Organization of the Guide
The many services and operations of Calgary Health Region produce records to complete and support their work. The Guide provides an overview of these services and operations and sets a timetable for storage, destruction, and preservation of records they produce.

Each entry describes a Function performed by various units in the region. These functions are grouped into Main Function Groups described in the inset box on the next page. Under some functions or sub-functions are entries describing the kinds of records that function might produce. These entries are called Records Series.

The Guide lists the Main Function Groups, Functions, and Records Series from the general to the more specific as shown in the illustration on the next page.

With each Function or Records Series entry is a corresponding records retention policy with the following elements:

1. Closure Rule: This describes the conditions when the records produced by the function may be considered closed for retention purposes and the clock on the retention policy starts running.
2. Active (A): This sets the number of years after closure that the records may still be used frequently and should be kept in the office or area that produced and maintains them.
3. Semi-active (SA): This sets the number of years that the records must be kept for certain legal or functional purposes, but because they are not used very often, they can be stored off-site with the Calgary Health Region’s semi-active retention service.
4. Final Disposition: This describes what should be done with the records once the active and semi-active time periods are over. There are four main options:
   

• Destroy: All records corresponding to this entry should be destroyed following Calgary Health Region records destruction procedures.

• Archives: All records corresponding to this entry should be transferred to Calgary Health Region Archives for permanent retention.
  
• Selective Retention: Some or parts of the records may need to be preserved permanently; therefore, before they are destroyed, they must be reviewed by the Calgary Health Region Archives.

• Review: The final disposition of the records has not yet been decided and will be determined at the end of the semi-active period.

A few entries contain additional conditions to be met at the final disposition stage, e.g., "keep for 2 years past the age of majority, then destroy."

1. Retention Rationale: This field provides reasons or justification for the length of the retention period and the final disposition of the records.

Calgary Health Region staff will use the Guide when they must deal with accumulations of records in their areas and they need to complete a Records Retention Schedule, which are forms for registering and documenting transfer and destruction of specific records. To use the Guide to schedule records, follow these steps:

Determine whether the records under consideration are transitory by using the Calgary Health Region Transitory Records Policy. If they are transitory records, there is no need to use the Guide or the Records Retention Schedule process to dispose of the records.

Step 2 Describe your function

Describe the function in your area that generated the records under consideration. In doing so, use your "job description" rather than your specific organization name or title. Some functions you perform may be common throughout the region, such as budgeting, supplies and services, or executive functions, and these are important to identify in order to use the Guide.

Step 3 Match with Guide entry

Use the headings or the index to find the entries in the Guide that most closely match the function identified in Step 2. In determining which entries are relevant, it is important to keep these points in mind:

• While it is meant to be comprehensive of the region, the Guide is not an inventory of specific records that currently exist in Calgary Health Region. Therefore, the entries are generic descriptions and you must interpret how best they fit with your function.
  
• Many entries in the Guide are relevant to all organizational units of Calgary Health Region. So don’t look first of all for your organization name or title, but the function that produced the records such as "Assessment and Reporting" or "Budgeting", or "Human Resources – Staffing".
  

• Use the entry that describes your records most specifically, especially if the retention policy is different from the F
• unction or sub-function entry above it. For instance, if there is a specific Records Series that describes your records, use this entry; otherwise, use the Function entry.
  
• Keep in mind that many entries combine many functional units within Calgary Health Region when they have the same retention policy. For instance, the Records Series "Patient/Client Records" in Acute Care-Clinical Programs covers hundreds of separate medical departments and clinics currently operating in the Calgary Health Region because they all produce the same kinds of records.
  

• In cases where two or more entries apply, always use the entry with the longest retention period.
  

If you cannot find an entry that matches your function or your records, please contact AIM.

Step 4 Determine retention policy

Use the corresponding retention policy to determine retention period in the Records Retention Schedule. For Records Retention Schedule procedures and forms, contact AIM.

These fields require further inventory, survey, and policy work before they can be completed. Please disregard these fields at this time.