In accordance with the Archives New Zealand moratorium on records disposal put in place by the Chief Archivist to support the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions Te Kōmihana Karauna mō ngā Tūkino o Mua ki te Hunga i Tiakina e te Kāwanatanga i Tiakina hoki e ngā Whare o te Whakapono, pre 1999 records cannot be disposed of or deleted.
https://www.archives.govt.nz/publications/royal-commission-of-inquiry-into-historical-abuse
Certain documents / emails and other record types you may create or receive as part of your work here at Unitec need to retained for a defined length of time before they can be disposed. All staff have a responsibility (under the Public Records Act 2005) to ensure that none of these records are disposed of or lost before this time period has been reached.
How long a document, email or other record type needs to be retained depends on the record’s content and the business function and activity it was created to support. For example: –
- meeting minutes from Unitec’s Leadership Team meetings need to be retained for much longer than the minutes from meetings you might hold with your own team;
- the enrolment forms of students who accepted an offer of place into a course/programme need to be retained for much longer than the enrolment forms of persons who were offered a place but did not accept it; and
- a student’s exam paper used as part of the moderation process needs to be retained for much longer than a completed exam paper not used as part of this process.
How a document, email or other record type must be disposed of also differs depending on the business function and activity it was created to support. Also – disposal does not always mean destroy – some records instead need to be transferred to the Public Archives of NZ once their retention period has been reached, not destroyed.
General Disposal Authorities
General Disposal Authorities (GDAs) provide Unitec the authority to dispose of records and outlines how long certain records must be retained and what disposal action must occur at the end of this period – transfer to Public Archives or destroy.
Unitec is bound by three (3) different GDAs, each covering different record types.
GDA6 – Common Corporate Records (including Human Resources & Personnel; Financial & Legal and other Corporate Service type Records) ;
GDA7 – Facilitative, Transitory and Short-Term Records (covers routine administration and working draft type Records) ; and
The ITPNZ GDA – Covers all other records not covered by the GDAs above. Generally speaking this is student specific records (including financial records) and records created in the course of student and programme administration and activities associated with the provision of tertiary education – Unitec’s core business function.
This ITPNZ GDA was only approved for Unitec to begin using from late May 2010. Prior to having this GDA we did not have the authority to dispose of any records listed in this GDA. Unitec can now begin to destroy these records, but only if:
- the time we are required to keep them has been reached;
- the records to be disposed have been itemised on a Disposal Register;
- the Manager of the Service Unit or the Head of Department for which the records were created has authorised their disposal. This authorisation must be provided on the Disposal Register; and
- the Manager, Information & Policy has signed off on the Disposal Register before the records are disposed.
For background on how this ITPNZ GDA was developed read the ITPNZ GDA Appraisal Report
To make it easier for/assist departments the Manager, Information & Policy has used the GDAs above to develop some ‘Department Specific Retention Advice’ documents. These list the names of documents (records) created/received by a particular department / unit at Unitec and how long these records need to be retained. The ‘Department Specific Retention Advice’ documents which have been developed to date include:
Accommodation Village Records – Retention Periods
Facilities Mgmt Records_v3.pdf
FM Contracts & Compliance Records_V3.pdf
Library Records – Retention Periods
Puukenga Maia Records – Retention Periods
Security Centre Records – Retention Periods
Sports Centre Records – Retention Periods
Student Support Pou Aroha Records – Retention Periods
Process for Disposing of Records
If you have any documents/emails or other records in your office/on your computer that you wish to dispose of, the Disposing of Records at Unitec Procedure must be followed.
Records That Don’t Have to be Retained
There are some record types that don’t have to be retained for any length of time. These records can be destroyed by the person who created or received them at this person’s own discretion, provided of course they are no longer required by this person or anyone else.
Examples (not an exhaustive list) of these records include:
- All non-work related personal records.
- Trivial work related records , such as notices of meetings and reminders.
- Carbon copies / duplicates of records e.g. if you’ve kept a copy of an invoice before sending it to Finance to process, it is Finance that needs to retain this invoice for the required period of time (7 yrs), not you also.
- Incomplete records e.g. emails never sent, memos drafted but not distributed, incomplete reports.
- Insignificant drafts (i.e. early drafts) once a final of the record has been produced.
- Papers, background notes, other reference materials (working papers) used to prepare or complete records – except in cases where these working papers serve to evidence a significant decision or reason behind an action being taken.
- Records received for information only.
- Records belonging to other organisations (e.g. other ITP Annual Reports or Prospectuses, advertising material or catalogues) – except in cases where these records serve to evidence a significant decision or reason behind an action being taken.
Any other records will likely have to be retained for a certain period of time, especially records making any commitments to students, about students or related to the provision of the learning and teaching services Unitec provides.
For further information about what records must be retained and the destruction of records, including the procedure to follow to do this, read the Disposing of Records at Unitec Procedure.
Training
Training to assist staff gain a better understanding of the process to be followed when disposing of records, and how to interpret/use the GDAs to determine the correct retention period for the records they personally create, receive and manage is available.
In the first instance, contact the current Records and Information Management Specialist for any assistance/training requirements.