Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations

Transcription

Thank you for joining us for the Records Schedule Quality Control Checklist, a records management web seminar delivered by the United States National Archives and Records Administration's National Records Management Training Program. In this session, Rachel Ban Tonkin introduces the Records Schedule Quality Control Checklist. Let's join the seminar. Paulette Murray: Thank you for joining us for NARA's informative hour-long online briefing. This webinar is a part of a series of free webinars that NARA is offering to help federal agencies meet the challenges of a complex and evolving records management environment. This briefing was designed to reach a widely geographically-dispersed audience. Today's online briefing is on the Records Schedule Quality Control Checklist. NARA has created a checklist based on 36 Code of Federal Regulations. This was done so that agencies can use it when they are reviewing records schedules for submission to NARA. We have Mrs. Rachel Ban Tonkin to tell us more about this today, and we will get started shortly. I would also like to introduce Jeff Benson. Jeff Benson: Thank you Paulette. This is Jeff Benson. I'm with the training team at the National Archives and Records Administration. Again welcome to this webcast. Today's speaker is Rachel Ban Tonkin. Rachel joined NARA in 2010 and currently serves as the supervisor for the Records Management Services Appraisal Team #1. She holds a masters in history and a masters in library science with an archival focus from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to joining NARA she was employed as an archivist records manager for History Associates Incorporated, where she worked on a variety of archives and records management projects and co-managed the Information Resources Management Division. Her background includes website development at the University of Maryland, administering a Novell network and groupwise system for a small non-profit. And also work as an office manager. So take it away, Rachel. Rachel Ban Tonkin: As you heard, we're going to be talking about the Quality Control Checklist. And one of the reasons we developed this checklist was to increase the quality of submitted record schedules. We were working on a backlog project and found that many of the jobs that took an embarrassing long time to complete - we're talking 3-8 years - were jobs that were really of poor quality to begin with and didn't meet the existing requirements in 36 CFR. So we want to take this opportunity to remind records officers about what these requirements are and to provide this checklist for when you are reviewing schedules, prior to submitting them to the National Archives. You can make sure that you capture the highlights. If we can prevent future backlogs it will mean that we can process schedules a lot faster. And this would be more responsive to agency needs, because then you would have the legal authority to handle your records in a more timely manner. You'll notice here I have some text straight out of the Code of Federal Regulations in blue. The CFR does allow us to return schedules that don't meet the basic standards. When we do return schedules we're going to explain why we returned them, we're going to provide suggestions for improving them. And we are available to assist agencies. Recently for one department, they got together all the records officers from all their individual component agencies. And we actually did a training session about quality records schedules. So we would like to assist you in developing better schedules. But at the same time, we're not going to correct your schedules once they're submitted. We're going to ask you to correct them and resubmit them. So the handout is available both on our website and through links to this session. And I've also given you the link here to the electronic version of the Code of Federal Regulations. And you will find the requirements for scheduling records in 36 CFR Chapter 7 Subchapter "Records Management" So when you go to the online code, you can just drill down through their menu to find the section. But as you'll see here on the next slide, for each of the items on the checklist I have provided the authority of the regulation. I'm going to go through the checklist point by point. And provide some additional information and links as appropriate as we go along. The first item is that only General Records Schedule (GRS) items that require an exemption are included on the request. So basically SF-115, which is what is referenced in the code and is a request for disposition authority, is a requesting mechanism. Going forward, all of these requests for disposition authorities will be coming through the Electronic Records Archive. Just note that we're in the process of revising the regulations. So when you see a reference, the SF-115, just realize that paper form has gone away. And starting this fiscal year you do need to enter your request for disposition authority in the Electronic Records Archive. But it's a requesting mechanism. It's not your manual. It's really just those things that you need authority for disposing records. The General Records Schedule has basically done that across the government. We've looked for records that are common. For example all agencies have payroll. So we've provided disposition authority for payroll records. And that means that the agencies don't all have to individually come to us for that authority. This is why if it's covered by the General Records Schedule, you shouldn't be submitting it in a request for disposition authority. If you're doing a deviation from the GRS - let's say that retention doesn't work for you - then you can provide that to us on a request. And then we can look at granting a longer retention period for you. We are embarking on a five year project to update the General Records Schedule. To expand the number of authorities, which again would reduce the amount of scheduling that agencies are required to do. The plan for that updating is found on our website. I've given you the link to the GRS page, which gives you not only the current General Records Schedule and all of its sections, but also the plan for restructuring. The General Records Schedule has developed over the years, and this is the first time that we're doing a comprehensive overhaul of that schedule. The second item is not to include non-record materials in your request for disposition authority. So basically if it's not a record, you don't require approval. You want to tell your folks in your agencies how to handle those records. But again we don't need to approve that. So I've given you here the definition of non-record materials. Basically it's all those things that don't meet the definition of a record. This includes things such as copies of documents kept for reference, stacks of publications, library and museum materials, and exhibit items. For the items that you actually are scheduling where you do need to request a disposition authority, the items' titles need to clearly represent the records being described and are meaningful to agency personnel. What I've given you here is the code for both permanent and temporary records. You'll see in both requirements we are looking for clear titles. This is where I recommend you do the new