[IARA - State Agency Records Managers] April 2024 Monthly Bulletin and Chat Invitation

Indiana Archives and Records Administration sent this bulletin at 04/11/2024 02:12 PM EDT
Indiana Archives and Records Administration logo  

Records and Information Management
402 W. Washington St. Rm W472
Indianapolis, IN 46204
e-mail: rmd@iara.in.gov
phone: 317-232-3285
web: http://www.in.gov/iara

 

🕴️ It's RIM MONTH, It's RIM MONTH! 🕴️

A Very Happy April to You, Records Managers!

Do you know why we're happy? Do you know why we hope you're happy?

Because April is Records and Information Management Month!

Look over there! Even the Governor says so!  ➡️

(We know not everybody gets as excited about Records Management as we do. This is just the month where we get to be extra obnoxious exuberant about trying to change that.)

 2024 Indiana Records and Information Management Month Proclamation
Last Month on As The Record Turns... 

On MS Teams, we had our March State Records Managers Chat on the 28th. 

We met with 25 Records Managers from 22 agencies.  Attending from IARA were Amy Robinson (State Records Analyst),  Amy Christiansen (County/Local Records Liaison), Anna Lucas (Electronic Records Archivist), Kalita López (Electronic Records Archivist) and Madison Young (Records Analyst 3).

 Spinning record on a turntable. They're like big CDs but you read them with a needle instead of a laser.
We discussed March's bulletin topics, which were
  • Don' t drink the green any canal water.
  • OCPR: slightly less tentative agenda contents for the April meeting
  • APRIL IS RIM MONTH!
  • Teams Chat is for Humans - No Bots Allowed.
    • Unless it's your robot vacuum cleaner scurrying around behind you as you work from home, with your cat perched atop it taking a tour of the house she owns. That is welcome in chat. Always. Any time. Please.

I've posted a link to the YouTube video of the February chat in our RM Bulletins and Chat Archive, where you can also find all of the previous bulletins we've sent out.

News You Can Use

Oversight Committee on Public Records Update

This month's OCPR meeting is scheduled for April 24th. Currently on-deck are the State General Retention Schedule  (don't worry, we'll tell you all about the (minor) changes next month), IARA's agencywide and Forms Management schedules, the Department of Correction Ombudsman, the Comptroller's Office, and the State Election Division, with a few more stragglers possible that are currently out for signature.

Next month's OCPR meeting is scheduled for May 29.

April is Records and Information Management Month!

Hey, did you know that April is Records and Information Management Month? You might have heard the rumor somewhere...

Well, if you didn't know that April is Records and Information Management Month before, now you do know that April is Records and Information Management Month, so you can't say you don't know that April is Records and Information Management Month anymore. (Unless you lie.)

This year, IARA is celebrating with two new 90-minute webinars:

  • Electronic Records & County/Local Government Offices: What You Need to Know!
    MS Teams, April 4, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time

    Which already happened and which you can watch right here if you so desire. While it's aimed at local government, the principles apply to everybody.

  • Responsible Records Destruction for State of Indiana Agencies
    MS Teams, April 23, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time

    This one's for you (wherever you are)! State of Indiana employees: concerned about when and how to destroy public records that have reached the end of their required retention period? Wondering what happens to the originals once you've converted records to another format? What about those boxes out at the State Records Center? IARA is here to help with these questions and more!

    Featuring speakers from Records and Information Management, Electronic Records, and the State Records Center, this live webinar will discuss the rules, methods, and options for legally and responsibly disposing of state agency records in both physical and electronic formats, including changes to the process of requesting confidential shredding, with plenty of time reserved for answers to your additional questions.

    It's free to attend, as always, and you can register right here!

We will be participating in MPH's Data Day again, but sadly it doesn't fall within RIM Month this year, so you'll be hearing more about that in our next bulletin! IARA will also have a booth in the State Library on Government Information Day, May 17, staffed by representatives from both the State Archives and RIM, so stop by to see us if you're over there! Pick up a [*spoiler*].

 

News Posters You Can 't Use

By the way, April is Records and Information Management Month, and we have some very high-tech posters to share with you all!

