Managing Your Inbox
E-mail as a Public Record
Welcome to "Managing Your Inbox: E-mail as a Public Record." As a state employee, you create public records in your day-to-day job that are the property of the people. The public expects you to manage these records, in whatever format, to ensure that they are available when requested or required. A discussion of public records laws and the expectations for state employees is on the next page.
This online tutorial takes about 30 minutes to complete and must be completed in one session. Throughout the tutorial, a list of resources or links may appear in the sidebar on the left. These include other publications and guides created by the Government Records Branch, Division of Archives and Records of the Department of Cultural Resources, as well as resources created by other states and federal agencies.
When you are ready to start the tutorial, move through the pages using the page numbers at the top of each page, or by clicking on "Previous Page" and "Next Page" at the bottom of the page. Next to the page numbers at the top of the page, move your mouse over TOC to see the Table of Contents as a drop-down box with page numbers and the section titles that can be used to jump to a specific section.
Throughout the tutorial you will find Quiz Me and Self Check icons that you should click to answer short matching or true/false questions. Information about the quizzes you complete will be tracked but will not be reported; at the end of the tutorial you will have the option to print a certificate or your score results, but this is not required. Employees subject to Executive Order No. 18 (EO No. 18) Email Retention and Archiving Policy, issued by Governor Beverly Perdue July 8, 2009, must print the certificate and send a copy to the Human Resources Director of their agency. Also notice in the top right-hand corner, below the title, is a print all link that allows you to print the tutorial for reference.
This tutorial will be updated to give employees more guidance when an E-mail Archiving System is deployed.
This tutorial will cover:
E-mail is a public record as defined by General Statutes 132 and 121. Here are highlights from both statutes.
General Statute 132-1 defines public records:
(a) "Public record" or "public records" shall mean all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data‑processing records, artifacts, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions.
(b) The public records and public information compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its subdivisions are the property of the people. Therefore, it is the policy of this State that the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at minimal cost unless otherwise specifically provided by law.
Public records protect the financial assets and property of the state; the legal rights, lives, liberties, and property of the state's citizens; and protect and preserve records of historical value to the state. The loss of vital information needed to satisfy public inquiries, audit requirements, litigation requirements, or verification of actions or historical records could be incalculable. The proper management of public records including the authorized disposal of records that have met their retention requirements results in cost savings and greater efficiency in operating government for our citizens.
In this tutorial, we will be talking specifically about e-mail messages. However, most of what you learn can be applied to public records in other formats as well.
So how do you know how long you have to keep an e-mail message, or any other public record, for that matter? Chapter 121 of the North Carolina General Statutes requires the Department of Cultural Resources (DCR) to develop retention schedules for public records created by all state agencies. These schedules are agreements between the agency and DCR for keeping or disposing of public records. A general schedule for records that are common to all state agencies is available, while each agency also has a unique, program-specific retention schedule. A records analyst in the Office of Archives and History works closely with each agency to identify that agency's public records and apply retention periods that reflect the value of the records to both the agency and the state.
In summary, an e-mail message is considered to be a public record when made or received pursuant to law and ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions.
Before we begin our discussion of e-mail as a public record, let's start with a few key definitions.
E-mail message: electronic mail sent and received via an e-mail system; the message consists of the transmission information that identifies the sender, receiver, date and time sent, as well as other technical information about the message; any attachments, including audio, video, or any other files, are included in the term "message."
E-Mail Messages File. Electronic mail (e-mail) messages sent or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any Executive Branch agency. (please consult Item G1 of the General Schedule for State Agency Records http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/schedules/GS_2009_updateamendment_20090831.pdf)
E-mail account: an e-mail account is generally associated with one e-mail address; therefore a message sent to John Smith's e-mail account is a message sent to john.smith@ncmail.net.
E-mail system: the application that enables the user to compose, transmit, receive and manage e-mail messages (e.g., Microsoft Exchange or NC Mail).
E-mail client: the program used to view e-mail (e.g., Microsoft Outlook or webmail).
In this tutorial, e-mail will be used as a comprehensive term to refer to the entire process of sending and receiving messages via an e-mail system.
