Methodology
The core structure of the Retention Period Schedule for FE project was that of the Model Publication Scheme for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The main groups of classes of information are as follows
- Governance/Corporate Management
- Financial Resources
- Human Resources
- Physical Resources
- Student Administration and Support
- Information Services
- Teaching and Learning
- External Relations
All records created were fitted into one or other of these groups of classes, whether or not they are to be included in an Institution's publication scheme.
Within each Group of Classes the following fields were created
- Class Number and title
- Description of types of Records within the class
- Records Retention Schedule reference number (from Study of the Records Life Cycle)
- Model Publication Scheme England, Wales and Northern Ireland reference number
- Model Publication Scheme Scotland reference number
- Retention/Destruction period (where statutory the statute is detailed in the next 2 fields otherwise it is a suggestion based on best practice)
- Statutory Reference, England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Statutory Reference, Scotland (where different from the rest of the UK)
- Specific examples of records falling within record type
- Notes and Comments
- Blank field titled Responsibility ( this field is for the end-user of the database to record on their own copy where the record is held within the individual institution and the person or area which is responsible for its management and destruction.
An example of a complete entry looks as follows
Acknowledgements
This project relies heavily on the work which went in to the Study of the Records Lifecycle cited above. The team who prepared the present work consisted of Alan Cameron, JISC infoNet; Anne Atkins, Western Colleges Consortium; Sharon Barron, Gorseinon College; Ray Heasley, Loughborough College; Colin Steen, Adam Smith College; and Steven Walls, Causeway Institute, who was also responsible for designing the database with his colleague Richard Crook.
