Welcome to the University Email Best Practices training session.
After this short video, you will answer some questions about what you have learned. Let's get started.
As a state agency, all information created or received by UW is a record –
regardless of the physical format or the ownership of the device.
This includes paper, emails, electronic documents
information on databases, social media, even text messages.
UW employees are individually responsible
for managing records they create or receive, including email.
University records are subject to public records requests, audits, and litigation.
Managing your email helps you get your work done more efficiently
and enables you to find the information you need when you need it.
With an organized mailbox, you'll spend less time searching
and more time doing the work that is important.
Records retention is determined by the content and purpose of the record, not the physical format.
For example, a contract sent through email
has the same retention as a contract printed on paper.
To know how long you must keep an email, you need to identify it's content and purpose.
Your emails can be divided into two broad categories – transitory and substantive.
Most of the emails that reach your inbox are transitory.
These emails have temporary value and you may delete them after you no longer need them for reference.
You'd be surprised just how much of your email is transitory and can be deleted – today.
Do you have drafts that have been finalized?
Have you sent a request to the Help Desk and received an automated notification?
Have you answered a question with a generic response or a referral to a website?
How about old meeting requests, newsletters, or announcements?
Or emails you were CCed on, but you found the message didn't really apply to you?
You can delete all of these!
Substantive emails are records that you are obligated to keep for a certain period of time.
These types of emails have lasting administrative, fiscal, or legal value.
Most of us have very few of these types of emails in our mailboxes.
Examples include approvals for purchases, hiring decisions, finalized reports, and policy/procedures
They also include emails that provide customized advice to students
and financial records not stored in online systems such as Ariba
Keep in mind that if you receive or send substantive records as an attachment
and the original document is stored on a network or cloud drive,
the email and attachment are duplicates and can be deleted.
The UW General Records Retention Schedule provides the retention
periods for common records created and received by the UW.
Go to this link or visit our website and click "Find Retention" in the menu
to find the General Schedule and your office's Departmental Schedule, if applicable.
Now you know how to identify transitory and substantive emails.
The next step is managing your inbox.
It may seem daunting to have to identify and take action on each email, but you will find that
you can make decisions on many emails based on the sender and subject line alone.
Is it a transitory email or an email that is past retention?
Delete the email when you no longer need it for reference.
Often are sent emails that really should have gone to a colleague,
a supervisor, or someone in a completely different department
Identify who should be the one to act on the email, forward or reply to the email
and then delete after the matter is resolved.
Is the email going to take some time to address?
Flag the message and respond when you have time.
Can you respond to it in less than two minutes?
Take care of it now.
Keep the email if it is related to a project or process.
If you're replying to a generic question or request,
delete the email after you've answered.
Once you have determined that you need to keep an email,
what should you do with it?
Luckily, the University's email clients allow you to file messages in folders.
Here is a workflow for filing email:
Create folders based on category
and file new messages when you receive them.
Search through your inbox and sent mail folders to find
older messages that you need to keep and file them appropriately.
When the emails inside a folder become inactive
(meaning you are no longer using them for your work)
or you have reached the retention start date
such as the end of the fiscal year or academic year
update the folder title with the date.
For example, create a folder for each student you advise.
When they graduate, put the date in the folder title.
Another example is creating a folder for each of your employees.
When one separates, put the date in the folder title.
In both of these examples, you can delete the whole folder when retention is met.
The University's email clients have tools that can help you automate this process.
Use the above link to look up tutorials and tips.
It may seem tempting to print out and keep important emails - but you shouldn't.
Keep in mind that a printed email can't take the legal place of the original email.
The digital email has something the printed copy doesn't – the metadata.
That's the information encoded in the email.
Believe it or not, when emails are subject to
a public records request, an audit, or litigation,
the requesting party is often looking for both the email message AND the metadata.
Court cases have been lost over missing metadata.
It may also be tempting to export or archive your emails.
However, when you do this, it means you have to find
and manage your emails in ANOTHER location.
It's best to keep emails in their original format and in your mailbox.
You may be thinking, "Okay, I'll keep my emails in my mailbox – I'm not going to run out of storage space."
"Why do I need to delete them?" It's true that you'll never run out of space.
However, it's estimated that 1 GB of email
equals about 168 boxes of paper.
Have you ever had 168 boxes of paper documents in your office?
Would you want that?
If you rely on your unlimited storage space and don't file and delete regularly,
you may find yourself facing pressure
if your emails suddenly become responsive
to a public records request, audit, or litigation.
And if you need to find a particular email,
searching through a large amount of emails that could have been deleted
makes the search slower and that much more difficult.
Speaking of responsive emails…
Public records requests, audits, and litigations happen every day at the UW.
When deadlines aren't met and records aren't delivered
in a timely manner, the fines add up.
You don't want to be the one who causes a deadline to be missed because you can't locate the emails.
In 1994, UW argued in a court case that research records,
including email, were exempt under the Public Records Act.
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled that emails
are records and must be released. UW was fined $1,000,000.
In 1998, the Washington State Department of Corrections paid out $750,000 in fines
for not releasing records in their original electronic format.
In 2013, UW was fined $1,000,000
for not releasing records in a timely manner
If you are a manager, there are several ways you can
help your office meet your record keeping responsibilities.
Incorporate records management into office policy and procedure.
Establish guidelines for managing email, where to store electronic records,
and ensure that your office members know where to find records retention schedules.
Include an item in your new employee checklist
to orient them to their records responsibilities and the UW's email policy.
Schedule an annual or quarterly cleanup day
where employees can take time to go through their paper and electronic records.
Consider using a shared office email address to use
for signing up for services and to receive mail from the public and other departments.
When an employee leaves your department,
the records they created and received still need to be managed.
Establish off-boarding procedures
to ensure this process goes as smoothly as possible.
Prior to separation,
the employee is responsible for reviewing their own mailbox
and purging transitory emails and emails that have met their retention.
Substantive emails that need to be retained
should be transferred to their supervisor or the
appropriate colleague before their account is deleted.
If the employee fails to delete and transfer their emails
before they separate, their manager assumes responsibility for the records.
We've come to the end of this training session.
You've learned that managing your email is your responsibility
as a UW employee and an important part of your day to day work.
Spend just 15 minutes a day addressing your inbox.
Delete transitory emails and emails that have met their retention.
File your substantive emails into folders.
Explore your email client's automatic filing and flagging options
Going forward, try to manage your emails as you send and receive them.
Remember that Records Management Services is here to help.
To learn more about how to manage your email, visit our website or send us an email.
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