Managing Effectively

Managing effectively is your responsibility

AT THE END OF THIS MODULE YOU WILL: Know your responsibilities with respect to the management of . Understand that messages can be official records. Distinguish between s that are official records and s that are transitory records. Recognize when you must save an . Understand what you need to save. Have an awareness of the security side of . Be familiar with some IM best practices.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES As a GoC employee you are expected to: –Distinguish between s that are official records of business and s that are “transitory” in nature. –Regularly delete all “transitory” s. –If available, systematically transfer records to an official central repository such as RDIMS to ensure accessibility, appropriate classification and preservation. –Understand the basic security and privacy requirements of .

ARE S RECORDS? Yes Just as paper and electronic documents may be official records, so may 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 too

EXAMPLES OF OFFICIAL RECORDS the position of the department business transactions approval or evolution of a document information from outside sources briefing notes, directives, policies An official record may contain or demonstrate: agendas and meeting 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 of or delete transitory records once they have served their purpose, including messages and attachments

EXAMPLES OF TRANSITORY S duplicate copies of official records draft documents where all critical content changes have been incorporated into a subsequent document casual communications and personal messages A transitory would be a message like one of the following: information received as part of a distribution list miscellaneous, “FYI” notices or memoranda on meetings, holidays, charitable campaigns, boardroom reservations, etc.

But – if you are ever in doubt about a record’s status…. Save it!

AND ATIP “It is unlawful to delete any or document, once a formal Access to Information or Privacy (ATIP) request is received or anticipated by the department, relating to the subject.”

AND ATIP All is subject to Access to Information or Privacy (ATIP) legislation –official and transitory It is illegal to delete transitory records that are required for an active, or anticipated, ATIP request, litigation or official investigation. Also note that personal comments in s cannot be removed when providing an record upon an ATIP request.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SAVING AN OFFICIAL RECORD? You are

YOU SAVE IT WHEN: You are the originator –the person who created and sent the message. You are replying to an message, thus creating a new record. –You must save it as a complete message (including all of the original text, your additions and any attachments you may add). You receive an 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 . the “CC” field of the .

WHAT EXACTLY MUST YOU SAVE? The whole enchilada! Your Goal: To preserve the integrity of the original message in content, structure and context

TO MEET YOUR GOAL Save the entire with all header/footer information and all previous messages in the thread. Save all associated attachments (unless they are completely irrelevant to the message). Apply your organization’s file naming conventions (if available) or use meaningful file names when saving . If available, save your messages to a central repository such as RDIMS.

BASIC SECURITY AND PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS Information with a designation higher than Protected B should not be sent via , saved on network shared drives or in RDIMS. The security level of your is based on the content within the and/or the content within the attachment - whichever is higher. Do not overlook the physical security requirements of hardcopy s. Be conscious of whether your contains personal information about someone and protect that person’s right to privacy.

IM BEST PRACTICES IN Try to keep to one main topic per official record to ensure accuracy in filing/classifying the message. Use meaningful subject lines that reflect the content of the message. Use meaningful and descriptive titles on attachments. Be careful with personal comments and opinions – they will become part of the record.

IM BEST PRACTICES IN Use signature files for all outgoing messages containing official GoC business. –Signature files should contain: Sender’s name; Sender’s title (optional but advisable) Institution; Telephone and fax numbers; Postal address; and address. –Signature files must be in both official languages.

SAMPLE SIGNATURE FILE Look forward to seeing you in November. Yours Sincerely Jane Doe Project Manager/Gestionnaire de projet | facsimile / télécopieur | TTY/ATS Health Canada | 123 Green St Ottawa ON K2P1B2 Santé Canada | 123 rue Green Ottawa ON K2P1B2 Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

CONGRATULATIONS! You have just completed Managing Effectively – an IM self- study module. You may now: –Test your knowledge with the following quiz. –Review other IM self-study modules in this series: Information Management 101 Information Security Records Management and You! IM and the Departing Employee Privacy and Personal Information – What Canadians Expect Understanding IM Within the Federal Government