Handbook of Business Procedures
Date published: October 23, 2012
Last revised: February 24, 2022
Issued by: Records and Information Management Services
20.2. RECORDS RETENTION - GENERAL INFORMATION
The University of Texas Records Retention Schedule (UTRRS) is a list of the records created in the course of university business and provides requirements for how they must be retained before disposition. It is adopted as university policy and is certified by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The State of Texas Records Retention Schedule (RRS) and the State of Texas University Records Retention Schedule (URRS) provide minimum retention and archival review requirements for records common to all state agencies and universities, and they are the basis for many of the entries in the UTRRS. All changes to the UTRRS must be certified by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
The UTRRS is used by each department to complete the Request to Dispose of Records Form and to develop a records inventory. For more information, refer to 20.4.2. Records Inventory. The retention periods provided in the UTRRS are required minimums and are also recommended as appropriate maximums. The UTRRS is used by Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) to authorize requests to dispose of records.
A department must contact RIMS if:
- the department is aware of federal or state statutes that have specified retention periods different than those listed in the UTRRS.
- there is no UT Item in the UTRRS for a record created and used by a department.