SUBJECT:

FORMAL REVIEW - RMP-2-Records Retention and Disposition Policy

I am writing to initiate a campus review of revised Business and Finance Bulletin "RMP-2, Records Retention and Disposition: principles, processes, and guidelines," dated May 7, 2004. The previous version, titled Records Disposition Program and Procedures, was published in July 1987.

This policy revision has been coordinated by the University Records Management Committee (http://www.ucop.edu/irc/recman/comm.html), the body that advises the Associate Vice President -- Information Resources and Communications on records and information practices policy. I would appreciate your distribution of this request for review to anyone in your organization who may have comments, especially those who maintain other policies or procedures that may point to RMP-2.

Noteworthy changes to RMP-2 include:

Roles and responsibilities have been updated (including bringing them into agreement with last year's revision to RMP-1, University Records Management Program ), and language has been modernized.

The concept of the records lifecycle has been introduced, highlighting the need for attention to records beginning with their creation, and the important contributions of Records Coordinators and University Archivists on each campus.

The definition of record, which since last year's revision to RMP-1 has been modeled after language in the California Public Records Act (Ca. Government Code Sections 6252 (e) and (f)), has been updated to reflect amended language in the Code.

As the change in the bulletin's title implies, its emphasis has shifted from procedures to principles; guidelines that may assist University personnel in carrying out these principles have been moved out of the body of the policy, and into a set of appendices, where they will be easier to keep up-to-date in the future.

The drafting of the appendices is progressing concurrent with the policy review. A pdf version of the draft is located at: http://www.ucop.edu/irc/recman/RMP2rev20.pdf

Comments on revised RMP-2 should be submitted to Paula Johnson, Director of Administrative Records at mail code 0014 or via e-mail at by Tuesday, June 15, 2004.

John A. Woods Vice Chancellor Resource Management & Planning