Records Management Best Practices: Five Considerations for Colleges and Universities

Educational institutions often operate in a heterogeneous records environment— they need to manage both paper and electronic documents. As a result, they may enact different procedures to address FERPA, HIPAA, and other compliance initiatives. Without standardized processes, it is not uncommon for records management practices to differ between departments, campuses, and even faculty within a single institution. In some cases, long-standing paper-based procedures have not been adapted to reflect advances in technology. Obviously, colleges and universities have to address compliance mandates. And in order to process work efficiently, institutions need to be able to manage student, administrative, and back-office records.

Establishing a records management strategy within an academic environment can be a challenge—especially if there is a misconception that students will not benefit from it. Implemented correctly, a records management strategy can lead to improvements in student services and overall organizational efficiencies. This article will offer recommendations on where to start and how to handle the creation, management, and disposition of student and administrative records. It will illustrate the importance of:

• Identifying your records
• Documenting your records management policy
• Transitioning from paper to electronic processes
• Improving business processes and student services with a records management strategy
• Management from creation to disposition

It will also discuss the importance of having a high-performance enterprise content management (ECM) system in place to address records management challenges that are typically faced by colleges and universities.

1. Identify your records and document your policy

Sounds simple, right? But in an environment that deals with paper, electronic documents, unstructured data, web submissions, and other types of media, it is important to establish and document a records management policy. For each record—whether it is associated with students, faculty, or administrative areas like human resources, accounting, operations, and payroll—you should be able to enact, document, and enforce a storage and retention policy to ensure that you are complying with regulations.

The first—and most important step—is differentiating your records from other documents. Are you are receiving incoming records on different formats? A common example might be both paper and electronic submissions of the enrollment application, letters of recommendation, transcripts, official test scores and other information that is associated with the application process.

After you identify your records, capturing your paper records electronically as they enter your institution is a pivotal step in a records management strategy. At the same time, as you create records internally, enact measures to ensure that they are electronic and not paper-based. Replace your paper forms with electronic forms, which can be secured and controlled. This will simplify your management efforts considerably.

2. Consider business needs as well as accountability

As you put together a records management plan, consider your business needs. Establish consistency in the manner in which you process your records. At the same time, implement measures that will make you more efficient in the processing of those records. Accurate records management will have far-reaching effects. Immediate access to documents will enable you to improve your service to students. At the same time, it will increase efficiency and allow you to process more work without adding additional staff.

For example, as materials that are related to student applications arrive into your institution, you could adopt business process management tools that would improve your processing turnaround and help you manage your records. This would start with using your ECM system to scan and index your application materials upon receipt. The materials can then be grouped automatically with the rest of a student’s application materials. When the application is complete, it can be routed to the appropriate admissions staff for electronic processing with the use of automated workflow.

3. Control your records

Under a paper-based system, it is almost impossible to ensure that your privacy measures comply with the standards dictated by FERPA and HIPAA. An ECM system allows you to configure restrictions on who views, reads, annotates, and acts upon documents with confidential information. Furthermore, ECM provides you with the audit trails that document user and system activity to enforce your records management policies.

Privacy measures can be assured with a transition from paper to electronic processes. Sensitive records can be scanned at the point of receipt. Semi-structured records— such as email and instant messages—can be indexed, saved, and stored in your electronic document repository. There, they can be accesses only by authorized personnel. This is another area where improvements in your records management policy can lead to improved efficiency throughout your institution. By transitioning to electronic processes, records are no longer misplaced, duplicated, or lost.

4. Manage from creation to disposition

After you have identified which of your documents are records, you should implement a processing plan for each type of record. Your plan should take into consideration the active part of each document’s lifecycle, as well as a strategy for long-term retention and disposition. This plan will vary according to both your business processes and industry regulations.

For example, upon matriculation, student information may be routed to your development area for the management of donor files and gift processing. Other records may be automatically transferred to a long-term storage medium to ensure that they are retained in compliance with regulations. As you know, records can be a liability if they are held for too long. For most student and faculty records, you can configure automatic destruction schedules once the retention period has been exceeded. This is all possible with a flexible and extensible ECM system.

Administrative documents like personnel records, evaluations, resumes, requests for position change, letters of hire, and invoices can be imaged and stored in the same electronic repository that you use to house your student records. Thus, active and inactive personnel records can be managed according to the business rules that you configure. And they can be accessed by authorized personnel with the click of a mouse. Making information accessible between departments can dramatically improve your hiring process.

5. What to look for in a records management software system

Good records management starts with a robust ECM system. If you’ve done any research into enterprise content management, you are well aware that there are a lot of options on the market. Look for a system that offers:

• True records management capabilities. An ECM system with true records management functionality will provide your institution with complete lifecycle management from cradle to grave, including the ability to automate records retention, disposition, migration, and backup.
• Integration. Look for the ability to integrate with your existing business applications such as student information systems, ERP solutions, and custom portals. Choose an ECM system that leverages web services for communication and integration. It should provide the ability to work in a SOA infrastructure as well as the ability to directly access databases in legacy systems. An ECM system should offer the flexibility and extensibility to make your information accessible regardless of your underlying architecture.
• Advanced processing technologies. An ECM system should offer an integrated suite of robust tools to suit your specific needs. A system that is integrated from the ground up provides out-of-the-box functionality. Of course you will need records management tools. In addition, look for a system that offers you electronic search tools, email management, reporting tools, forms processing capabilities, barcode recognition software, and more. An integrated software suite ensures that the components with which you choose to address your records management strategy will work together to enhance your processing capabilities.
• Higher education experience. As you research ECM vendors, a few stand out in terms of longevity and experience. Look for a vendor with decades of experience in the education realm. You will find that an experienced vendor has an understanding of the different processes in which colleges and universities immerse themselves every day. They will have the expertise that is needed to address the needs of small and large institutions that have centralized and multi-campus environments.
• Affordability. Often, budgetary constraints make it difficult to enact enterprise-wide software implementations. Find a vendor that offers both traditional and subscription service pricing models that will fit your budget and your timeline. Depending on your business needs, you may be able to completely eliminate upfront capital expenditures.

Sometimes the hardest part of transitioning to electronic records management is changing the paper-based mindset that has been in place for decades. Institutions that are still using paper often let their records management procedures dictate their policies, rather than vice versa. Don’t fall into that trap. If your organization is having trouble adapting to change, consider taking advantage of your ECM vendor’s professional services expertise. A process analysis can serve as a blueprint for improved records management—as well as improved efficiencies and enhanced student services—throughout your institution.

For more information or to schedule a demonstration, please Contact DocFinity now.