Each Dartmouth department and office produces records during the regular course of business and bears the responsibility of stewarding those records. Dartmouth defines a record as any recorded information, regardless of format, generated in the course of conducting business and maintained to meet Dartmouth’s fiscal, legal, historical, or administrative needs.
The Archives and Records Management team at Dartmouth provides Dartmouth offices with guidelines, best practices, and support with the retention and disposal of institutional records, complying with legal requirements and institutional policies.
Where once guidance focused mainly on physical documents, now the majority of Dartmouth’s records begin and end in digital spaces. Whether it is the rapid pace with which we create records, the various and new formats we create them in, or the evolving technologies we use to store and share them, how we manage records grows increasingly complex. To meet the needs of managing records across Dartmouth’s ever-expanding digital spaces, the processes we implement for continued effective and efficient records management need to match the business environment of Dartmouth today.
Supported by the Provost’s office and fully vetted by Dartmouth ITC, the Archives and Records Management team will roll out a new data discovery and classification tool to assist departments with stewarding their records. The team will take a measured and phased approach to implement the new tool, starting with the Provost’s office in the fall of 2025.
How does this tool help records management at Dartmouth?
The Archives and Records Management team works with Dartmouth offices and records custodians to comply with state and federal regulations and ensure all records follow Dartmouth policies. Ensuring these expectations are met across Dartmouth’s ever-growing digital environment presents new challenges in
- maintaining compliance with established records schedules
- cleaning up storage environments
- identifying records with historical value needing permanent preservation in the archives.
The new data discovery and classification tool is critical in doing this work at scale. On behalf of Dartmouth offices, the Archives and Records Management team will oversee the implementation of the tool, scanning an expected 1.5 petabytes of data over three years. This process will make it possible for the team to analyze documents and identify those needing records management treatment.
What file types will this records management tool identify?
The data discovery and classification tool will systematically analyze documents, producing metadata of files that will assist the Archives and Records Management team in identifying records and non-records based on Dartmouth’s definition. Examples include:
| RECORD | NON-RECORD |
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Following this autonomous process, the Archives and Records Management team will make recommendations to the relevant Dartmouth office and its records custodian to manage its official records. The team will also make recommendations for files identified as non-records.
Are my confidential documents, like research data, included in the phased implementation of the tool?
The process focuses on the records of Dartmouth offices and departments and excludes faculty research and anything student-created.
What does this rollout mean for my office or department?
We structured the implementation as a phased rollout, so the Archives and Records Management team will be in touch with identified offices to support the analysis and identification of your records. Should you have any queries before then, please contact the Archivist and Records Manager.
Do I need to do anything differently?
Not at this stage. A key benefit of using this new records management tool is how it supports the discovery, classification, and analysis of records without impacting day-to-day operations and staff resources/time. With its help, the Archives and Records Management team will oversee the initial work. If your department or office is considering or planning to migrate data or change storage environments, please let us know, as this could impact the results.
Please contact the Archivist and Records Manager to learn more about this project or if you have more questions.