Special Collections and Archives: Records Management

Records schedules, or Records Retention and Disposition Authorities (RRDAs), dictate to offices throughout the state of Wisconsin how long to keep their records (called the retention period) and what to do with those records once that time has passed (called the disposition instructions).

UW-Superior produces many records which are scheduled under general records schedules, which are RRDAs which cover record types produced by multiple offices. Some units at UW-Superior may also be covered by specific records schedules, which dictate retention and disposition of records for that office only.

Under Wisconsin state law, records may not be destroyed unless they have been scheduled under an approved RRDA. All records schedules sunset, or expire, after 10 years, at which point their associated records groups must be re-scheduled.

• Based on a ruling established January 2010, all State Agencies must send a letter not only opting out of state-wide schedules that do not match the needs of the campus, but also acknowledging when we choose to opt-in. The option to opt-out also requires submitting an alternative schedule for approval by the State Records Board. Contact the Records Officer for more information.
• The Public Records Board has determined that webpages and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, IM, etc., are all "records" subject to records retention schedules. The UW-Records Officer's Council is discussing how to manage social media in order to create a schedule, or whether these fall under another general schedule. However, until such schedule is created and approved, it is ILLEGAL to destroy or delete content from any University-supported site.

The following General Retention Schedules are for use throughout the UW-System. Click on the appropriate schedule below. See also the UW-System Office of General Counsel website for more on Records Management training and schedules at https://www.wisconsin.edu/offices/office-of-general-counsel/

Personnel/Human Resources:

Financial:

Administrative:

• Departmental Administrative Records (Contact the Records Officer for more information)

Communications:

Student:

Information Technology and Library & Archives:

Facilities Planning: