Protect the Records You'll Need to Restart Operations Quickly

Disasters, in the form of fires, broken water pipes, floods, and other unforeseen natural and man-made events, can happen at any time. Many of us have been involved with developing and publishing emergency preparedness policies and plans for our colleges and universities. Many institutional IT groups already have data backup and recovery in mind as part of their emergency preparedness plans. But emergency preparedness applies to each and every one of us -- and records protection needs to be a part of that conversation.

Each one of us has records stored in our computers and offices regarding the business we undertake on a daily basis. Have you and your organizations considered what records you'd need to replace after a disaster to allow you to restart operations as quickly as possible?

If you work for a state institution, you may already have state requirements regarding identifying and protecting essential records, also referred to as vital records. However, even if your college or university is a private institution, I urge you to consider adding essential records protection to your emergency preparedness policies and plans.

Identify and Backup Essential Records

Before disasters occur, it's important to identify what records are essential, create backups of the records, and store those backups in offsite locations. Offsite backup of essential records is key to “surviving” a catastrophe.

To identify essential records, you'll want to review your records and consider the following:

• What are the functions you or your unit will be unable to perform if the record is destroyed?
• What is the need for you or your unit to perform a particular function?
• What are the consequences to your unit or institution, including loss of rights or inconvenience, if the record is destroyed?
• Is there a need for the record to be replaced or reconstructed quickly?
• What time, money, and labor costs would be involved to reconstruct the record?
• Are there replacement sources available for the record?
• What media format is used (e.g., paper, computer hard drive, digital drive or cloud, disc, microfilm)?
• What is the accessibility of the format after an emergency?

Use the above prompts to audit your records and develop a list of the essential record types that you hold. Then schedule regular backups of your essential records and store the backups in an offsite location. For example, my policy office regularly backs up our policies in-progress and policy archives, as well as unit administrative records. Because our work is mostly managed electronically, we worked with our IT group to establish a shared drive for storing our backups that's located in a server housed in a building that's a considerable physical distance away from our office building.

Be Prepared

It’s crucial to consider the importance of your records and how to protect them, as well as to consider the minimum amount of time you need to keep those records. Don't let an unexpected event stop you in your tracks.