Feel free to print and post within your agency space if you'd like to spread awareness of good records management - they're definitely accurate all year round, not just in April! (Which is Records and Information Management Month.)  You can also pick some up if you stop by our Government Information Day booth. (That was the *spoiler*.)
Poster featuring an 8-bit-style illustration of a woman in a dark chamber facing the "Player Character" who is entering at the bottom of the screen. Above and to the left, an area is labeled "File Room" and the text below the woman reads "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!" above the stylized image of a records retention schedule. Top of the poster reads "Records and Information Management Month | April x 2024. Bottom of poster reads "Indiana Archives and Records Administration | Records and Information Management | rmd@iara.in.gov | www.in.gov.iara" Poster featuring an 8-bit-style illustration of a woman in a dark chamber facing the "Player Character" who is entering at the bottom of the screen. Above and to the left, an area is labeled "Shared Drive" and the text below the woman reads "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!" above the stylized image of a records retention schedule. Top of the poster reads "Records and Information Management Month | April x 2024. Bottom of poster reads "Indiana Archives and Records Administration | Records and Information Management | erecords@iara.in.gov | www.in.gov.iara" Poster featuring an 8-bit-style illustration of a woman in a dark chamber facing the "Player Character" who is entering at the bottom of the screen. Above and to the left, an area is labeled "File Room" and the text below the woman reads "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!" above the stylized image of a records retention schedule. Top of the poster reads "Records and Information Management Month | April x 2024. Bottom of poster reads "Indiana Archives and Records Administration | Records and Information Management | cty@iara.in.gov | www.in.gov.iara"
State RIM: 8.5x11 Electronic Records: 8.5x11 County/Local RIM: 8.5x11
State RIM: 11x17 Electronic Records: 11x17 County/Local RIM: 11x17

 

RIM Topic of the Month:
How to Handle Mailboxes of Former Employees

Email can be one of the most complex records to manage, particularly when it comes to managing mailboxes after a staff member has left an agency. This is one of the most common requests for help that we receive, so this month we'd like to share some tips. If you have a question that is not addressed below, please reach out to erecords@iara.in.gov.

Determining what to do with a departed staff member's mailbox is a three step process:

 Office Space meme: Yeah, if you could check your mailboxes before you leave today, that'd be great.

Step 1: What role did the staff person play?

When a staff member leaves an agency, the first thing to determine is whether they were a policy or decision maker. Some examples of titles that would be considered a policy or decision maker are executive director, chief of staff, and division director. 

Step 2: What record series does the mailbox fall under?

If you determine that the staff member was indeed a policy or decision maker, their mailbox will need to be retained under Record Series GRADM-3 on the State General Retention Schedule.

  • The retention for RS GRADM-3 says to transfer to the Indiana Archives after three years, for evaluation, sampling, or weeding pursuant to archival principles. 

If you determine that the staff member was not a policy or decision maker, their mailbox will need to be retained under Record Series GRADM-4 on the State General Retention Schedule.

  • The retention for GRADM-4 says to destroy after 3 years.
  • IOT will maintain a copy of this staff member's mailbox for 3 years after they leave the agency, in accordance with IOT policy IOT-CS-SEC-115, which parallels GRADM-4.

Step 3: How should the records be managed?

For GRADM-3 records, there are three options:

  1. GRADM-3 records may need to be transferred to the Indiana Archives.
  2. Not all mailboxes that fall under GRADM-3 will be collected by the Indiana Archives. If you believe you have a GRADM-3 mailbox, please contact erecords@iara.in.gov to get started.
  3. In addition to transferring the mailbox to the Indiana Archives, your agency may also wish to keep what is referred to as a business use copy of a GRADM-3 mailbox for reference, public records requests (APRA), litigation requirements, or other similar reasons.
    • Please note that you will need a secure, backed up, agency-managed location in which to maintain the PST copy.
  4. If your agency just needs a temporary copy, for less than 3 years, your staff can contact IOT to ask for access to the original mailbox via Outlook.
    • Please note that you agency doesn't control or maintain this copy -- so if you need access for longer than 3 years, it is best request your own PST copy.
    • The Outlook copy is controlled and maintained by IOT, and is subject to their email retention policy, IOT-CS-SEC-115. It should therefore never be relied on as your business use copy. 

