Records Management Guide: Electronic Records Management

The Illinois State Records Act allows agencies to digitize paper records in order to save space and promote discoverability, but they require institutions to follow current standards when doing so. Here are recommended steps:

1. Contact the Records Coordinator to plan the digitization project. Planning time spent and file organization are key components to this process. 
2. Contact IT to ensure the digital storage space you intend to use for storing records complies with the standards provided by the State.
3. Do a test scan to see if all areas of the document will be legible after scanning. If not, adjust the scanner settings to create a clearer image.
4. Set up an organization system for storing the files so they will be easily retrieved when needed.
5. Scan all files. 
6. Apply for approval to dispose of the paper records already scanned.

The Illinois State Records Management Manual gives these guidelines to organizing and managing your emails to comply with the Retention and Disposition Schedule.

• Use the organization of the Application for Authority to Dispose of Local Records as a guideline to sort correspondence into folders and track retention periods.
• In each folder, create subfolders to categorize each email by subject based upon content to allow for quick location.
• The retention period for email correspondence is the same as paper correspondence with the same subject. Use this subject category in the Application for Authority to Dispose of Local Records to determine the retention period for each folder.
• Email correspondence with transitory information (reminders and nonbusiness information) are not considered official public records and therefore are not subject to the same disposal process defined by the State Records Act. These emails can be deleted at any time.

File Naming Conventions

File naming conventions are structured guidelines for describing the subject and date of the content in a digital file. These allow for easy identification, organization, and management of digitally created (born-digital) files. Using file naming conventions will allow you to easily locate files that have reached their retention period and are ready for disposal. Best practices recommend defining and following the same file naming conventions throughout the entire office or unit.

Guidelines

• Find the right amount of information for the file name. Too few components will create ambiguity, too many will create barriers for discovery.
• Use dashes and underscores instead of spaces.
• Do not use other special characters in the file names. These could have different meanings in different software and may result in misplaced or deleted files.
• It is okay to use abbreviations as long as they can be easily translated by others ("HR" instead of "HumanResources").
• Use folder systems to group like files together (e.g. grants or audits). If it is an ongoing project or theme with many files, group them by year or subject folders in the main folder.
• Always use YYYYMMDD for date formats to keep files in chronological order.
• Do not add the file type to the file name.
• Be sure everyone in the office or unit is aware of the file naming convention and how to use it.

See the examples below.

Example 1

Avoid: meeting_minutes.pdf

Use:  20210217_Board-of-Trustees_Meeting-Minutes.pdf

Example 2

Avoid: P1010006.jpg

Use: 20081219_HR_HolidayParty_LeeAnnJones.jpg

Example 3

Avoid: records retention powerpoint presentation.ppt

Use: 20190110_RecordsRetention_RetentionScheduleProposal.ppt