2016
Task Force for the Disposition of Digital Content
A group appointed by the University of Illinois Information Technology Leadership Team (UI IT LT) to assess the current resources for digital storage services held its first meeting in July 2016. This twelve-member team is charged to identify resources, assess current factors impacting disposition of digital content, identify primary use cases, and evaluate mechanisms to address orphaned digital content. The final results should yield recommended retention policies for managing inactive content in digital storage services.
State Government Electronic Records Grant
RIMS is teaming up with the Illinois State Archives (ISA) to explore ways to preserve, and make appropriately accessible, email from the Office of the Governor. A three-year grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) was awarded to the joint proposal submitted by RIMS and the ISA, “Processing Capstone Email Using Predictive Coding.” The grant will support efforts to find practical means of analyzing large quantities of email considered to have long-term value so as to make this content more easily searchable and appropriately accessible. Work on the grant will begin in earnest in September 2016 and run through August 2019.
RIMS FY16 Annual Report
RIMS has published its FY16 annual report, summarizing the goals and activities of the RIMS office in FY16 and outlining expected priorities for FY17.
Additional Records Retention Information Added
Additional records retention information has been added to our website to inform all U of I colleges, departments, and units of the proper time frame to hold onto important records and information regardless of format.
Training Update
Jordan Phoenix, along with other members of the RIMS team, has created informative YouTube videos. A new six-part training module has been added to our Training page.
UIS Records Day
In April, Jordan Phoenix, Brent West, and Rich Gegg spent a day at the University of Illinois at Springfield to train and have one-on-one consultations with members of the UIS community. A lot of good information was exchanged and RIMS was able to make new contacts with units needing assistance.
UIC Bringing Administrators Together (BAT) Conference
In April, Linnea Knapp and Bill Herrera attended the “Ask the Experts” session where we had a RIMS table to provide information about the free services offered and answer many questions. Lots of mini-carts, coasters, postcards, and business cards were distributed. We expect more opportunities to help other areas at UIC.
UIUC Footprint Challenge
In February, RIMS partnered with Technology Services at Illinois to challenge faculty and staff to a friendly competition to see who can create the smallest email footprint. Units cleared out old messages as part of the second annual Email Footprint Challenge. Prizes were awarded to the top individuals and the top department with the greatest reduction to their email footprint. Nearly 575 GB was deleted with almost 1,500 individuals participating. Great job, everyone! For additional information please visit the Footprint Challenge webpage.
One University – One [Revised] Student Records Retention Schedule
RIMS colleague Linnea Knapp facilitated discussions and collaboration between the Registrars and other stake-holder units on all campuses to revise and improve two specific categories of records on the Student Records Retention Schedule: Admissions Records and Academic Records. The enhanced and revised Student Records General Retention Schedule was brought to the State for approval in the fall of 2015. The newly approved Student Records Retention Schedule is now available on our website.
College of Medicine Reclaims Space – Phase II
RIMS is continuing to work with the UIC College of Medicine to help the administration units complete a large scale reorganization of storage space and records inventory. Phase I of the project focused on the sorting and organization of more than 500 cubic feet of HR and financial records. In Phase II, RIMS colleagues Linnea Knapp and Bill Herrera are facilitating work to gain intellectual and physical controls over more than 400 cubic feet of Student Academic Records.
Website Updated to Match Updated Retention Schedules
To better accommodate the growing number of State-approved Retention Schedules available for reference on the RIMS website, RIMS colleague Kate Techtow has re-vamped the structure of the Retention Schedule section of the site. Look for a new and easier-to-follow format for the document lists and centralized information about the development and purpose of the Retention Schedules.
Processing Capstone Email Using Predictive Coding
RIMS had the opportunity to present at the 10th annual Best Practices Exchange (BPE) conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On behalf of RIMS, Brent West’s presentation highlighted RIMS’ goal to leverage predictive coding to identify and prioritize sensitive content within email for review and redaction. This goal is intended support the ongoing RIMS/Archives Email Preservation Project.
2015 Award for Communications and Marketing Excellence (ACME)
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s office of Public Affairs gave the Innovation in Marketing award as part of the 2015 ACME event to Jordan Phoenix for his work on the RIMS’ “Menacing Email” monster series. This award highlights the use of innovation to promote an understanding of the services of the Records and Information Management Services office.
>1,280 Square Feet Recovered
In Chicago, RIMS has been working with over 30 departments storing records in the Laflin Warehouse to clear out materials no longer needed. So far, over 1,280 square feet of floor space has been reclaimed. This space recovery effort has been spearheaded by RIMS colleague Bill Herrera and his project team members.
Managing your Email at the University of Illinois
Recent events have again called attention to email and its appropriate use. Here is some quick guidance for managing email:
1. File It
If your messages relate to University issues, policies, procedures, takes action, gives guidance, provides important background info on University decisions, or if you are unsure, file it in an appropriate and secure system outside the email system. (Senior Administrators have a responsibility to work with the University Archivists through the Email Preservation Project to preserve their historically significant messages.)
