Office of Institutional Compliance

Records Management Compliance is responsible for maintaining an active and ongoing record management program to preserve and protect state records in an efficient and economical manner. This program is in accordance with Texas Government Code 441.180 and the UTMB Institutional Handbook of Operating Procedure (IHOP) Policy 6.1.5, Records and Information Management and Retention. Records Management is responsible for certifying the university Records Retention Schedule, the development of policies, directives, and instructional materials governing the organization, maintenance and disposition of records at the university. Guidance, assistance and training in all aspects of the program is provided to university departments. The team coordinates the retirement and retrieval of records to the University Records Center.

Records retention periods are based on the legal, administrative, financial, research, and historical needs of the University. "Just in case" or "We might need that" are not legitimate criteria for keeping records beyond their established retention time. Likewise, the type of media a record is created or retained on has no bearing on retention time requirements since retention periods are media neutral.

Records management is more than retention, storage, and disposition of records. It entails all recordkeeping requirements and policies that allow our university to establish and maintain control over information flow and administrative operations.
Records management can help answer important questions such as:

• How long are university records kept?
• When are they eligible for destruction?
• How do I destroy them?
• On what media are they recorded?
• Is the recording medium of sufficient stability to maintain the viability of the records for the duration of their retention period?
• What records are vital to the continued operation of the university?
• Are these vital records sufficiently protected?
• What recovery procedures are in place to help the university assemble its records and resume administrative operations in case of a disaster?
• How do you manage electronic records?
• Is e-mail, website data, social media data a record?
• Are any of the records in our university historically significant?