How to Schedule Records

1. You are the new Records Officer for your agency! It's time to get organized. Review the records created by your agency, and remember that records can be found in many formats, including computer files. Make a list of all the groups of records that you find.
2. Contact a RIM specialist. Determine if your agency's records have already been identified or scheduled. You may obtain information about these records by requesting copies of your agency's retention and classification reports from your RIM specialist.
3. Update the retention and classification reports so that all of the information is correct and complete. These reports are not complete if they do not have full descriptions of your records, a retention, a reason for retention (appraisal), and an indication of volume (such as how much the records grow during the year).
4. If you find records on your list that do not have retention and classification reports, check with a General Retention Schedule to determine if your records match any identified therein, and can be disposed of in accordance to it. General Retention Schedules describe and provide retentions for records which are common to other agencies. Several General Retention Schedules have been published, including ones for state agencies, municipalities, county governments, and specific agencies which have many offices with common records.
5. If the records found in your office have not been scheduled in any of the above ways, then your next step is to submit an online form providing details about your records so that a RIM specialist can create a series-specific retention schedule for them. New record series numbers will be assigned by the RIM specialist. You will be asked to provide the following information:
• Descriptive title
• Variant or alternate titles
• Date ranges of records
• Information regarding the filing arrangement of the series; alphabetical, etc.
• Government functions documented by the records
• How the records are used
• What information is contained in the record series
• General Schedule the series will follow, or information regarding retention and disposition: retention in office, retention in either agency records center or State Records Center, eventual disposition
• Designation and classification of records, whether public, private, controlled, protected, etc.
• Name, email, and phone number of the person completing the form
• Governmental entity
6. Your submitted form will be sent to your RIM specialist for review, research and assignment of series number. Data is compiled and a retention and classification report is generated.
7. Upon receiving the retention and classification report, review and make any changes and return it to your RIM specialist with your Chief Administrative Officer's signature verifying that it is ready to submit to the State Records Committee.
8. After staff edits it and any changes are made, the RIM specialist submits the record series to the State Records Committee for approval.
9. Record series that are approved are copied and sent back to you, the Records Officer. Your records are now scheduled!
10. Any record series that are not approved are discussed with the Records Officer and areas in question are renegotiated with the agency.