Virtual Artifacts Guide

Background

Records and Information Management Services (RIMS), in coordination with other stakeholder units, supports the establishment and implementation of policies and procedures to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information managed by the University’s information systems.

This guide provides a set of retention recommendations for digital objects created during routine operations. Recommendations are consistent with guidelines provided by cybersecurity professionals industrywide and in accordance with the University of Illinois System Information Security Standards, the State of Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology - Enterprise Information Security Policy, and the practices of higher education peer institutions, and in consideration of federal, state, and university compliance requirements. 

Because the types of digital services and objects listed in this guide support activities that are constantly changing, the recommendations for their retention may sometimes require revision. Consequently, this Guide will be reviewed periodically and updated as needed.

Please contact the RIMS office at RIMSgroup@uillinois.edu prior to initiating a deletion or disposal of the listed data elements. 

Primary Audience 

• All offices across the University of Illinois System. 

Considerations

• Artifacts are format irrelevant, therefore, the guidelines below apply to paper, digital, audio, video, transcripts, etc.
• Artifacts are considered records if they document official business and hold administrative, legal, evidential, or historical value.
  • For more information on records vs non-records, please see What is Records and Information Management?
• Electronic records = records. Under Illinois law, an electronic record (audio, video, transcript, caption file) has the same legal status as a paper record and must be managed under the same records-management rules. That means media-neutral scheduling and retention.

Guide

Key Notes

• Minutes vs. Recordings: The official record of meetings is the approved minutes, not the recording. Recordings are working aids unless specifically designated otherwise. 
• Disposition Authority: Destruction of records outside the Open Meetings Act closed-session exception (5 ILCS 120/2.06c) must follow the State Records Act (5 ILCS 160) (i.e., under an approved retention schedule and, if applicable, with a State Records Disposal Certificate). Contact RIMS to request State Permission to dispose. 
• Archival Transfer: Governing boards should forward official minutes (and other designated permanent records) to the appropriate University Archives to document institutional history. Contact the appropriate University Archives to coordinate the transfer of records.
• Formal meeting records (such as official minutes) are strongly recommended, and in many cases required, for governing/executive/policy-setting bodies. Additional legal rules apply to meetings of the Board of Trustees (and related committees acting on their behalf) and AS Board of Directors (and related committees acting on their behalf) under the terms of Illinois State’s Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120). Other bodies have internal rules regarding the conduct of meetings and the creation of meeting records. 
• Generative AI platforms are not recordkeeping repositories and are not designed for efficient and effective recordkeeping. Therefore, users should not rely on generative AI platforms to fulfill retention requirements. If data needs to be retained, the employee must save the data outside the platform to manage it appropriately. Moreover, histories of the inputs created, and outputs received using these generative AI platforms can be considered transitory in nature, meaning they only need to be retained until the reference purpose has been served. The prompt entered and resulting output are considered drafts and part of the brainstorming process. This records management policy aligns with the recommended use of these products.  The content received should be scrupulously reviewed by humans and not relied on for accuracy. The output from the generative AI can be viewed as a draft that requires review and refining before being finalized.

