Maricopa Community Colleges

Maricopa Steward

Records and Information Management ... Why Is This Important?

According to state law, Arizona agencies must provide the public with access to institutional records. The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is a public entity whose records and information are subject to release (with notable exceptions such as records and information protected by federal or state statute or those considered by law as confidential). Every employee—faculty, staff and administrators (whether full-time, part-time, one-semester-only, one-year-only, temporary or adjunct)—is considered to be a caretaker of certain data and documents they each create or maintain in the course of performing their job duties.

Common Terms Defined

Data and information generally exist as electronic files. By contrast, documents and records have a physical form. All are considered institutional assets that have a lifecycle (creation, maintenance and destruction) and may be subject to release. Some may need to be maintained for a long period of time depending on their value to the institution. In most instances, value is assigned by the custodian of record (the individual, department or division responsible for the maintenance and disposition of the record or information). The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records is the agency responsible for approving our retention and disposition schedules.

Data and documents are categorized according to their value to the MCCCD in one of five categories:

  1. Administrative: Items have administrative value if they are needed to conduct an office’s daily business (i.e., procedures manuals, retention schedules, memos and reports).
  2. Fiscal: Items have fiscal value if they are needed to document the audit trail of monies (i.e., budget records and expenditure reports, wage and salary, benefits or business forms).
  3. Legal: Items have legal value if they meet specific legal requirements to keep records for a given period of time which are found in the Arizona Revised Statues (ARS), United States Code (USC) and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). This includes any document that shows an agreement between MCCCD and another entity or that MCCCD uses to regulate itself by aligning with State/Federal laws (i.e., contracts and agreements, administrative regulations and Governing Board policies).
  4. Historical: Items have historical value if they detail the conception, creation, operation and evolution of MCCCD and its community partnerships (i.e., Governing Board minutes, Chancellor or President papers, college history and photos, plans or architectural renderings).
  5. Academic / Instructional: Documents that are used in the process of instruction (i.e., course syllabi, instructional materials and student work—papers, exams, projects, portfolios, art work, performance pieces, etc.). Student work is not subject to open release and must be protected according to the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

All Maricopa employees are responsible for knowing about records and information management and release. The Office of Public Stewardship (OPS) provides training and guidance in these areas. An on-line handbook is available as a resource to help employees appropriately manage documents, records, data and information. It also provides guidance on records and information management which includes storage, disposition and reporting to state agencies.

The handbook provides a brief look at what records and information management are, the types of records and information the MCCCD has and how to manage them and how to create a records inventory for specific areas within the District as needed. This is especially important because if the records or information are not listed on a schedule approved by the State Library we should NOT destroy or delete them.

Topics Covered in the Handbook

For more information, contact the Office of Public Stewardship, (480) 731-8882.