5.05.01 Electronic Mail Retention Exceptions

I. Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to identify the requirements for retention of emails that exceed the defined retention period for email records.

Policy Supported

This procedure is in support of Electronic Mail Account Usage (5.05).

II. Description

Some University Departments have documented retention guidelines that exceed the retention period for email records, e.g. certain Student Records and certain Financial Records. Further any records that are the subject of litigation may require that the records be kept beyond the standard retention period for email records. It is the responsibility of these departments to identify any emails that meet these record types and store these email in an appropriate storage location, along with their other electronic records, to assure that they are maintained the appropriate length of time.

We recommend that email messages that require retention beyond the standard retention time for email messages be saved to a personal storage folder (.pst file) either on your computer workstation or on a server share. If the file is located on your desktop, it should be part of a normal backup procedure that assures it will not be lost.

In the case of email records relating to litigation, they will be retrieved from the email archive and provided to the appropriate parties based on the subpoenas received.

III. Scope

This procedure applies to all University offices with retention requirements that exceed the retention period for email records.