Executive Branch Agency: Executive Branch agency for purposes of this tutorial are the principle departments defined in G.S. § 143B-6 or those Departments to whom the Governor appoints a Secretary and who report directly to the Governor. The Departments are defined as the Department of Cultural Resources, Health and Human Services, Revenue, Crime Control and Public Safety, Correction, Environment and Natural Resources, Transportation, Administration, Commerce, and Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Even though government employees have been managing public records for decades, e-mail is a relatively new challenge. E-mail has been around for about 20 years, and during that time has exploded as a form of communication. Because it is used to transmit so much information, government employees have a plethora of information to manage, organize, and provide access to when needed.
Before we talk about the e-mail explosion, answer this brief question with True or False:
To put the quantity of e-mail in perspective, let's look at the building blocks of an e-mail message (and all electronic material, for that matter). An e-mail message is made up of bytes of data that a computer interprets to display a message in a way that a person can read it.
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Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 bytes |
2 KB: a type-written page 100 KB: a low-resolution photo |
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Megabyte (MB) 1,000,000 bytes |
1 MB: a small novel or 3.5in floppy disk 2 MB: a high-resolution photo 5 MB: the complete works of Shakespeare 100 MB: one meter of shelved books 500 MB: a CD-ROM |
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Gigabyte (GB) 1,000,000,000 bytes |
1 GB: the human genome, or a pickup truck full of books 20 GB: a good collection of the works of Beethoven 100 GB: a library floor of academic journals |
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Terabyte (TB) 1,000,000,000,000 bytes |
1 TB: 50,000 trees made into paper and printed 2 TB: an academic research library 10 TB: the print collections of the Library of Congress 400 TB: National Climatic Data Center (NOAA) database |
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Petabyte (PB) 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes |
1 PB: 3 years of EOS data (2001) 2 PB: all U.S. academic research libraries 20 PB: production of hard-disk drives in 2005 200 PB: all printed material |
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Exabyte (EB) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes |
2 EB: total volume of information generated in 1999 5 EB: all the words ever spoken by human beings |
E-mail generates about 400,000 TB of new information each year. Based on the table above, 400,000 TB = 200 PB. That means that e-mail represents twice the information that has been printed! Keep in mind that this statistic is from 2003 which means that number is even larger by now!
The average corporate e-mail user received 126 e-mail messages a day in 2006, 55% more messages than four years earlier. Radicati Group, Inc., the research group that conducted the study, estimates that an e-mail user will spend 41% of his or her time just managing e-mail each day in 2009. That means that we could be spending 3.5 hours every day just reading, sorting, and replying to e-mail!
Remember, anything sent or received using e-mail can be a public record. It's the value of the content, not the format, which you should consider.
As public records, e-mail messages are subject to retention and disposition requirements like all records created in the normal course of state business. In addition, Executive Branch employees are subject to Executive Order No. 18 (EO No. 18), Email Retention and Archiving Policy, issued by Governor Beverly Perdue July 8, 2009. Executive Order No. 18 declares several key points regarding e-mail management and retention.
Specifically:
In order to help employees comply with Executive Order No. 18, the Government Records Branch amended its General Schedule for State Agency Records and included an item for e-mail, E-mail Messages File. It reads:
ITEM G1. E-Mail Messages File. Electronic mail (e-mail) messages sent or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any Executive Branch agency.
DISPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS: E-mails sent or received shall not be permanently deleted or moved from an employee's e-mail account for at least 24 hours, except that any e-mail messages received that are not clearly related to the transaction of State business, such as e-mails containing advertising materials or offensive materials may be immediately and permanently deleted. E-mail messages sent or received will be retained in an e-mail archive system for 10 years unless an applicable state agency records retention and disposition schedule prescribes a longer retention period, such as permanent retention. Employees may delete or remove e-mails from their e-mail account after 24 hours. Executive Branch agencies not covered by Executive Order No. 18, the Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch are encouraged to follow this general schedule for state agency records. Agencies and branches not covered by Executive Order No. 18 should consult their program records retention and disposition schedules for how to manage e-mail messages.
For more information, see http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/stateagy.htm#gs.
Please note that according to the above disposition instructions state agencies employees should be aware that e-mail messages with historical value will be designated within program specific schedules as having longer retention periods. So, it is important that state agency employees consult both the General Schedule for State Agency Records, and their agency's program specific schedules when determining retention periods for e-mail messages.