2. Delete it
If your messages relate to things like meeting invitations, appointment confirmations, personal exchanges, broadcast messages, junk mail and SPAM, delete it as soon as it is no longer needed.
Remember: University email systems are not intended to be record-keeping systems. In some instances, email messages and/or their attachments should be treated as University Records and stored in an appropriate and secure system outside of the email system. Delete non-record messages when they are no longer necessary. (The typical University employee’s inbox contains an estimated 90% non-record messages.)
If you require assistance in determining what is or is not a University record and how and when to transfer those records out of an email system, contact the RIMS office.
Reducing our Information Footprint
During the end of 2014 and the start of 2015 the Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) office worked with staff across the University to help lead the three different Information Footprint Challenges (IFC). Each IFC was a challenge to faculty and staff to reduce the amount of space taken up by the documents and communications they create and store.
The Springfield and Urbana-Champaign universities participated in month-long Email Footprint Challenges. Information Technology Services (ITS) at UIS and Technology Services at UIUC challenged faculty and staff at their respective universities to clean up and clear out their email by deleting old and unnecessary messages. In addition to the two Information Footprint Challenges, each unit of the Office of Business and Financial Services (OBFS), across all campuses, competed in the 4th Annual IFC to see which unit could have the greatest reduction in their overall information footprint.
These challenges serve to encourage routine, appropriate disposal of emails and documents while creating friendly competition and excitement for this important area of records and information management.
One University – One Student Records Retention Schedule
Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) colleague, Linnea Knapp, worked to consolidate almost 300 disparate student related records series from almost 80 individual retention schedules into one General Student Records Retention Schedule. This general schedule was approved by the State Records Commission in September 2013. Approval of the Student Records General Retention Schedule has prompted various University stakeholders to take a closer look at two specific categories of records, Admissions Records and Academic Records. Linnea is now facilitating on-going discussions and collaboration between the Registrars from all campuses in order to review and revise the retention guidelines for Admission Records and Academic Records.
The RIMS team hopes to bring the enhanced Student Records General Retention Schedule to the State for approval in the fall of 2014.
RIMS contributes to EDUCAUSE
In April 2014, Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) colleague, Joanne Kaczmarek, published an EDUCAUSE Research Bulletin, Supporting Information Governance through Records and Information Management. This paper explains that the expanding scope of IT initiatives in higher education institutions now goes well beyond basic desktop and enterprise applications, many aspects of which are often found in a records and information management (RIM) program, but not all colleges and universities have such programs. It further explains how information governance is at the core of a RIM program and how IT interests in information governance can be better supported by having a RIM program. Joanne describes how the University of Illinois embedded a RIM program in the Office of the CIO, with close bonds to the university archivists, and how this arrangement benefits both information governance and the academic mission of the institution.
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology.
College of Medicine Reclaims Space
The Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) program is continuing their work with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Medicine to help the college's administration units complete a large scale reorganization of storage space and records inventory. With the aid of RIMS colleagues Linnea Knapp and Bill Herrera, the College has sorted through seven (7) different unit offices and more than 700 cubic feet of paper.
In addition, more than 12 cubic feet of material deemed to be records of enduring value to the University have been identified and will be transferred and cataloged in the University Archives for permanent retention. While finding these records helps ensure institutional memory is retained, an equally valuable result of this effort is the reclamation of space. The next phase of the project has begun and RIMS is working closely with the Registrar’s office in order to focus on the retention of Student Academic Records.
Preserving the Legacy: Email Messages of Enduring Value
To help ensure that correspondence of senior administrators with ongoing administrative, cultural, and historic value is not lost, the Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) team has collaborated with the University Archives over the past year to identify the workflow, access, and system requirements for email preservation. RIMS colleague Brent West, as well as other RIMS team members, met with representatives of the University senior administrators, IT, faculty, and others in an ongoing effort to ensure that management of email correspondence proceeds thoughtfully and with careful consideration of the sensitive matters that may be discussed within email. The RIMS team is preparing to oversee a pilot project in FY15 to further develop a long-term sustainable plan to support the preservation of this email. Doing so will ensure that the University’s impact and significance will long be remembered and that the University of Illinois legacy will exist for our alumni and friends.
University of Illinois Contributes to International Standards
Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) colleague, Richard Gegg, was nominated and approved to serve as a delegate at the International Standards Organization (ISO) Plenary meeting held in May 2014 in Washington DC. This was the first time in over a decade that the United States was the host country for the ISO Technical Committee on Information and Documentation (ISO TC 46). Rich specifically served on the Ad hoc group 1 - Records management in relation to enterprise architecture and also had the opportunity to make contributions to the discussions of working groups on Metadata, Fundamentals and Vocabulary, and Management Systems for Records.
Rich’s Ad hoc group committed to develop and circulate a discussion paper for Records Management in Enterprise Architecture Services by March 2015 and proposed a new Working Group on the same topic for consideration at the Plenary meeting in Beijing in 2015. The ISO members were happy to have a practitioner contributing to discussions and asked Rich to also participate in a working group to extend the well-recognized ISO Records Management Standard (ISO 15489-1) to provide guidance for hybrid (physical and digital) records environments.