Records disposal for leaving staff and closing work units
Staff and Faculty or Chancellery work units will have records management responsibilities to undertake as a result of restructure, relocation, resignation or retirement.
What to do when staff leave or relocate and work units close down?
Staff who are leaving or relocating from their team or the University, as well as work units closing down, will need to ensure that any records they were responsible for are captured, moved and/or prepared for disposal.
Important: Records with ongoing informational value 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 or Content Manager), 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 and preparing time-expired, temporary records for destruction
- Identifying and preparing temporary hardcopy records, not yet time-expired, for local or offsite storage
- Identifying and preparing 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:
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Resources
The following resources provide a starting point and practical guidance:
| Resource title | Description |
|---|---|
| Normal Administrative Practice (NAP) guide | Certain types of low-value and short-term records can be destroyed under the principle of NAP. Use this guide to determine if a record can be destroyed under NAP |
| Records Management Checklist for Staff Leaving or Relocating | Use this checklist 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 | Use this template to record and handover critical documents and records, ideally at least a week before your departure from the work unit or University |
| Records Destruction List | Use this template to compile lists of temporary records for authorised destruction |
| Box List | Use this template to list temporary hardcopy records that will be stored locally in a work area |
| Records Transfer and Storage Listing | Use this template to relocate temporary records to offsite storage or transfer permanent records to the custody of Records & Information |
| Confidential Disposal Request Form | Use this ServiceNow form to request confidential disposal bins from Facilities Services to securely and safely dispose of documents and media |
| Content Manager Notification of Change Form | To be used to notify when staff change location or position, or no longer require access to Content Manager |
Workflows
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Relocating hardcopy records from the work area
Use this workflow to determine how to relocate hardcopy records when your Chancellery or Faculty work area moves to a new location.
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Records management for closing work areas
Use this workflow to determine how to meet your records management responsibilities when your Chancellery or Faculty work area closes.
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Further information
If you have read the above resources and require further information or advice on records disposal, please submit a ServiceNow request.
Note: Advice on records disposal is limited to University of Melbourne records only. Records created by non-University organisations are not covered.