Glossary

• Administrative Unit: The department, office, college, division, etc., acting as an entity within the institution with a chair or official-in-charge and possibly having other administrative units reporting to said unit. This term is sometimes used synonymously with the generic term “department.”
• Archival Review: The process where University Archives personnel review records or other items documenting university or regional history for potential accession. Record series that may be of value to the University Archives should be submitted to the appropriate University Archives for review prior to destruction.
• Artificial intelligence (AI): A set of technologies that enable computers to perform a variety of advanced functions, including the ability to see, understand and translate spoken and written language, analyze data, make recommendations, and more. 
• Business Record: An operational record that is currently being used, or will be used, by the administrative unit that received or generated the record. Records may remain active for varying numbers of years, depending on the purposes for which they were created. The unit has the responsibility of determining the access required and the security needed for the records. 
• Chat: Refers to a synchronous communication tool that allows users to exchange real-time messages and receive instant responses.  The instant messaging component, which is a standard feature of most online collaboration platforms, is commonly incorporated into groupware products.
• Chatbot:  A computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the internet.
• ChatGPT: An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. The language model can respond to questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails.  ChatGPT is a form of generative AI - a tool that lets users enter prompts to receive humanlike images, text or videos that are created by AI.
• Closed captioning/Live captions: The real-time subtitles displayed during a meeting.
• Collaboration tools: A broad term for software and platforms that facilitate communication and teamwork, regardless of location.
• Destroy – Secured: If the record series contains restricted information, as defined in its Records Retention Schedule, the records must be destroyed in a secure manner such as incineration, maceration, shredding, pulping, or secure electronic destruction—the most common method being that of shredding.
• Destroy: If the record series does not contain restricted information, the records may be destroyed by placing in trash or recycling, or via electronic destruction, as well as in the manner described for secured destruction.
• Electronic Record Management System (Also known as Record-keeping Systems): Any electronic system that manages the storage, location, and retrieval of records, either paper or electronic.
• Electronic Records: Records created or stored by electronic means, including, but not limited to, digital files, images, objects, files on tape, disks, or internal memory.
• Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT):  A conversational agent that uses a GPT model to interact with users.
• Hybrid Meeting Software: A tool that connects participants in a physical meeting room with remote attendees.
• Litigation: A communication issued as the result of current or anticipated lawsuit, audit, government investigation or other similar matter that suspends the normal process regarding the retention and disposition of university records.
• Meeting Recordings: The saved audio/visual record of the meeting.
• Metadata: Structured data about data. It is descriptive information about an object or resource whether it is physical or electronic. For example, in an e-mail, the “to:”, “from:”, “date:”, “subject:”, etc., would be the metadata. In a word processing document, the summary portion of properties would be the metadata. When electronic records are collected or transferred to other media, the appropriate metadata needs to follow the electronic records. Metadata can be manually created or derived automatically using software.
• Permanent within Department or Unit: Records series that have a demonstrated legal or administrative need for a particular unit on campus to maintain them permanently.
• Record: Any information, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received in connection with the transaction of university business in accordance with law or regulation. A record may include a document, correspondence, recordings, reports, studies, data maps, drawings, logs, feeder files, source data, photographs, or e-mail, whether in paper, electronic or other forms. 
• Responsible Department: The department or other administrative unit designated as having the responsibility for retention and timely destruction of the particular types of Institution records in their control.
• Retention Schedule: A retention schedule is a document listing all of the records series in a group of records (HR, Student, etc.), the length of time each record must be retained as an active record, and the disposition as agreed upon by the State and the University. The RIMS office works with contributors from each campus to create retention schedules and submits them to the State Records Commission for approval. Once approved, the retention schedule becomes the official reference to which the State compares future submitted disposal requests. Also referred to as the Application for Authority to Dispose of Records.
• Transcription: The feature that creates a real-time or post-meeting written record of what was said.
• Transitory Document: A transitory document is one that is of short-term value and that can be destroyed immediately or after meeting its transitory need.
• Video conferencing software/services: A program designed facilitate virtual meetings between one or more parties. Participants are able to choose whether they are visible to other attendees or not. It may or not contain collaboration features, such as transcription and chat.
• Virtual meeting engagement tools:  Interactive features that increase participant involvement.

References

•    https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/records-management.html
•    https://recmgmt.wwu.edu/general-retention-schedule?term_node_tid_depth=All&combine=course+recording
•    https://www.cwu.edu/about/offices/business-services/_documents/how-long-do-meeting-recordings-need-to-be-kept-by-state-agencies.pdf
•    https://finance.uw.edu/recmgt/zoom-best-practices
•    https://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/help-government-agencies/local-government-records-retention-schedules 
•    https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=000501200K2.06
•    https://recordsmanagement.uoregon.edu/chat-retention#:~:text=What's%20Changed,Non%2DChannel%20Chats
•    https://policy.umn.edu/it/itresources-appa

Contact Records and Information Management Services (RIMS)

Questions? Please get in touch!  Use either the our Contact Form or email address.

Using either contact option will generate a support ticket, and someone from our team will get in touch within two business days. 

We can then answer any questions you have or arrange a meeting (either virtual or in-person) to learn more about your situation and determine how we can assist.

Please visit the RIMS website to learn more about records and information management at the University of Illinois.