Use this self check for a question reviewing e-mail retention:
For state agencies not subject to Executive Order No. 18, it is the content of the e-mail, not its format that determines the retention period of e-mail messages sent or received in the normal course of state business. State agency staff will need to consult the agencies program specific schedule to determine retention period.
Some e-mail messages might have administrative value, which means they are useful in day-to-day business, but may not need to be kept permanently. Other messages may have legal, research, or fiscal value that will decide the length of retention based on your agency's schedule.
Examples of public records that might be sent via e-mail include:
These types of e-mail messages need to be kept in order to provide documentation of day-to-day office operations and to preserve the history of your department; access to these records will also allow your office to function more smoothly from a business perspective when decisions and discussions are documented.
Match the subject line of an e-mail with the value of the message or the reason for saving it in this short quiz: 
Just because an e-mail message is identified as a public record, it could still contain confidential information that cannot be shared. If you are required to provide records as a result of a public records request, you must securely remove any confidential or privileged information from the records before releasing them. This could include:
For further information, click the link in the Learn More sidebar on the left of this page to read Laws Relating to Confidential Records Held by North Carolina Government.
Note that e-mails should rarely, if ever, be used to transmit confidential information such as social security numbers, financial or health insurance account information, or passwords. If transmitting this information is required, make sure you use encrypted technology to keep it secure. Contact your IT department for more information.
All e-mail messages, including personal communications and other non-record material may be subject to discovery proceedings in legal actions, investigations, compliance, and audits. All public employees and officials must respond appropriately to any impending action involving e-mail messages. All measures taken in response to an e-discovery action also apply to e-mail messages retained by those working on home computers or using mobile/portable computing devices.
Before we talk about the challenges to using e-mail, match the items in this short quiz:
Some of the benefits of e-mail, including its ease and efficiency of use, also create challenges in managing e-mail as a source of public records. These challenges include:
E-mail can frequently be treated informally or used for personal communication. This results in sloppy and sometimes ambiguous messages caused by vague answers and quick replies. Keep in mind that if an e-mail message contains personal and business-related information, it still has to be managed as a public record. Personal correspondence using government e-mail should be kept to a minimum and organized separately from business-related correspondence.
Because e-mail is so easy to send and can be received in almost real-time, it is often used to communicate brief updates, questions, or comments. E-mail messages can also be sent to multiple recipients and easily forwarded. It's no wonder the average employee receives almost 150 e-mail messages a day! This can make it more difficult to find important messages when you need them, as well as to manage them as public records.
Once you send an e-mail message, you no longer have control over who might see that message or how it will be used. Even if you properly manage that public record according to your retention schedule, you cannot be certain that the recipient will do the same. Never send an e-mail message that you want treated confidentially, because you cannot ensure that it will be.
Say, for example, you send an e-mail to a colleague with a comment about another co-worker. You delete that e-mail from your sent box since it is not work-related. However, perhaps your colleague replies to your personal e-mail with information about a project you two are working on. Not only do you now have a public record that includes personal correspondence sitting in your inbox, your colleague has your original e-mail in her inbox, as well as a message that is a public record in her sent box.
Half of all e-mail messages handled by e-mail systems, is spam. The best way to reduce spam is to avoid using your e-mail address to register or sign up for accounts online; consider having an e-mail account used only for registration and other online activities. Also, be sure to report spam to your IT department. If your agency uses NCMail, you can report spam by copying the entire contents of the e-mail into a new e-mail message and sending it to spam@ncmail.net.
E-mail is also vulnerable to various security threats like phishing, viruses, and alterations to a message's content by the sender or recipient. Remember: don't use e-mail to send confidential information, including passwords, social security numbers, or trade secrets.
Use this self-check for a question about challenges to using e-mail:
This list is based on the Managing the Digital University Desktop E-mail Tutorial. "Managing the Digital Desktop" was a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant- funded project to study computer file management practices in academic units and administrative offices at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. It ended in 2006.
