1. Managing Student Records
Records Management at the University of Pittsburgh October 4, 2017

2. Introduction & Objectives
Identify current institutional policies and procedures
Define office of record
Highlight role of Office of the University Registrar
Provide guidance and benchmarks for best practices
Align your recordkeeping practices with your business functions.
*Creation of an effective and defensible approach to student records
Eleanor Godbey, Records Manager, Office of the University Registrar
Alex J. Toner, University Records Manager, University Library System
- We don’t have all the answers!
- Providing guidelines users can choose to employ to creation policies and approaches to create more effective and aligned student record keeping processes in their departments and units.

3. Definitions Office of the University Registrar
University Records Management
Systematic and administrative control of records throughout lifecycle to ensure efficiency and economy in their creation, use, handling, control, maintenance, and disposition.
Institutional reasons: legal, fiscal, audit, historical
Office of Record
Organization or administrative unit that is officially designated for the maintenance, preservation, and disposition of record copies (SAA Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology)
Student Records
A record is a record
Matriculation not academic (essays, exams, etc…)
Transitory vs. Substantive Records
Little or no documentary or evidential value and that need not be set aside for future use.
Records that relate to the operational activities an organization takes to accomplish its mission
Records management is defined as the "systematic and administrative control of records throughout their lifecycle to ensure efficiency and economy in their creation, use, handling, control, maintenance, and disposition." The University Records Management program assists offices and departments in managing records to meet the administrative, financial, legal and historical needs of the University of Pittsburgh.

4. Transitory vs. Substantive
University of Washington, Records Management Services: All About Student Records.

5. Activity!

6. University Records Management
Alex J. Toner, University Records Manager

7. Getting Started What policies or guidelines are you adhering to?
What procedures do you follow?
What is the function of the record?
What records interactions do you have?
Policies – departmental, professional organization, etc….
Procedures – imaging, separating certain document types, rotating based on year, etc…
Function – what value does the record provide your office beyond it’s retention period?
Interactions – (are you making copies of something? Are you the office of record?)

8. University General Retention Schedule
Guidance on records retention and disposition for management of certain groups and types common to most offices.
Differs from department or office specific schedule
No distinction between undergraduate and graduate records
Majority “3 year after student’s last activity”

9. “Big Bucket” Approach Undergraduate
“The application of appraisal criteria to related groups of information, usually based on function, to establish a uniform retention period”
(SAA Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology)
Undergraduate
Five years following last activity of the student (graduation, date of last attendance)
Graduate
10 years following last activity of the student (graduation, date of last attendance)
- Big Bucket Approach: Retention periods applied to series of records rather than each record type within a series
- Periods when students or administrators are primarily most likely to request information

10. “Big Bucket” Examples Record Types Academic suspension letter
Acceptance letter from schools
Add/Drop forms
Admittance letter
Application for graduation
Financial aid documents
Grade change request
High School transcript
Internship agreement
Advisor letters
Late withdrawal requests
Other University transcripts
Pitt registration forms
Course Repeat forms
FERPA waivers
- Big Bucket Approach: Retention periods applied to series of records rather than each record type within a series
Periods when students or administrators are primarily most likely to request information
Adopting this method within parameters of Pitt would be an approach
Negatives; FERPA requests, storage and maintenance

11. Game Plan Survey: What student records are you currently managing?
Function: What function do they serve? What transactions to they document?
Office of Record: What records is your department responsible for retaining and providing? What are records you do not need to manage?
External mandates: Professional schools i.e. Med School needs to provide 75 years at least as hiring practice/school, must verify resume, certs, training, reviews of activities/clinical.
Internal mandates: Time period a student has to return to Pitt to get credit for previous course work towards and incomplete degree.
Funaction: Transitory v. Substantive
Examples of records most departments do not need to manage:
The Registrar manages Transcripts
Institutional Advancement maintains post-graduation, Alumni information
Duplicate database reports
Financial records
Pitt Stadium: View of Pitt Stadium construction, looking south. Pitt Stadium construction began August 7, 1924 and was completed September 1, The Pitt Panthers played their first game at the stadium on September 26, 1925 and their final game on November 13, Located at the present site of the Peterson Events Center, it had a capacity of 56,150 people.

12. Managing Student Records
Eleanor Godbey, Office of the University Registrar

13. Office of the University Registrar
Our move from a localized records management system to a centralized model
Our current role at the University
Student Services
Record Keeping

14. We are the Office of Record for:
Transcripts and Certification
Registration
Recording and Graduation
Course and Classroom Scheduling

15. We are NOT the Office of Record for:
School of Medicine
Financial Records
Admissions Records
Transcripts from other Universities/Schools
Advising
Alumni Affairs

16. Records Retention, Imaging, and Storage
Offsite storage at Access
Imaging Records for preservation and access
Permanent Records vs. Ancillary Documents
Our Records Retention Schedule

17. Consider This!
Are you maintaining official or convenience copies of records?
Are you the office of record for said records?
What is the functional value of the record to your department? (align your recordkeeping practices with your business functions)
Are there external retention statutes or guidelines, based on that unit function, that need to be applied? (support your retention schedules with industry guidelines and best practices)
Student conflicts and investigations

18. Create an effective and defensible approach to student records
Takeaways
Highlight role of Office of University Registrar
Make sure to consider the function of the record following student graduation or last activity.
Align your recordkeeping practices with your business functions.
Support your policies with industry-specific guidelines, benchmarks, and best practices.
Understand institutional procedures, policies, and office of record.
Create an effective and defensible approach to student records
Efficiency, costs, storage

19. Questions? Alex Toner Eleanor Godbey University Records Manager
Archives and Special Collections
Office of the University Registrar