# Records and Information Governance Course (Self-Paced) Canonical URL: ## Overview An intermediate course on federal recordkeeping obligations, built for the employee who already had basic records awareness in onboarding and now needs to work with the rules rather than just know they exist. It runs the full chain: what makes something a federal record as opposed to a convenience copy or personal paper, the records lifecycle from creation through disposition, retention and disposition scheduling including how General Records Schedules work, and electronic records management in an all-electronic recordkeeping environment. The retention module is the longest for good reason — it covers why an unscheduled record cannot legally be destroyed, how disposition eligibility is calculated from event-driven versus time-driven triggers, and how a litigation hold or pending FOIA request suspends normal disposition no matter what the schedule says. **The electronic records material is the part most agencies need.** Most records training still assumes paper and email. This course treats email as a record like any other and extends the same logic to chat and collaboration platforms, where the informal feel of a message leads people to assume it cannot be a record — when in fact a policy decision made in a group chat can be exactly that. It also covers metadata, electronic recordkeeping systems described generically rather than by product, and the practical habits that keep records retrievable when someone changes role or leaves. Alongside it runs the legal edge that ordinary records training lacks: unauthorized or accidental destruction carries real consequences and a duty to report. Each module includes an interactive activity and a knowledge check, and the course ends in a branching capstone scenario following a single workday from drafting a memo, through discussing it in chat and emailing a final version, to reaching the end of a retention period. ## What you'll learn - Define a federal record and distinguish it from non-record material, convenience copies, drafts and personal papers - Explain the legal and policy basis for federal recordkeeping and identify who does what, from the individual employee up to NARA - Describe each stage of the records lifecycle and your responsibilities at each stage - Explain what adequate and proper documentation means in practice, and recognize common recordkeeping failures - Explain what a litigation hold means and why records must not be altered or deleted once one is issued - Explain why an unscheduled record cannot be destroyed, and how General Records Schedules and agency-specific schedules work together - Distinguish temporary from permanent records, and determine what happens when a retention period ends - Identify the reporting obligations that follow unauthorized or accidental destruction - Identify how email and messages on chat and collaboration platforms can be federal records - Describe good practice for electronic records including metadata and recordkeeping systems - Recognize how records governance intersects with privacy, FOIA and CUI obligations, and know which applies - Identify recurring compliance activities and where to escalate a records question or incident ## Curriculum #### Module 1 - Foundations of Federal Records and Information Governance (45 min) - What a record is under the Federal Records Act versus convenience copies, drafts and personal materials - Why recordkeeping matters legally, historically and operationally - The federal records management structure from Records Officer and Senior Agency Official through NARA's oversight role - Every employee's baseline responsibilities. Includes a record versus non-record sorting activity. #### Module 2 - The Records Lifecycle and Recordkeeping Requirements (60 min) - Creation and receipt, maintenance and use, and disposition - Keeping records accessible, organized and protected - Common pitfalls including records scattered across personal drives and inboxes, inconsistent filing, and failure to capture records from mobile devices or personal accounts used for work - Litigation holds and preservation duties. Includes a lifecycle sequencing activity. #### Module 3 - Retention and Disposition Schedules (80 min) - What a records schedule is and why every record needs an approved disposition authority - How General Records Schedules provide government-wide authorities and when an agency-specific schedule applies instead - Temporary versus permanent records and what happens at the end of a retention period - Event-driven versus time-driven disposition triggers - Unauthorized or accidental destruction and the duty to report - How a hold or pending FOIA request suspends disposition. Includes a record-type to disposition matching activity. #### Module 4 - Electronic Records and Email Management (80 min) - The government-wide move to electronic recordkeeping - Email as a federal record and how retention applies to it like anything else - Records created on chat, messaging and collaboration platforms - The role of metadata in keeping electronic records usable, retrievable and trustworthy - What electronic recordkeeping systems do generically - Practical habits including filing and tagging, avoiding personal email and unauthorized apps for official business, and keeping records accessible through role changes and departures. Includes scenario-based decision prompts. #### Module 5 - How Records Governance Connects to Privacy, FOIA, and CUI (30 min) - Why one record can carry several obligations at once - How good records practice is what makes a FOIA response possible - How many federal records are also CUI. Deliberately brief, and deliberately does not re-teach privacy, FOIA or CUI. Includes a which-course-covers-this activity. #### Module 6 - Governance in Practice: Roles, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement (65 min) - Individual, supervisory and organizational responsibilities - Recurring compliance activities including annual training and periodic self-assessment - Vital records and continuity considerations - Building good habits and knowing who to ask. Ends with an integrated capstone scenario following a single workday from drafting a memo, through discussing it in chat and emailing a final version, to reaching the end of a retention period. ## Pricing **Tuition:** $699