1.4 What do I need to keep?

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As SFU employees, we will create, receive, and share hundreds (sometimes thousands) of documents and records. Although many of these documents and records are important and will need to be kept for a determined period of time, there are many that can be deleted (destroyed) once they are no longer useful.

Take a look at the graph below to have a better idea of how to make a decision on what to keep and maintain:

Graphic

Figure description

SFUWhat Records Do I Need to Keep-simplified.png

Fig 1: The graphic is titled “What Records Do I Need to Keep?” and it shows two long boxes: a long light blue box titled “Transitory Records (can be destroyed when no longer needed)” and a purple box titled “Substantive Records (to be filed according to applicable retention schedules).  

The “Transitory Records” box contains three green boxes of different types of transitory records: 1) Notices & FYIs, 2) Preparatory documents, and 3) Copies.

The Notices & FYI box contains 3 bullet points: Announcing events, Arranging meeting times, FYIs – convenience copies or extracts, Correspondence drafts. Preparatory documents box reads: Data entry documents, Rough notes or calculations, Preliminary drafts or revisions used in the preparation of the final version of correspondence, memoranda and reports. The Copies box reads: Cc or bcc recipients where you are not the primary recipient, Duplicates that have been reproduced or summarized in an official record.

The long purple rectangle is titled “Substantive Records”. Within the rectangle, the text is a bulleted list with eight items: 1) Directive or approval of a particular course of action, 2) Certain drafts or previous versions with unique information, 3) Final Reports or recommendations, 4) Integral to understanding a staff, student or personnel relationship, issue, decision, agreement or project, 5) Meeting Agenda/minutes, 6) Policy changes or developments, 7) Case files, and 8) Other records covered under the retention schedules.

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Does this information help? Take Quiz 1.2 again and check if your score improves.