Records Management Resources | Records Management Services

Records Management Services has created the following resources, tutorials, and tips to assist University employees in their record keeping.

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	AI Guidance Everything that is created or received by the University of Washington and its employees is considered a record regardless of physical form or characteristic. All records must be retained according to a legally approved records retention schedule. Records created for, or created by, generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms are no different.
	Text Messaging At The UW: Best Practices Employees may be using mobile devices owned by the UW, or receiving a mobile device allowance from the UW, or simply using their personal device to send and receive text messages. Use these best practices for mobile devices to best manage the text message records you create and receive.
	Records Related to Faculty Searches This resource is meant to assist all three campuses of the University of Washington with how to manage the records created and received throughout each stage of the faculty search process and the specific roles faculty, staff, students, and leadership play at each stage.
	Plan Your Shared Storage Location Clean-up So you know you need to clean out your shared drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams library, or other shared storage location. How do you ensure success? Target ROT--Redundant, Obsolete, or Transitory records--and stay on track using a custom-built cleanup project plan. This form guides you through the questions you need to ask in order to stay oriented during your expedition into unstructured data territory.	Network Drives Retention
	RMS Self-Assessment Take our Records Management Self-Assessment and learn where you or your office falls on the records management compliance scale. Evaluate your current situation and get advice on working toward a more compliant future state.	Retention Network Drives
	Records Authorities and Records Coordinators In order to ensure every UW department and unit complies with state and federal laws and regulations relating to the records, information and data they create, receive, manage, and use, our office relies on Records Authorities (RAs) and Records Coordinators (RCs) to act as liaisons for their units.	Retention
	Optical Character Recognition Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, recognizes text within digital images. The process of converting a scanned image into recognizable characters can make scanned documents searchable and more accessible. Learn how to convert and search PDF files using Adobe Acrobat Pro.	Retention
	Recommendations on File/Folder Naming Conventions Establish a file/folder naming convention that balances being robust enough to help you organize and find your information while still being simple enough that it can be used by the whole office.	Network Drives
	FT, Records Management, and the Disposition of Finance Systems Retiring or remediating a finance system due to FT? Plan how the remediation or retirement of each system will occur. This includes identifying what records need to be kept in the existing system, what records can be deleted and what records will be migrating to another system.	Retention
	Tip Sheet: Going Paperless As you switch your office’s processes from paper to electronic or improve your existing electronic processes, consider these tips and examples.	Quick Reference Network Drives
	Choosing the Right Electronic Storage Location An important component of managing your office's electronic records includes storing them in an appropriate location.	Network Drives SharePoint Retention
	Best Practices for Folder Structures Design a file plan that makes it easier to find what you are looking for while following the legally-approved retention period for your records. Includes sample file plans by type of record. Applies to all electronic records, including email.	Network Drives Retention Quick Reference
	List Your Folder Structure in Windows Create a list of all folders in a directory using the Windows command prompt. Use this inventory of existing folders and files to restructure your shared drive or target ROT (Redundant, Obsolete, and Transitory records) for deletion. Knowing what you have is the first step in identifying obsolete, overly-nested, or poorly-named folders and files.	Network Drives Retention
	Quickly View Shared Drive Volume Use these brief instructions for Windows File Explorer to quickly check the data size and number of files and folders in your shared drive. This is a great tool to measure progress when simplifying file systems and reducing ROT--Redundant, Obsolete, and Transitory records. Need advice on managing your records and destroying ROT? Consult with the RMS ROT Squad.	Network Drives Infographic
	Saving Webpages For Retention or Holds Follow these steps if you need to save an independent copy of a webpage for retention purposes or when it is subject to a destruction hold. This resource shows how to save a copy of a webpage and its components, including video or other embedded files.	Retention
	Best Practices for Team Communication Platforms Tools like Slack and MS Teams free us from emails but present unique challenges. Here's how to maintain compliance with UW legally-approved retention policies while efficiently using these platforms.	Quick Reference Retention Infographic
	Cloud-Based Applications Best Practices Offices and departments at the UW can use cloud applications to store university records provided that the records are managed properly. This resource helps offices and departments to establish best practices around records retention, usability, privacy & security, account management, implementation, and provider contracts.	Retention Quick Reference Infographic
	Destruction Holds Upon receiving a destruction hold notice, it is vital to identify and preserve all materials related to matter. This resource provides detailed guidance on how to reorganize your electronic records subject to a destruction hold.	Network Drives Retention SharePoint
	Structuring Electronic Files A guide on how to create and maintain a digital filing system. Includes tips on figuring out what you have, keeping records organized and easily found by your entire office. Learn how to: Involve your stakeholders Analyze existing records Develop a new filing system Inform users/training Implement and purge annually	Network Drives Retention SharePoint
	Quick Reference Cards Whether you just started at UW or have been here for years, managing records is a fact of life. Print and display our Quick Reference Cards in your workspace.	Retention Quick Reference New Employee
	Managing MWS/Nebula Drives This infographic contains basic facts and management tactics for UW employees using Nebula.	Network Drives Infographic
	Cleaning Up Outlook Calendars The retention period for calendars is 1 year after the end of the calendar year. This can be a difficult retention to implement unless you are very familiar with how your email client works. Learn how to clean up your Outlook calendar in this resource.	Calendars
	Save an Outlook Calendar Calendars have a specified mandatory retention period, and these records must be preserved when an employee leaves. Learn how to use Outlook to export a copy of a calendar to a PST file.	Calendars
	20 Day Challenge Take the UW 20 Day Records Management Challenge. Start at the beginning of any month and accomplish clear actions to increase your records management knowledge and the state of your records. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions along the way.	Retention
	Zombie Records Infographic We created a Zombie Records infographic to remind everyone to manage your ROT. Redundant, Obsolete, and Transitory records make up 80% of all information at the UW. Help us fight World War Z and get those ROT zombies under control.	Retention Infographic