Records disposal for staff who are leaving or relocating
As a result of restructure, relocation, resignation or retirement, staff should dispose of their records, or move them to an appropriate collaborative application to encourage corporate memory and business continuity.
What to do when staff leave or relocate?
Staff who are leaving or relocating from their team or the University, need to ensure that any records they were responsible for in their role are captured, moved and/or prepared for disposal.
Important: Records with informational value to the team or work unit should be moved into an appropriate collaborative application to encourage corporate memory and business continuity.
Work may include:
- Deleting personal (ie, non-work related) files and ephemeral working or reference documents from your work computer and/or online file storage location (eg, OneDrive)
- Moving digital records into a collaborative application (eg, SharePoint), so that they are accessible to the team
- Capturing significant emails into an appropriate collaborative application
- Returning hardcopy Content Manager files to Records & Information
- Identifying time-expired, temporary records for destruction
- Identifying permanent records for transfer to Records & Information
Note: Allocating sufficient time will help ensure staff are not overwhelmed by the disposal tasks in their final weeks prior to leaving or relocating.
Before you start disposal
Disposal is a range of processes associated with implementing records retention, destruction or transfer decisions, which are documented in the University Records Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA).
Before carrying out any disposal activities, see our Retention and disposal page and the following disposal guides:
Resources
The following resources provide a starting point and practical guidance:
| Resource title | Description |
|---|---|
| Normal Administrative Practice (NAP) Workflow | Records of ephemeral value (ie, records with little or no ongoing administrative, fiscal, legal, evidential or historical value) can be destroyed without authorisation as part of NAP. Use this template to determine if a record can be destroyed under NAP. |
| Records Management Checklist for Staff Leaving or Relocating | This checklist template should be completed prior to your last week in your current role. It outlines the steps to take to file, destroy or transfer the information you have been responsible for and will ensure that important information remains accessible to other staff once you leave or move |
| Records Handover for Staff Leaving or Relocating | This template should be completed to record and handover critical documents and records, ideally at least a week before your departure from the work unit or University |
| Relocating Hardcopy Records from the Work Unit Flow Chart | Use this flow chart to determine how to relocate hardcopy records |
| Records Management Workflow for Closing Work Units | Use this workflow to determine how to meet your records management responsibilities when your work unit closes down |
| Records Destruction List | Use this template to compile lists of temporary records for authorised destruction |
| Confidential Disposal Request Form | Complete this ServiceNow form to request confidential disposal bins from Facilities Services to securely and safely dispose of documents and media |
Further information
If you have read the above resources and require further information or advice on records disposal, please contact us: records-info@unimelb.edu.au.
Note: Advice on records disposal is limited to University of Melbourne records only. Records created by non-University organisations (except where the University has dealings with them) are not covered.