“Record” is the term used in law and legal proceedings for recorded information created or received and used by an organization in the course of its activities, and retained as documentation and evidence of those activities.
Every office of the University works with records. Examples include:
- Financial activities such as budgeting, accounting, making and receiving payments, and banking;
- Interactions with students, clients, consultants, vendors, partners, government agencies, etc.;
- Hiring, evaluating, promoting, and providing pay and benefits to university employees.
The following, however, are not University records:
- Faculty members’ and instructors’ research and teaching materials, where the intellectual property belongs to the faculty member or instructor (See Policy 73 – Intellectual Property Rights).
- However, records of faculty members’ and instructors’ assigned tasks – such as student advising, committee work, or program/unit administration – are University records.
- Records of separate corporations or businesses, such as staff, faculty, and student associations, or commercial outlets which lease space from the University.
- An employee’s personal documents, communications and publications, which are unrelated to the individual’s job responsibilities.
- However, recorded information prepared under contract for the University or prepared as part of the individual’s administrative responsibilities are University records.
- Library and museum resources used for reference, research, or exhibition.
The University records management program was originally established to facilitate our compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). However, there are other benefits to practicing good records management in your office: regularly disposing of records no longer needed by the University makes it easier to find the information you need for current work, and to ensure the security of the records which the University must retain.
On this website you will find resources to help you manage your records, including:
- The University of Waterloo Classification and Records Retention Schedule (WatClass), which will help you organize your records and let you know how long to keep them.
- Practical tips on managing university records.
- Links to relevant University policies, procedures and guidelines.
If you have questions or need assistance with managing records, please contact the University Records Manager.