16 August 2016

To: Faculty and Staff

From: Nadia Singh, Associate University Secretary, Secretariat & Office of General Counsel

Subject: New policy, Policy 46 – Information Management, replaces Policies 8, 12, 13, 19 and the University guideline, Statement on Information Management

Date: 16 August 2016


On 11 July 2016, the President approved new Policy 46 – Information Management., With the approval of Policy 46, the following guidelines and policies were superseded and are no longer in force:

  • Policy 8, Information Security
  • Policy 12, Records Management
  • Policy 13, Archives
  • Policy 19, Access To and Release of Student Information
  • Statement on Information Management

New Policy 46 clarifies information management roles and responsibilities at the University by consolidating the superseded policies and guidelines into one more concise and accessible policy.  Inconsistencies across polices have been eliminated. New Policy 46 makes no significant changes to information and records management practices or requirements.

The one exception is this - Policy 46 adds a new information management role, “information service provider.” This role is additional to the roles of information steward, information custodian, and information user previously defined in Policy 8. As defined in Policy 46, the “information service provider” role more accurately describes the responsibilities of IT personnel in supporting the work of the information stewards and custodians responsible for information management decisions.

The policy was developed over the past year by a working group of the Administrative Information Governance Committee  (AIGC), in consultation with University committees, as part of the Secretariat’s Policy Renewal Project.

In the coming months, further guidance on implementing Policy 46 will be made available by the Secretariat and IST. In the interim, questions about the policy can be directed to Chris Halonen, University Records Manager, or Nadia Singh, Associate University Secretary.

All University offices should now update their documentation to remove references to the old policies, as follows:

  • References to Policy 8 or Policy 12 should be replaced with a reference to Policy 46.
  • References to Policy 19 should be replaced with reference to Policy 46, Appendix A.

Questions about matters previously addressed in Policy 13 can be directed to Nick Richbell, Head of Special Collections & Archives, Dana Porter Library.

For more information on the Policy Renewal Project, including a list of policies currently under review and a list of policies to be reviewed in the upcoming year, please visit the Policy Post, which can be found on the website of the Secretariat & Office of General Counsel, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat/4-august-2016-policy-post.