FAQs for GRS 2.6, Employee Training Records
Updated: April 2024
1. Why doesn’t GRS 2.6 include mission-related training?
Agencies must schedule mission-related records because their value is not the same from agency to agency.
2. Does GRS 2.6 include Learning Management Systems (LMSs)?
The GRS covers some records in LMSs. It covers non-mission related training, such as course content, class tracking, individual development plans, and data reporting. It does not cover the records of financial transactions. GRS 1.1 schedules payments and purchases related to training.
3. Item 010 says to destroy records when 3 years old or 3 years after superseded or obsolete. How should my agency implement this item?
Your agency will need to identify the proper event to use as the starting point for retention. Retention might be age-based or event-based (the event being when the record becomes superseded or obsolete). You may then destroy the records 3 years after the event. Some records covered by this item are kept until 3 years after they are superseded or obsolete, such as syllabi or handbooks. Others can be destroyed based on their age, such as authorization forms and evaluations.
4. What do I do with training material an outside vendor creates?
The GRS covers records that your agency owns. If a vendor creates materials for your agency, they are federal records when your agency owns the final product. If an agency is only purchasing access to vendor-owned materials, the GRS does not cover them.
5. Why are academic transcripts, professional licenses, and civil service exams excluded in item 030?
These types of records are usually requirements for specific job positions. They are not training received as part of one's federal employment. As such, they are filed in the employee's Official Personnel Folder (OPF). If they document on-the-job training, that training is unique to the position. Such records are outside the scope of item 030. This item only covers training required by all or most federal agencies. Agencies must schedule documentation of specialized training that they sponsor for their employees.