Those of you who work for state agencies may be familiar with the recertification process, where the Records Management Officer (RMO) submits a records retention schedule of all the records of the agency with instructions on how to manage them. Each state agency must recertify their schedule every five years for review and approval. Recently, we sat down with Bonnie Zuber, RMO and Data Management Officer (DMO) for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) to talk about the recent submission of her records retention schedule recertification. Below is the summary of our conversation, which we hope will be informative and helpful for other state agency RMOs embarking on the recertification process.

Q: This was TSLAC’s 10th Recertification, but your first as RMO—what were things you knew you were going to change? What did you think could stay the same?

A: I would say that the “bones” of the schedule were all there from the ninth recertification, especially with our State and Local Records Management Division (SLRM) and Archives and Information Services Division (ARIS)—what I mean by that is that I wanted to keep the same sort of organization and structure to the schedule: a general set of series that applied across divisions, with a specialized, specific section for each division with their unique program records. The things I wanted to change were reducing the number of series/eliminating duplicate series, overhauling the agency item number (AIN) schema to make it more intuitive, updating series that were affected by changes to the revised 5th edition of the Texas State Records Retention Schedule (RRS), and bucketing applicable series to enhance usability with the way we maintain our records.

Q: How did you approach the project? Section by section? By series?

A: I took a file plan approach to how the schedule was organized. Basically, I took the SLR 105 that comes as part of the recertification packet that is sent to the RMO before a recertification is due. From there, I divided up the record series by function, similar to how things get organized in the Local Schedules and made a tab for each section/division. Then I started making my notes for each series: whether it was going to be kept as a distinct, unique series or struck due to being duplicate information; what was updated or removed to comply with the RRS changes; and other notes and comments I made to ensure that whoever comes along after can tell how the evolution of this edition of our schedule unfolded.

Q: You undertook revamping the AIN schema—how did you approach that?

A: I looked at what a lot of other agencies were doing with their AIN schemas. I wanted each AIN to be intuitive to where it falls in the schedule, so I isolated series based on division and function. I also wanted the AIN schema to align with the Record Series Item Numbers (RSINs) in the RRS. So, for example, AIN GR.11002 would correspond with the RSIN 1.1.002 for Audits. This allows our system to grow while still retaining a similar structure to the RRS, as well.

Q: Were there ideas from other schedules that you implemented?

A: I knew I wanted to avoid header rows to indicate which division a record series belongs to; rather, I want the stem of the AIN to designate where it would fall in the schedule. I also wanted to avoid crowding series with too much information—for example, what I did with the grant series for Library Development and Networking (LDN) (more on that later!).

Q: How do you plan to roll out the new schedule to the agency and train on it?

A: I plan to create a user-friendly internal version where I add details that would be helpful to an internal user and maybe hide or eliminate information that won’t have as much meaning for them, like archival instructions that are mainly for the RMO to follow. I’m also going to put the schedule as a list in SharePoint Online and create short videos to show how to search, filter, and use the schedule that way— presented in data format rather than a static PDF that may be difficult to isolate information in. We really want to thread that needle between providing enough information for employees to do their jobs without overwhelming them with information.

Q: Are there any projects that you’re hoping to get traction with once the schedule is approved?

A: Yes! We want to do a cleanup on our agency shared drives and carry out disposition on eligible records. Our goals for disposition are to increase electronic destruction requests and identify what’s archival and protect it accordingly. I’ll also be working on some projects around data classification and naming conventions.

Q: What was the most difficult part of the recertification process? Getting internal responses? Figuring out what the last RMO did and why?

A: I would say that the most difficult part was getting buy-in from users on the new AIN schema. Although the old schema was not intuitive or user-friendly, people were reluctant to change due to the fact that they had filing systems already based upon the old AINs. To help meet them halfway, I really listened to users about what they needed for their systems to work–the more you can build records management seamlessly into user experience as just another part of the job, the more employees will see it as just another part of business. I tried to balance what were more internal processes versus what ended up on the schedule. For example, our LDN division deals with a lot of grant records—about 25 different types—but I didn’t want to crowd up the schedule with 25 really similar series with the same AC trigger. So, I created two series on the submitted schedule and fleshed out a mini-internal schedule with just those grant series and all of the internal guidance one would need to use that information.

Q: What would your advice be to an RMO starting their first recert? Start with inventory? Audit the schedule as it is?

A. I have a few pieces of advice! First, factor in more time than you think it will take to complete the entire recertification process and don’t be afraid to ask TSLAC for an extension if you need it. Meet with each department or division of your agency before starting the recertification process and make sure you understand what each department does—understanding the function of each department will help you understand their records and how they manage them. For example, you may meet with HR and find that they are bucketing many of the required personnel records for ease of management but are keeping certain other series separate due to privacy or other concerns. It therefore might make sense to make the organization of the retention schedule reflect that.

Thanks to Bonnie for sharing her insight and time with our readers! Best of luck with the rest of your recertification!