Records Management - ten tips to get control of your information
Ten things that you can do to get better control over your records and information
- Set aside time (and if you’re a manager, assign responsibility to a member of your staff) to review records and documentation before the start of the next term
- Check the School’s Retention Schedule to see if records you are storing can be destroyed
- Use confidential waste bins/bags or shredders to dispose of paper records you no longer require
- Go through your email and delete email – even ‘archived’ email – that you no longer require
- Review the contents of network drives – delete what is no longer needed
- Store paper records that you have to keep but don’t need to access regularly at our off-site storage facility
- Consider whether more records can be stored on network drives where they can be readily shared with colleagues or secured (with the help of IT)
- Make sure your filing system (for paper files or on network drives) is as simple as possible. The Information Compliance Manager can provide advice.
- How easy is it to retrieve information that you or others need from your records? Consider creating lists, indexes or tags to more easily retrieve key information.
- Identify and destroy duplicate records, or information you can access elsewhere, that you no longer require for instant reference purposes, eg committee records (if you’re not a committee secretary), information you can find on the website or on another organisation’s website, books or journals that you can access through the Library.
For further advice, please contact the Information Compliance Manager (freedomofinformation@soas.ac.uk).