employee test. Can someone who is completely new to your agency find the records? If they're looking at your record schedule and it describes a record, can they say, "It's this body of material." Be it paper or electronic. Or the other way around, if they have a body of records and don't know what to do with it, they can actually go to your schedule and find it. A new employee is not going to be immersed in your jargon or internal references. They're really coming to it new. And in a lot of ways your appraisal archivist is sort of like a new employee. They know a little bit more about your agency than a new employee. But again if the item title isn't clear to a new employee or your appraisal archivist, it's not really meeting this requirement out of the CFR. And associated with that, the description of the item that you are scheduling should include information about its content and format, and the functions for which the records are used. So again I've given you the code for the sections that cover scheduling of both permanent and temporary records. You can see what is required. You want to really describe records accurately and clearly. You don't want them to sound more or less important than what they are. Again you want to do the new employee test. And descriptions are much more than record types. If you have a description that says, "These records are memorandums, correspondence, and forms," you haven't told us what they're used for. You haven't said what the correspondence covers. Correspondence could be high level correspondence between agency heads. It could be just responding to public inquiries. Well those two types of correspondence have very different values to them and would have very different retention periods. So really, what is the content of the correspondence? What are the forms being used for? It provides much better descriptive information about the records themselves. If you're rescheduling something - for example say awhile ago you scheduled something that had a 75 year retention. You want to now reduce it to a 50 year retention because you know you don't need to keep the records 75 years. That was being overly cautious. You need to cite the superseded authority. We need to know on which SF-115 that authority was provided. We need both the schedule number and the item number. Or if you're requesting an exception to the GRS we're going to need the reference out of the GRS. Again the GRS number and the item. So the code that you're seeing on this particular slide is specifically for changing a disposition. Basically what happens is it's effective from that day forward. You need to say which schedule needs replacing. And then provide a justification for why you're making the change. Because we at the National Archives need to defend that change. So we need to know what the specification is, either for making it shorter or longer. And then for the GRS I've given you the code. There's a table that talks about when to use the GRS. And I've given you specifically the entry for following the GRS and asking for an exception. Again we're going to need a justification. And keep in mind that whenever you supersede a previous approval, if you've got records that are out there in records storage, be it your own records storage, a Federal Records Center, a commercial records storage facility, once that new authority is approved you're going to need to make sure everything's updated with that new retention period. For example, you've lengthened the retention period. You want to make sure that anyone storing your records knows that those records now need to be kept longer. You also need to update your agency manual so that people are aware of the change in the disposition. There are a lot of reasons for rescheduling records. You might also reschedule it to get media neutrality. Or, as we were saying earlier, changing the actual retention period. So then the actual disposition instructions for the records need to be implementable. They should include things like file breaks, retirement instructions, transfer instructions. Things that make it clear about how you're handling the records. So again I've provided the information out of the code about those disposition instructions. Really the overarching principle is that they're implementable. That people can actually read the records schedule and they know how to apply it. And the big question is, when does the clock start? At which point do you actually start implementing that schedule? If it says "Destroy after two years," two years after what? If it's a case file, two years after you open the case? Two years after the case is closed? Two years after any appeals timeline would end? Those are all different points in time in the life of a case file. And are the records filed in the same way as they're on the schedule? If you have files that are filed by subject, having an instruction that says "Cut off the end of the fiscal year" may or may not make sense for that particular schedule and that body of records. It may be something where you want to cut off the file where the subject matter has come to an end. For example, if the subject files were in the office of the general counsel. So you want to make sure that people can literally take up files and implement the disposition. They're not trying to pull files together or pull files apart. But they know when to cut off the files, when to send them to storage, when they might be destroyed, when they might be transferred if they're permanent records. There is a block on the old paper SF-115s. They were at the top of the cover page. And in ERA now, it's a drop list at the item level. But when you have program records for an agency that you would like to retain less than 3 years, or if you're looking for an exception to the GRS requirements for GRS 2-10, then you also need to go to the Government Accountability Office and get approval for the schedule. This can be done concurrently with approval from the National Archives. The schedule can't actually be signed by the Archivist of the United States until GAO signs off. I've given you here a screen capture out of our ERA training material that shows you What the GAO approval drop item looks like within ERA. So each item on your schedule you'll have to designate whether or not you need GAO concurrence on that item. The way this works is you actually provide GAO with a copy of the schedule. And you can provide it to them simultaneously while submitting it to the National Archives. And then also give a letter discussing the proposed retention length and the rational behind that retention. So if it has to do with program records - these are records that are unique to a program at your agency - the team that's responsible for doing audits of that particular agency will review the request and see if it would affect possible audits. And if it's GRS item 2-10, those retentions were actually developed in conjunction with GAO. So they've already signed off on what's in the GRS. So if you want to get an exception to those retention periods, their attorneys will look over that request. I've given you the chapter titles of those GRS schedules, so that way you can see the types of records that we're talking about. You can email the request. I've given you the contact email there for Nancy Hunn, the current records officer at