How to Do Records Management

This diagram shows how the records management process works and the key role of the retention schedule in determining where and for how long business information is captured.

Records retention schedules

The records retention schedule tells staff what records they need to keep and for how long. Retention schedules are drawn up by the records manager/archivist in collaboration with departments or teams. Once agreed it gives staff freedom to destroy records without fear of making mistakes, and stops the unnecessary hoarding of records just in case they are needed in the future. This sample retention schedule, based on one used by Boots UK can be tailored to suit most businesses:

For further information on document retention see:

Andrew C. Hamer, The ICSA Guide to Document Retention 3rd Edition (ICSA, 2011). It is published by The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland – their website at https://www.cgi.org.uk has more information, including details of training courses.