Policy 2.9.6: Email Management

Effective date: March 1, 2013
Responsibility: Vice-President, Legal Services, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

STATEMENT OF POLICY

It is the responsibility of all employees to safeguard emails that are “Business Records” by transferring them into the Livelink repository for storage as soon as practicable in order to avert their untimely destruction and to enable subsequent management via the Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS).

APPLICATION

This Policy applies to all CBC/Radio-Canada employees.

DESCRIPTION

Business Records – including emails that are or contain Business Records – are stored in Livelink so that EDRMS can then be used to apply appropriate classification, retention and disposal procedures.

Employees may keep “transitory emails” in their email accounts for a period not exceeding one year following the emails’ receipt or creation. Effective January 1, 2015, the email system will automatically purge any emails in the users’ email accounts that are more than one year old.

If there is an Access to Information Request or a litigation, emails, like any other document, whether they are business or transitory records, must be retained (by transferring them into Livelink) until advised otherwise by the Access to Information Office or Legal Services.

INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION

The Corporate Secretariat is responsible for the interpretation and application of this policy.

HISTORY

This is the first iteration of this policy.

REFERENCES

Policies:
2.5.1 - Corporate Information Technology (IT) Security and Employee Use of IT Assets
2.9.1 - Records and Information Management
2.9.2 - Personal Information and Privacy Protection
2.9.5 - Access to Information

PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES

Emails that are or contain “Business Records” (i.e., emails that are material to a business decision or action) must be transferred into the Livelink repository for storage. CBC/Radio-Canada’s Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) will then be used to apply appropriate classification, retention and disposal procedures.

Definitions

Business Records: Records that are created or acquired, regardless of their medium, because they enable and document decision-making in support of programs, services and ongoing operations, and support departmental reporting, performance and accountability requirements. Examples of Business Records include:

  • transactions: orders, receipts, requests, confirmation
  • interactions between clients, vendors, partners, or other departments and agencies
  • planning documents: budgets, forecasts, work plans, blueprints, schematics
  • reports, policy, briefing notes, memoranda, or other papers supporting business activities-all significant versions (including those that were circulated for comment or that contain comments related to the substance of the content and provide evidence of the document's evolution), the final product, distribution information
  • meeting documents: agendas, official minutes, records of decision
  • committee documents: terms of reference, list of members
  • client records: applications, evaluations, emails, assessments, and so on;
  • records of discussions, deliberations, or any situation related to any of the above that further documents the decisions made along with the logic used

Transitory Records: Records of a temporary nature, regardless of their medium, which are required for a short time to ensure the completion of a routine action. They do not document the initiation or conduct of CBC/Radio-Canada's business and are not needed for statutory, legal, fiscal, administrative, operational or archival purposes. Transitory records do not set policy; establish guidelines or procedures; document core functions or activities of the corporation; require official action or have any documentary, archival or evidential value. Examples of Transitory Records include:

  • working drafts of no particular significance that were never formally circulated
  • annotated drafts where annotations become part of a subsequent version and do not provide evidence of decisions related to the evolution of the final document
  • a copy of a document kept for ease of reference or convenience only
  • data that has been extracted from an existing business record
  • casual communications such as invitations to meetings or lunch

Email Management Process

The following diagram illustrates the required process for handling emails.

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