Records Management Handbook

6. Records Management Procedures

This section describes specific procedures for Records Management within the OIC. In general, the requirement for such procedures is determined by the complexity of the business processes and accordingly it is clearly not necessary to define procedures which are readily understood by staff. However, in respect of the following procedures which are deemed sufficiently important to be included, any failure to follow them can lead to inefficiencies, including duplication of work and higher operating costs, and critically, the possible loss of records not intended for destruction.

All OIC Staff should familiarise themselves with these procedures and fully adhere to them if and when they are carrying out any of these procedures.

Document and Database Housekeeping Procedure

  1. The content of all files and databases, both hard copy and electronic, should be reviewed periodically by the Records Manager with the assistance of the Support Unit.
  2. Starting in January 2006, the hard copies of all '04 cases that were closed during 2004 and '98 cases closed during 1998, including applications refused, should be moved to a single secure location in the Office and considered for destruction in accordance with the Case Work Retention Policies. In January 2007, the hard copies of all '04 and '05 cases closed in 2005 should be treated similarly as should all '98 and '99 cases closed in 1999 and so on each year thereafter.
  3. Also in January 2006, all '98 cases closed during 1998, including applications refused, should be examined on the case tracking database and considered for deletion in accordance with the Case Work Retention Policies. In January 2007, all '98 and '99 cases closed in 1999 should be treated similarly and so on each year thereafter.
  4. Starting in January 2005 and continuing each year thereafter, the hard copy and electronic Office Files should be examined with a view to destroying/ deleting material that it is no longer necessary to retain in accordance with the Non-Case Work Retention Policy.
  5. Starting in January 2006 and continuing each year thereafter, the review and destruction of hard copy General Enquiries records should commence in respect of all enquiries received and dealt with between November 2003 and December 2004.
  6. As regards the deletion of electronic records of General Enquiries, this should commence in January 2011 in respect of enquiries dealt with and finalised in 2003 and so on each year thereafter.
  7. The hard copy Office Files should be reviewed every January, in accordance with the Non-Case Work Retention Policy, with a view to removing obsolete documents and those that have been captured electronically for longer than one year. The electronic Office Files should also be reviewed every January to ensure compliance with the Non-Case Work Retention and the Personal Data Retention Policies.
  8. The Typists General database should be reviewed quarterly by the Records Manager to ensure that obsolete draft documents, or documents already copied into Office Files, have not been retained unnecessarily.
  9. Full completion of all of the above measures should be recorded on the electronic "Housekeeping Check-list" found in file no. OF/OIC/006/001/002.

Case File Shredding Procedure

  1. All case files that are to be shredded must be separated from those of a similar vintage that are being retained. A spot check of 10% of all such files, apart from those which are simultaneously subject to electronic deletion, must be carried out in order to ensure that an electronic version of such records has been retained. These spot checks should be documented on an electronic check-list which should be saved in the Office Files database.
  2. The shredding of such files should only be carried out in a location or at a time that will ensure that no other work, particularly paperwork, is being carried out in the vicinity of the shredding operation and in order that staff engaged in the task are not interrupted thereby ruling out the possibility of any other records being accidentally shredded.
  3. As each case file is shredded, the details must simultaneously be entered on the "Review Details" screen on the case tracking system in order to reflect the fact that the file has been destroyed. The name of the official carrying out the shredding, as well as the date and time of the event must be recorded.

Other File and Document Shredding Procedure

  1. In the case of records that were the subject of a review, which is not the subject of a High Court appeal, and which are not being returned to the public body concerned, these shall be shredded as soon as possible by a member of staff from the Support Unit. Such records must not be placed in a confidential waste bin.
  2. Other documents that are being destroyed, such as those removed from hard copy Office or General Enquiries Files, can be placed in the confidential waste bin for shredding unless considered to be of some sensitivity, in which case they should be shredded by OIC staff.

Record Deletion Procedure

  1. The deletion of electronic records, whether case related or otherwise, must be carried out with the assistance of the IT Unit. No records should be deleted without having made prior arrangements with the IT Unit to do so.
  2. It is essential in making such arrangements that the records in question are being permanently removed from all systems and are not being moved into any auxiliary or archival storage facility. This is essential for compliance with the Data Protection Acts.
  3. More detailed procedures in this regard are to be drawn up, before any records can be deleted, in consultation with the IT Unit and will be incorporated into future updated versions of this Handbook.

Scanning of non-Case Work Records Procedure

  1. The post is opened by the Support Unit and correspondence which is non-case related is passed to the relevant official. The relevant official must then return the correspondence to the Support Unit for scanning and should clearly indicate which Office File, or otherwise, that the document(s) should be scanned and saved under. If the document is difficult to scan, the Support Unit should request an electronic version.
  2. All of the above steps should, where practicable, be carried out within a maximum of three working days of receipt of the document(s) in question. It is vital that the relevant official passes the document(s) back to the Support Unit as soon as possible as any delay in this regard increases the likelihood that the document(s) may not be scanned at all.

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