Because e-mail messages can be sent and forwarded to multiple people, copies of the messages may exist in many areas of an agency. In most cases, the author, or originator, of the e-mail message is responsible for maintaining the "record" copy. However, cases in which the recipient has altered the message (made changes, added attachments, etc.), or when the message is coming from outside the agency (and therefore not documented anywhere within the agency); the recipient is the one responsible for retaining the message.
This graphic is based on a decision tree created by the Kentucky Department for Library and Archives and included in "Guidelines for Managing E-mail in Kentucky Government," last updated September 5, 2005.
In the context of this tutorial, the terms short term and long-term are addressed from a technology and access perspective to be able to access e-mail records over in the future. Short- term records are those records that have a retention of five years or less. This is important from a technology and access standpoint. The retention determination is detailed in a records retention schedule. The content of the e-mail message, the reason it was created, and the administrative, fiscal, legal, and/or historical value of the message to the agency determines what kind of record it is. E-mail message may have one of three different values depending on the content and function of the message to the agency. Please note that public employees of Executive Branch agencies are subject to additional retention and disposition polices as outlined in Executive Order No. 18. See item G1, E-mail Messages File in the General Schedule for State Agency Records [http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/stateagy.htm#gs] Executive Branch employees' e-mails subject to EO No. 18 will be retained in electronic format for 10 years.
Short-term records are those that should be retained for five years or less. In general, e-mail messages with a five-year retention can be retrieved and accessed by using your e-mail client. As a result, if you have messages with a five-year retention period, you should consider retaining them within the e-mail system. Executive Branch employees' e-mail is subject to a ten-year retention period. See item G1, E-mail Messages File in the General Schedule for State Agency Records [http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/stateagy.htm#gs]
Remember that it is just as important to save records for their assigned retention period as it is to destroy them when that retention period has expired (provided no litigation, audit, or other official action exists that would require holding onto the record even after the retention period has expired).
Long-term records are those that must be kept for more than five years. These records are of significant value to the agency, but do not need to be maintained permanently. Because technology and software changes rapidly, (usually within five years), we recommend that you consider printing out e-mails with a retention period over five years. An Executive Branch employee's e-mail is subject to a ten-year retention period. See item G1, E-mail Messages File in the General Schedule for State Agency Records [http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/stateagy.htm#gs]. Once ITS procures an E-mail Archiving System, this tutorial will be updated to reflect how that technology works and make recommendations on how long-term messages should be handled.
The retention period is generally determined by assessing the record's administrative, fiscal, and legal value and is addressed in a records retention and disposition schedule. When deciding what to do with these messages, consider:
Saving a record for 10 years in an electronic format might make sense, but what about permanent records? Records with a much longer retention period should probably be printed out.
Ensuring the accessibility of your electronic public records requires keeping up with changing technology. Specifically, migration is required when technology changes every few years. You must also be confident that your records aren't stored in a way that might cause them to be deleted, moved without your knowledge, or accessed by anyone without permission. Consider the costs associated with handling electronic records over time.
How accessible does the record need to be? Do you or your co-workers need access to the record on a regular basis? What storage method results in the best, most efficient way of accessing it?
Permanent records are records that have lasting historical value because they document or constitute evidence of state policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions. Only 5% of an agency's records are permanent records. These records may concern:
Permanent records should be stored in your e-mail system in the appropriate folder in your Personal Folders until a permanent copy is made by printing it to paper or microfilm.
When you have determined that an e-mail message is a record that needs to be retained, it needs to be organized and stored.
Now that we have reviewed what kind of public records e-mail may contain, and provided some guidelines for managing e-mail, let's look at the specifics of storing e-mail messages. For Executive Branch employees subject to Executive Order No. 18, in the near future, an e-mail archiving system will be offered by ITS. The archiving system will capture and copy all incoming and outgoing messages, and retain the messages for the 10-year retention period as required by Executive Order No. 18. Even though employees will have access to their e-mail messages within this e-mail archiving system, you might consider organizing your e-mail using your e-mail client software on your C: drive and saving that file onto a file on the server. Check with your agency or office Information Technology staff or your Chief Information Officer if that option is available to you. You will have better organized messages and easier accessibility to your e-mail messages by organizing your e-mails within your client software. After 24 hours, Executive Branch employees can and should move their e-mail messages into folders or delete them from their MS Exchange account.
