Revised February 16, 2005
The following policies found in the Records Management chapter of this manual should be referenced for additional information regarding scheduling, storage and disposal of University records:
This chapter of the Business Policy Manual contains the web link to the Alphabetic Index for records which are generally applicable to all campuses and all departments. Additional records will be added as other all-campus/all-department records are scheduled for retention and disposal.
Records other than the all-campus/all-department records are also scheduled for retention and disposal by the Campus Records and Archives Committee. These records are scheduled and approved on a Records Retention Authorization (UM 76) and include the following:
Individual Department Records
Records found only in a particular department which cannot be included under any other category of records.
All Campus/Similar Department Records
Records of similar activities on all campuses such as Libraries, Purchasing Departments, Payroll Departments, etc., given a uniform retention schedule.
Archival Records
Records of specific departments or individuals, retained by Campus Archives.
The department affected will receive a copy of the approved authorization form and is encouraged to file these authorizations appropriately as these authorizations cannot be referenced online.
To determine when records may be disposed of, add the retention time to the year of the record plus one year. (Months are normally ignored when computing retention time.)
Example:
2000 records with a 5 year retention -
2000 + 5 + 1 = 2006, the year the record is destroyed.
For records that cover more than one period, such as fiscal years, use the latest time period for the year of record. For example, for 2002-03 records, 2003 would be the year of the record. Any exceptions will be noted in the summary.
Certain records (such as cash register tapes and envelopes) are not to be destroyed unless all audit requirements have been met. Questions as to whether such audit requirements have been met are to be directed to the UM Associate Controller.
Any questions concerning records scheduling or retention and destruction should be directed to UM Records Management.