Managing email effectively

is your responsibility
ARE EMAILS RECORDS?
AT THE END OF THIS MODULE YOU WILL:

 Know your responsibilities with respect to the management

of email.
 Understand that email messages can be official records.

 Distinguish between emails that are official records and

emails that are transitory records.
 Recognize when you must save an email.

 Understand what you need to save.

 Have an awareness of the security side of email.

 Be familiar with some IM email best practices.

ARE EMAILS RECORDS?

Yes

Just as paper and electronic documents may be

official records, so may email messages and their
attachments.
OFFICIAL RECORDS MUST BE SAVED

Official records document or provide

evidence of a department’s business
activities.

You must save all of your official records.

This means email too

EXAMPLES OF OFFICIAL EMAIL RECORDS

An official email record may contain or demonstrate:

 the position of the • agendas and meeting

department
 business transactions
 approval or evolution of a
document
 information from outside
sources
 briefing notes, directives,
policies
minutes
• work plans, schedules,
assignments and
performance results
• decisions
• final reports and
recommendations
• external deliverables
TRANSITORY RECORDS SHOULD BE DELETED

Transitory records are records that are

only required for a limited period of
time in order to complete a routine
action or to prepare a subsequent record.

• You should dispose off or delete transitory

records once they have served their purpose,
including email messages and attachments
 EXAMPLES OF TRANSITORY EMAILS

A transitory email would be a message like one of the following:

 duplicate copies of • information

official records received as part of
 draft documents where a distribution list
all critical content
• casual
changes have been
incorporated into a communications
subsequent document and personal
messages
 But –
if you are ever in doubt about a record’s status….
Save it!
EMAIL
 You are not to delete transitory records that
are required for an active, or anticipated,
request, litigation or official investigation.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SAVING AN OFFICIAL
EMAIL RECORD?

You are
YOU SAVE IT WHEN:

 You are the originator

 the person who created and sent the email message.
 You are replying to an email message, thus creating a new
record.
 You must save it as a complete email message (including all of the
original text, your additions and any attachments you may add).
 You receive an email message from outside the department, and
the following conditions apply:
1. It forms part of a departmental record; and
2. You are the first person from your department named on:
 the “To” field of the email.
 the “CC” field of the email.
PRACTICALS