Records Schedules - How to Create or Revise
A records retention and disposition schedule (records schedule) should reflect an agency’s current programs, business practices, and related recordkeeping needs for the records it generates and maintains.
If you work for an executive-branch state agency or for a county office, any schedule changes must be approved by the State Records Board before you can begin implementing those changes.
Elements of a Schedule
Records schedules include several key pieces of information:
- Series Title - Should clearly identify the record series. "Miscellaneous" is not an acceptable title.
- Description – Should summarize concisely the nature and purpose of the series.
- Retention Period – Establishes the minimum period that an agency must retain custody records.
- Disposition – Establishes the final act taken by an agency on records in a series. The 2 dispositions are: Transfer to the archives or destroy.
- Access Restrictions – Contains information about any statutes or regulations restricting access to records in a series.
- Vital Record Identification – Indicates that a record series is essential to an agency's ability to continue functioning during a disaster and/or to reestablish operations following a disaster.
When determining retention periods and final disposition consider the following types of value:
- Administrative– How long an agency needs to a record to meet its own business needs.
- Fiscal– How long an agency needs to document financial transactions. Audit requirements often impact retention and disposition.
- Legal– Do the records contain evidence of legally enforceable rights or obligations of the state of Kansas or its citizens. Are there existing statutes or regulations requiring a particular retention period or disposition?
- Historical– Do the records provide or contain authentic evidence of an agency's organization, function, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities?
Schedule Approval Process
The schedule approval process in the state of Kansas involves close cooperation between agency personnel, Historical Society staff, and the State Records Board.
The full process can be found on here.
Reviewing and Updating Schedules
Because business needs and processes change it is recommended that all records schedules be reviewed no later than every 3 years for needed updates.
1) Identify records series, if this is a completely new series complete a records inventory form.
2) Complete a Creation / Revision Request form for each series. For bulk alterations such as a reorganization, we recommend contacting us for an exported comma-delimited data set of your agency schedule to work with.
3) Request forms need to be sent to public records program staff 4 weeks prior to a State Records Board(SRB) meeting for inclusion in the agenda. This allows staff time to review proposed changes and ask any questions they may have.
4) A copy of the SRB packet including the agenda and all finalized agency submissions will be sent to you the Friday prior to the SRB meeting. The packet will also be available online. If you have submitted an ERP, those will be sent in a separate packet that will not be publicly available on the KSHS website.
5) It is strongly recommended that you attend State Records Board meetings as the board often has questions that only you can answer. In the absence of in-person answers schedule submissions are tabled to provide time for the agency to provide the necessary information.
NOTE: Certain non-substantive, technical changes to existing schedule entries can be taken care of without additional approval from the SRB. More information is available here. You are not expected to appear before the board regarding these changes.
Please remember, records cannot be destroyed if they have not yet been scheduled or if their disposition does not allow for destruction.
As always, if you have any questions while revising your agency’s retention and disposition schedule, please contact public records program staff for help.