Section 4: Questions related to Temporary Email and other types of Electronic Messages
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1. What is the difference between items 011 and 012?
Item 011 covers all roles or positions that do not fit into the descriptions of either 010 or 012. This item is therefore appropriate for non-Capstone officials who have roles such as: overseeing and instructing workers on the job; reviewing work in progress; observing and securing worker compliance with procedures and methods; planning, revising, and coordinating programs; planning general workflow and methods; budgeting and financial oversight; and completing other mission-related tasks. The majority of temporary accounts should fall into this item.
Item 012 covers routine and/or administrative roles within an agency. Depending on an agency’s unique organization, functions, and/or business needs, this item may be appropriate for only a limited number of roles. Agencies having difficulty determining whether item 012 is appropriate should use item 011.
Your agency should conduct a risk analysis to determine which roles and positions, if any, it should include in item 012, and should be able to produce this analysis if needed.
2. Why are supervisory positions excluded from item 012?
Supervisory positions are those that plan, assign, and review work, and evaluate performance. Because these positions tend to be involved in business and personnel decisions, we include them in item 011, which specifies a minimum retention period of seven years.
3. How does an agency determine if it should keep temporary records covered by items 011 and 012 longer than the prescribed minimum retention period?
Items 011 and 012 each prescribe a minimum retention period, and both authorize agencies to dispose of covered records any time after the minimum retention period has ended. This allows an agency to make internal decisions on whether or not it should keep temporary records longer based on business and legal needs.
An agency should involve multiple stakeholders, such as its senior agency official for records management, general counsel, chief information officer, records officer, inspector general, etc., to determine the appropriate retention period for the agency’s email and other types of electronic messages. This should include determining if the agency is subject to inspection, audit, legal, and other regulatory requirements that require a longer agency retention period to meet certain obligations. Ultimately, the agency will document and disseminate the retention period via agency policy and implementation tools. See Section 5, Questions about Implementation, for additional information.
Agencies may determine that using only item 011 as one agency-wide retention period for all temporary records may better meet its business and legal needs and may be easier to implement. Agencies choosing to use only item 011 for all temporary email may also maintain accounts longer for business needs (for example 15 years) without requesting additional authority from NARA.
4. Why is the minimum retention period for item 011 seven years?
NARA has determined that seven years is a reasonable and appropriate baseline retention period for temporary email and other types of electronic messages, not only to meet agency business needs, but also to ensure agencies are adequately and properly documenting the policies and transactions of the federal Government. Preserving these records for this period should also generally allow the Government to adequately defend itself in litigation or vindicate a plaintiff’s rights in the event the Government has infringed on them. This retention period is also consistent with most statutes of limitations on pursuing matters against the United States (usually six years or less), with recordkeeping requirements set by Congress (such as the seven-year retention period for audit-related records established in the financial reforms of Sarbanes-Oxley), and with the IRS’s seven-year retention period for personal tax records (tied to the six-year statute of limitations for criminal violations of the tax code). These, and similar examples, led NARA to conclude that seven years is an appropriate baseline retention period for temporary email records. See question 3 above on when a longer- than-seven-year retention period might be appropriate for certain agencies. Agencies that wish to seek a shorter retention period must submit an agency-specific schedule.
This Capstone GRS allows agencies to elect a shorter retention period using item 012 (three years) for a limited group of specific roles and positions. Please refer to FAQ 1 above for additional information.