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Email Management Guidelines

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Institutions must:

• Develop a plan to manage email
• Collect and capture all business-related email
• Organize business-related email in accordance with a classification system relevant to each organization's business requirements
• Ensure that the use of email supports performance of work that is consistent with their business goals and objectives
• Ensure that their email records are maintained, protected, and preserved in accordance with appropriate retention schedules
• Ensure that their email records are disposed of in accordance with all relevant legislation and policies
• Periodically review the effectiveness of their email management policies and practices and identify and implement improvements when appropriate
• Ensure that federal organizations understand their responsibility with respect to the management of email

Image 1:

Step 1: Start – you create an email message

Step 2:

1. Decide if message is not departmental business. If message is not departmental business the process ends and the message can be deleted at will
2. Decide that message is departmental business, if yes proceed to step 3.

Step 3: If it is departmental business, decide if it is a Transitory Record or a Business Record. Transitory Records should be retained until they are no longer useful and at that point the message can be deleted. End of process. Business Records should be classified. Option one: set maximum retention period, per legislation. Option two: set (minimum) retention period per schedule.

Step 4: After message has been retained as a business record for the appropriate period, there are three possibilities:

1. Be designated as an Archival Record and retained as a permanent record. Process ends.
2. In some special cases, you or the organization may identify that this message will be (or may be) required as evidence in a legal proceeding. Or, if you or the organization have reason to believe that it may be required as evidence. In this situation, legal counsel should be informed of the message's existence and they will initiate a retention hold order if appropriate.
3. Be scheduled for disposal, or a hold order is applied to extend retention period. At the designated time the message should be deleted. Process ends.

Image 2

Step 1: You receive an email

Step 2:

1. if message is not departmental business, delete at will. End of process.
2. If message is departmental business but not your direct responsibility, forward to the appropriate party and confirm receipt. Your part of the process ends.
3. If the message is departmental business, and you are responsible for any decision, response, or action then proceed to step 3.

Step 3:

1. if the record is Transitory, keep it until it is no longer useful and then delete at will. End of process.
2. If the record is a business record, it will be classified either for the maximum legislated retention period or as a record that can be retained for the minimum period and disposition according to a schedule.

Step 4: Once retention period is over, there are three possible outcomes.

1. Message is considered an Archival Record, and it is retained permanently. End of process.
2. In some special cases, you or the organization may identify that this message will be (or may be) required as evidence in a legal proceeding. Or, if you or the organization have reason to believe that it may be required as evidence. In this situation, legal counsel should be informed of the message's existence and they will initiate a retention hold order if appropriate.
3. Message can either be scheduled for disposal, or a hold order can be applied and an extension can be applied to the retention period. The process ends with the disposal of the record.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Documents
Guideline on Information Management: Email Management (proposed title)
Guideline on Information Management: Email Management (User brochure)
www.gcpedia.gc.ca/index.php/Working_Group_on_IM_Considerations/
Requirements_for_E-mail

Library and Archives Canada Documents
Email Management Guidelines
(www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/government/news-events/007001-6305-e.html )
Email Management Guidelines – Roadmap
(www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/government/news-events/007001-6306-e.html)

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