GRADM-4 records are less complicated:

  1. They do not need to be transferred anywhere.After the staff member leaves, IOT will retain their mailbox for 3 years in accordance with IOT policy IOT-CS-SEC-115, and then destroy the records.
  2. It is unlikely that your office will need a business use copy of GRADM-4 records for more than those 3 years.
  3. If you believe you will need a business use copy beyond 3 years, please contact IOT to request a PST copy.
     

Other information to keep in mind:

  • Not all emails in the mailbox of a policy or decision maker need to be retained. Some examples of emails that can be deleted would include spam, newsletters that originate from another office, and personal correspondence. See the Electronic Mail Disposition Guidance for more information.
  • The Indiana Archives does not respond to Access to Public Records Act (APRA) requests on behalf of other agencies for records that are maintained at the Archives.
    • This means that if the Indiana Archives accepts a GRADM-3 mailbox from your agency and receives an APRA request for records in that mailbox, the Archives will send the request to your agency.
    • Your staff will be responsible for finding the records within your own business use copy, or identifying the correct information and requesting a copy of it from the Indiana Archives. All APRA requests go to agency, and all APRA responses come from the agency.
  • The Indiana Archives may evaluate, sample or weed transferred records in accordance with archival principles.
    • This means that the copy of a mailbox at the State Archives may not be complete once it is processed.
    • If your agency requires a complete copy of the mailbox, it is highly recommended that you maintain a business use copy.

April Records Managers Chat

Meeting Information

Date: 2024-04-25
Time: 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST
Place: Microsoft Teams

This 30-minute meetup is an informal setting in which to ask questions or talk about records management concerns; normally I'll begin by introducing any IARA colleagues attending, talk a bit about the topic of the monthly bulletin and make any announcements, then open things up for questions and discussion.

I've included an agenda to help keep me us all on topic, so there'll be plenty of time for your questions and records management discussion once Amy (the me one, not the other Amy) remembers to click Mute!

Adding Yourself to the Meeting Invite List

✉ Desktop Outlook

Save the attached Monthly State Records Managers Chat.ics file to your desktop.

Make sure Outlook is open.

Double-click the .ics file.

Outlook will open it up as a traditional meeting invitation.

Click "Accept" to add it to your calendar.

Because this meeting is recurring, you should never have to add yourself again.

✉ Outlook on the Web

Save the attached Monthly State Records Managers Chat.ics file to your desktop.

In your web version of Outlook, go to the Calendar page.

Choose "Add Calendar," then in the left pane, "Upload from file."

Click "Browse" and find the .ics file, then click "Open."

Choose a preferred calendar from the dropdown list. (Even if you only have one.)

Click "Import."

Outlook will add the meeting to your calendar.

Because this meeting is recurring, you should never have to add yourself again.

Are you new to using Microsoft Teams? No worries, IARA can help you navigate.

MS Teams is a collaboration app that many state agencies are now using to stay organized and have conversations with colleagues inside and outside of the agency.

But if your agency doesn't use Teams? No worries. You don't need to have the software installed on your computer to participate in a Teams call.

 

To Join the Meeting By Phone

  1. Dial 1-317-552-1674 at the designated meeting time, then enter this PIN when prompted:
    707 553 068#

  2. We'll let you into the meeting.

 

To Join the Meeting by Computer

  1. Click here at the designated meeting time.

  2. A new tab or window will open in your default web browser. From there:

    • Choose the option to join on the web if you don't normally use Teams, then click "Join now."

    • Join through your desktop or mobile application if you're familiar with using Teams and would prefer that to the web version.

 

If you have other questions about how to use Teams, or about the meetup, just contact me and we'll figure things out together!

. . .

Looking forward to seeing you,

Amy A. Robinson (CIP) | (she/her)
State Government Records Analyst
Indiana Archives and Records Administration

o: 317-232-3285 | f: 317-233-1713
e: arobinson@iara.in.gov w: www.in.gov/iara
a: 402 W. Washington St., Room W472, Indianapolis, IN 46204