number of reviewers. The initiator of the draft is responsible for retaining the record copy.

An agenda or meeting minutes are sent to a number of attendees. The sender is responsible for retaining the record copy.

University departments and personnel may use one or more of the following methods to assure appropriate management of records with assigned retention periods.

Print messages to paper and file. This method may be desirable for records with long retention periods and if the record holder has an existing paper file on the topic.

NOTE: Printing to paper eliminates the "intelligence" of the electronic document, and the searching and retrieval capabilities of an electronic system. Furthermore, metadata essential for determining the context of the message may be lost when printed, thus compromising the reliability and authenticity of the record.

Retain the message in the original e-mail application on the record holder's hard drive or removable electronic media. E-mail applications capture and preserve all relevant metadata related to the record.

To facilitate retrieval, retention, and eventual disposal, the record holder could establish separate folders within the e-mail application. Each folder could correspond to a specific scheduled records series. E-mail folders should be coordinated with any paper or other electronic filing systems that are in place.

E-mail messages may be retained in a document management system (DMS) or records management application (RMS). Such systems offer sophisticated control of electronic records, allowing integration of e-mail messages within the total document environment of an organization. Such software offers single point access to a variety of formats, thus preserving the functionality of documents.

Many e-mail messages must be retained longer than the original technology that was used to send, receive, or store them. Departments are responsible for ensuring that older e-mail messages are migrated to newer technology.