For state agencies not subject to Executive Order No. 18, such as Council of State agencies and Judicial and Legislative Branch employees, how you store your e-mail depends on the retention period assigned by your retention schedule to the content in each message.
When managing your e-mail, ask the following questions of each message:
If yes, keep and maintain according to records retention schedule.
If no, once its value ends, delete and purge.
Only the primary keeper is responsible for maintaining the record copy. All other copies are reference copies and may be deleted when their reference value ends.
In most cases, the final version is sufficient for long-term retention.
When in doubt, keep it!
Records in e-mail can currently be stored in one of three ways. One is to keep the records in an electronic format. Another is to print the records out and interfile them with your other paper files. Finally, a small number of records will need to be printed to microfilm. The advantages and disadvantages will be outlined below; the next section will discuss the best storage options based on the length of retention for a message.
You have two options when you want to save an e-mail message electronically.
A - Keep the message in the e-mail client. This requires the least amount of effort and ensures quick access (when your messages are well-organized!).
The easiest way to organize messages in your inbox is to mirror the organization used in managing your paper files. Create folders in your inbox to organize messages by project or type of task. For example, create a folder for all leave requests, or perhaps one for minutes from a specific meeting.
The example below walks through the steps for creating a folder in Microsoft Outlook 2007. However, other e-mail clients will have a similar process.
Step 1. From the File drop-down menu, select Folder --> New Folder.
Step 2. A new window will appear. Select Personal Folders when selecting where to place the folder.
Type the new folder name -in this example it is budget -where it asks for the name.
Step 3. The new folder appears within your Personal Folders. Move all related messages to this folder.
B - Save the message to your network or hard drive. Saving messages to the network is a good idea because a message might be frequently needed by co-workers, who can then access the message like any other file on your shared network. It is also an easy way to ensure that important records are backed up without having to regularly back up data on your own computer.
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Step 1: Select the message you want to save from the File drop-down menu, select Save As.
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Step 2. A window will appear that allows you to select the format and location of the saved file. Change the file format to .txt. This will allow you to open the file without needing to open it in your e-mail client. In this example we are saving this file to a network folder so that others may access it.
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Step 3. Name the file using key information, such as sender, subject, and date sent. This information will be important when reviewing your files' retention periods.
If the message included an attachment, be sure to save that, too! From the File drop-down menu, select Save Attachments. You will then be able to select the attachments and location just like in the previous steps. Save it in the same folder, with a similar file name, as the message itself.
Note that this method must be used instead of copying and pasting the contents of the message into a word-processing document or other format. These steps make sure that all of the important information is saved with the contents of the message, including the sender, recipient, date and time sent, and subject line.
If the message was sent to a distribution list, expand that list before saving if possible, so that all of the e-mail addresses are displayed.
Try this quiz to match the folder name with the subject of the e-mail: 
When printing a message, just like when saving a file, it is important to save all of the technical information about the message, including the sender, recipient, date and time sent, and subject line. Printing using the print tool in your e-mail client should ensure that this information is included. Do not forget about the attachments!
Using new technology at the Department of Cultural Resources, your agency can print both electronic and paper records to microfilm. For more information, contact the Imaging Unit. Find details on the unit's Web site: http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/imaging.htm.
Does your office have a policy for handling public records? Does it include information about:
Make sure you know who the Chief Records Officer is for your agency, and if you have a question, ask!
One final True or False statement for you to think about:
Find more information via the following links:
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/erecords/Email_Policy.pdf
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/erecords/Email_Guidelines.pdf
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/guidelines.htm
http://www.scio.state.nc.us/SITPoliciesAndStandards/Statewide_Information_Security_Manual.asp
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/guides/confidential_publicrec_2009.pdf
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/stateagy.htm#gs
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/schedules/default.htm
http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/local/default.htm
Department of Cultural Resources | Office of Archives and History | Government Records Branch
Mailing Address: 4615 Mail Service Center | Raleigh, NC 27699-4615
Physical Location: 215 N. Blount Street | Raleigh, NC 27601
Phone: 919-807-7350 | Fax: 919-715-3627 | Courier: 51-81-20
E-mail Address: records@ncdcr.gov
Website: http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/
