# Records and Information Governance Course Canonical URL: ## Overview An intermediate course in federal recordkeeping obligations, written for the employee who covered records awareness during onboarding and now has to work with the rules rather than simply know they exist. It follows the full chain: what makes something a federal record rather than a convenience copy or personal paper, the lifecycle from creation through disposition, retention and disposition scheduling including how General Records Schedules operate, and electronic records management in an all-electronic environment. Retention gets the most time, and deservedly — why an unscheduled record cannot lawfully be destroyed, how disposition eligibility follows from event-driven as against time-driven triggers, and how a litigation hold or a pending FOIA request suspends normal disposition regardless of what the schedule says. **Electronic records, and chat in particular, is where this course earns its place.** Records training still tends to assume paper and email. Here email is treated as a record like any other, and the same logic extends to chat and collaboration platforms — where the casual feel of a message leads people to assume it cannot be a record, even though a policy decision reached in a group chat can be precisely that. The course covers metadata, electronic recordkeeping systems described generically rather than by product, and the habits that keep records retrievable when someone changes role or departs. Running through it is a legal weight ordinary records training does not carry: unauthorized or accidental destruction has real consequences and triggers a duty to report. Every module carries an interactive activity and a knowledge check, and a branching capstone follows one workday from drafting a memo, through discussing it in chat and emailing a final version, to the end of its 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. ## Schedule - Jan 7, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online - Feb 3, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online - Mar 16, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online - Apr 2, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online - May 28, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online - Jun 18, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online - Jul 30, 2027 9:00am–4:30pm — Live Online ## Pricing **Tuition:** $699