Records Management

Summary

All faculty and employees are responsible for knowing the VCU Records Management policy, familiarizing themselves with its contents and complying with the requirements of the policy, state law and any superseding regulations such as accreditations, contracts, federal law, etc. This guide is for getting started.

Environment

University employees and faculty members

Solution

Records management is the administrative term for the process of:

the maintenance of currently-active, administratively-useful, public records;
the disposition of public records that no longer serve administrative, legal, fiscal, or historical purposes; and,
the preservation of those records that have historical, legal, fiscal, or administrative value or that must be preserved by law.

At Virginia Commonwealth University, records management is governed both by the state records management program, Public Records Act in the Code of Virginia and by VCU's Records Management policy. Responsibility for the state records management program under the Public Records Act is given to the State Library Board, which delegates the operation of the program to the staff of the Library of Virginia in Richmond. Each state agency is required to designate a records officer/records manager to be responsible for the operation of the records management program at that agency.

For VCU, Barry Lanneau Jr is the Records Officer.
For VCUHS, Eric Flohr is the Record Officer.
For the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or e-discovery requests, please contact Michele Howell or visit: https://go.vcu.edu/foia

Record Destruction Approval Process

Records must NOT be destroyed until the Records Officer's signed approval has been received.

Prior to purging official records, faculty and staff members must complete a certificate of records destruction form (RM-3) with signed approval by the university's Records Officer in accordance with state law and university policy. Please visit this article on how to Submit a Records Destruction Request (RM-3).

Records Management Training

Records management training is required for all departmental records coordinators and encouraged for all University employees, faculty members and hospital employees. To learn more, please visit this article on how to Register for Records Management Training.

Additional Information

Video version, "Completing the Certificate of Records Destruction" - https://vcu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Module+8+-+Completing+the+Certificate+of+Records+Destruction/1_l24aalhz
Virginia Public Records Act (VPRA) - https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title42.1/chapter7/
VPRA Timely Destruction of Records amendment - https://www.lva.virginia.gov/agencies/records/timely.asp
VCU Records Management policy - https://policy.vcu.edu/doctract/documentportal/08DA32A740D31ACEF3DE09FFC487DA40
VCU Records Ownership - https://go.vcu.edu/records-ownership
VCU Where Can I Store My Data? https://dms.vcu.edu

VCU Computer and Media Decommissioning form - https://go.vcu.edu/compdecomm
Record destruction request form (RM-3) - https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=d292ec36-fd51-4e14-ab89-9cf99b43cf09&env=na3-eu1&v=2
VCU Records Inventory - Permanent/Historically Significant - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bDpO-4Q2yZGHhoux_hW6hpdn22xksWejl-iZ_1iv1Sg/

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