GAO. She will work it through their process and then notify both the agency and the National Archives whether GAO concurs with the requested retention. In a lot of cases agencies look at their program records and say, "Keeping them 3 years isn't going to incur any additional risk to the agency over two years." And they avoid GAO concurrence altogether. You might have a set of files that have a lot of PII in them, and really keeping them 3 years there's a risk of that PII getting out or being mishandled, or you just don't want to keep it any longer than you have to. Then you really do want a 2 year retention, and go to the GAO and get their concurrence. The processes can happen simultaneously. The only time it would hold up your schedule is if you actually waited until the National Archives was done reviewing your schedule, and then you went to GAO. So we encourage you to do it concurrently. And then the next few slides are talking more specifically about using the Electronic Records Archive to submit your schedule. There are a couple of things that we've noticed crop up again and again with agencies. ERA is a little different in how you submit your schedules, because we're now giving you structured database fields to enter. Versus the old paper form that was freeform. This screen capture comes out of our ERA training. And the little tear down the page was so that everything would fit on one screen. You'll see there's a file folder there called Project Case Files. And that's what we call an overview. It's providing a description of project case files that are applicable to the two items underneath it. And so what we're looking for is that this overview is actually relevant to its subitems. it's really easy to accidentally put that overview in the wrong place. For example, that overview had laboratory notebooks underneath it. The description about case files in general is obviously not going to apply to laboratory notebooks. The two items underneath that project case file overview would each be items on your schedule that would have their own disposition. And their descriptions would be tailored to, "I know what general project case files are. Here's what makes something historically significant." So that's something to check for when you're doing your quality review of your records schedules. The other thing is, now that we have structured fields we're parsing the data a bit more. So there's a separate item title and item description field. So again, looking to make sure that things are in the right field. This is again a screen capture out of our training materials. And you can see that this is for an item called Technical Report Files. And hopefully a new employee walking in the door could identify a technical report file when they see one. And then an item description as far as what it is that's a part of that file. The next one is disposition instructions. We talked earlier about having implementable disposition instructions, and we've provided fields for cutoff, transfer to inactive storage, and retention. So this screen capture out of our training materials is specifically for a temporary record item. So for example in the cutoff instructions I could put, "Cut off at close of case, then transfer to inactive storage." Instruction could say, "Transfer 2 years after cut off." And then in the retention period - if I was looking at the second radio button I could have something like, "Destroy 5 years after cutoff." Now sometimes cut off instructions can be quite lengthy or descriptive. Sometimes they can be quite short. In this instance, I could leave the cut off instruction block blank. And at the second retention period, that radio button, I could have, "Destroy 5 years after case closed." Maybe this is a case where nothing ever goes to inactive storage. That's my entire instruction, so I can easily do it just on that one radio button. What we've done within ERA is to provide a range of the most commonly used retention period instructions. Hence the different radio button options. And we encourage you to look at that structured language. There is an Other box but we prefer that you try to use one of the standardized options. There are cases where a standardized option just won't work for you. Hence that other box. And then we've got a number of resources. We do some regular training as a part of our certificate in federal records management. And the areas that specifically addressed records scheduling are found in KA 2-4. KA 2 talks about the records of your agency. KA 3 is actually scheduling those records. And KA 4 is implementing those records. So they're all really good background clauses to actually doing the scheduling process. We also are currently providing ERA boot camps. As you know, at the beginning of fiscal year 13 all agencies needed to submit record schedules and record transfer requests within the Electronic Records Archive. And so to help people in this transition period we're offering this special boot camp class. This is a limited thing, this isn't going to go on forever like our Knowledge Area classes. We do have online materials and we highly encourage you to use those. And then if you decide you need additional help, come to the boot camp. There are online tutorials, demonstrations, and guided practice. So we've provided links there for you, specifically for these scheduling records components. We've also put together an agency manual that explains the fields that you will encounter in ERA and how to use them. There is also a crosswalk, so you can see - particularly if you've been scheduling for a number of years and are used to the SF-115 form - you can see how that paper form then translates into the Electronic Records Archive. You're still doing a request for disposition authority, you're just doing it electronically now. So there's a link to the crosswalk. And then finally your appraisal archivist can assist you with questions that you have about scheduling your records, talking through possible retention periods. They're happy to look at drafts. You can actually enter a schedule into the Electronic Records Archive and then email them a PDF of the draft schedule before you officially submit it. That's another way in addition to the checklist to make sure you've covered the things you need to cover within your records schedule. So that's each of the items on the checklist. And as I said earlier, if we should send the schedule back to you for correction we would tell you why. We would explain how it wasn't making the checklist. And we're really looking to work with you to help making the scheduling process better as we go forward. So thank you for tuning in to this webinar. Paulette Murray: We'd like to thank you for listening in on today's webinar. Like Rachel said, if you have any other questions please feel free to contact any of the resources that we have here on the page. Also we will be posting more online briefings here on the website so that you can learn more about different things that we have going on here at NARA. Thank you far participating. Thank you for joining us. We hope you found this seminar useful. For more information about the US National Records Management Training Program, please visit www.archives.gov. Also, our current workshop schedule for face-to-face and online workshops is available online at www.nara.learn.com.