Providing guidance on managing your information for effectiveness and compliance

Records Management in the Open University

The Retention Schedule

The retention schedule lists types of records created or received during business activities, and the length of time they should be retained following business needs, legislation and regulatory requirements.

At the end of the retention period, records should be destroyed, unless the retention period requires them to be reviewed for permanent preservation.

The schedule will now be updated on a rolling basis - please see the change log document for details of amendments.

Comments are welcome - please contact library-record-management@open.ac.uk

 OU Retention Schedule (958KB pdf)

 Retention schedule change log

Guidance on destroying content and using the retention schedule

 Instructions for using and navigating the retention schedule

Keeping and destroying information bitesize guidance (internal link - view as slideshow)

 Keeping and destroying information - full guidelines

 Destroying documents handout - may be useful for destruction events

 Sample destruction log template

Managing transitory records (JISC)

JISC Generic HE retention schedule (3rd iteration, redeveloped January 2007)

Retention of research documentation

OU Research code of practice

JISC guidance on managing records of academic research

Research Information Network's stewardship of digital research data: principles and guidelines