State Record
Any written, photographic, or other recorded information created or received by or on behalf of a System member that documents activities in the conduct of the state business or use of public resources (Texas Government Code §441.180). E-mails received on office computers fall under this definition of State Record. Therefore they should be treated as such regardless of the nature of the e-mail content. Examples of records include:
- General correspondence and administrative records
- Financial transactions
- Personnel & employment documentation
- Student and class documentation
- Websites
- Electronic messages (Email, IM, Voicemail)
Record Copies
Record copies are the official state records that are kept on file as original or master copies and these are maintained by the institution for the total retention period. These records are subject to the Retention Schedule and must be disposed of in a timely manner as per the retention schedule. Failure to do so will result in non-compliance. These records require internal approval before they can be disposed of. Record Destruction form and Record Disposition log must be completed before any disposition can take place.
Convenience Copy
This is a copy of a records that is already being held by other offices or departments.
Transitory Records
These are records that have temporary usefulness and are needed only for a limited time for the completion of a particular action. These records are not essential to documentation of agency functions. Departments should establish a procedure for disposing of this type of record. These records are not integral part of any record series and are not listed in the Record Retention Schedule and hence they can be disposed of without prior approval. Disposal of these records is not required to be documented through destruction sign-offs or in record disposition logs. Examples of Transitory Records include:
- Temporary Information such as routing slips, memos, notes, telephone messages that have short term value.
- Draft documents and working materials.
- Incoming letters or memorandum of transmittal that add nothing of substance and have no future value.
- Other routine information used for communication, but not for the documentation, of any specific action.
Convenience Copies
Convenience copies are all other copies of the record copy created for convenience, reference, or research. They can be disposed of at any time without prior approval or documentation. If they are kept after the record copy has been destroyed, they will now become the new record copy. It is very important to dispose of this type of record so as to avoid legal liability and excessive storage costs.
Electronic Records
An electronic record is any record stored electronically. A record is anything created or received by an agency, official or employee during the transaction of business, on that agencies time and /or resources, which could also be a personal device, and regardless of the medium.