Official Records Retention Schedules

Please note: The official University of Iowa Records Retention schedules are currently under revision. Updates will be posted periodically. The official UI Health Care Records Retention Schedule is available separately to assist UI Health Care departments.

These retention schedules are designed to assist University departments in preserving Official Records appropriately while providing economy and efficiency in the creation, organization, maintenance, use, and disposition of records.

Search Criteria

Administrative Unit: represents either the administrative unit responsible for establishing the Official Record retention criteria OR the Administrative Unit responsible for maintaining the Official Records identified.

Confidential: indicates Official Records that contain information of various sorts that the University receives and holds confidential unless otherwise ordered by a court, by the lawful custodian of the records or by another person duly authorized to release such information. Examples include: student records, medical records, personnel records, etc.

Vital: indicates Official Records that contain information considered essential for the operations of a department (and/or the University) and includes information that may prevent a department from incurring serious liability or risk, or that would be extremely costly to replace. In the event of a disaster, this information, if destroyed, would make it difficult for a department to conduct normal business activities.

Export the full list of Official Record Retention Schedules available to date – or use the search criteria below for a more targeted search.

Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Documents/Approvals

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

rDNA Approvals and associated documents voted on/approved by the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).

Official Files Maintained by:
Environmental Health and Safety

UI Retention Guidelines: 3 years after expiration (total 6 years' retention)

Confidential: No
Vital: Yes

Reconciliations of Cash & Change Fund Verifications

Category: Accounting and Financial

Description:

Reconciliation of cash (including validation of deposit tickets), and verification of departmental change funds.

Official Files Maintained by:
Local Department responsible for creating or overseeing the record

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Reconciliations of Transaction Detail Reports (TDR's)

Category: Accounting and Financial

Description:

Transaction Detail Reports (TDR's) maintained electronically by central administration.

Official Files Maintained by:
UI Accounting & Financial Reporting

UI Retention Guidelines: 10 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Recordable Medical Events

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

Records of medical events related to radioactive materials that are required by IDPH to be recorded

Official Files Maintained by:

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Recruitment Records

Category: Personnel, Human Resources and Recruitment

Description:

Recruitment records include position postings/requisitions, resumes, CVs, job applications, reference letters, letters of recommendation, and all recruitment/search documents (e.g., writing samples, portfolios) for applicants to positions within a department for all position types (merit, student, faculty, and P&S).

Official Files Maintained by:
Local Department responsible for creating or overseeing the record

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years following the closure of a search or the appointment of the employee.

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Release Records of individuals involved in radiopharmaceuticals or Implant therapies

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

Release records of radioactive materials (RAM) therapy patients sent from departments to EHS.

Official Files Maintained by:

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Request for Travel/Travel Cash Advance

Category: Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Travel

Description:

Required documentation of approval for travel or cash advance by UI employee. (Electronic transaction in ProTrav System).

Official Files Maintained by:
UI Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Travel

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Required Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Notification - Radiation Incidents

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

Radiation incidents requiring IDPH Reporting

Official Files Maintained by:

UI Retention Guidelines: Until Iowa Department of Public Health Authorizes Disposition

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Requisitions - PReqs

Category: Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Travel

Description:

Documentation of purchases of good/services from external vendors. Requisitions are created in the electronic Preqs system. Typical supporting documentation for a requisition would be quotations, invoices, specifications for competitive bid, competitive bid documentation (see competitive bids), sole source justification, etc.

Official Files Maintained by:
UI Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Travel

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Requisitions for inter-department purchases

Category: Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Travel

Description:

Documentation of charges to internal UI departments/customers for sales, purchase and services. (Requisition plus two signature approvals.) Typical supporting documentation would be any information pertinent to the request - specifications for a facilities maintenance job order, design specifications and proof for printing jobs, etc.

Official Files Maintained by:
Local Department responsible for creating or overseeing the record

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Research Agreements where UIRF is a signatory

Category: Inventions, Patents and Research Agreements

Description:

These are agreements related to sponsored research at UIRF. UIRF is only a signatory (generally just Division of Sponsored Programs) if rights are granted to intellectual property generated during the research.

Official Files Maintained by:
UI Research Foundation

UI Retention Guidelines: Patent Term + 5 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Research Misconduct Documentation

Category: Research Integrity and Security Office

Description:

All documents, files, and data, whether in paper or electronic form, related to research misconduct allegations.  This includes, but is not limited to, allegation assessments, inquiries, investigations, federal agency oversight reviews and findings, and federal agency administrative actions.

Official Files Maintained by:
Research Integrity and Security Office

UI Retention Guidelines: 10 years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Research Security Documentation

Category: Research Integrity and Security Office

Description:

Research Security Documentation

Official Files Maintained by:
Research Integrity and Security Office

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Respirator Fit Test Records for Staff

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

Respirator fit test records for staff required to wear a respirator to perform job duties (EHS, Facilities Management, Housing and Dining, UI Health Care, etc.).

Official Files Maintained by:
Local Department responsible for creating or overseeing the record

UI Retention Guidelines: Permanent

Confidential: No
Vital: Yes

Room Survey Reports

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

Reports of surveys conducted in rooms where radiation is used

Official Files Maintained by:

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: No
Vital: Yes

Safety Data Sheets

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

Safety Data Sheets for chemicals used for EHS Environmental Programs by EHS and other campus departments.

Official Files Maintained by:

UI Retention Guidelines: Permanent

Confidential: No
Vital: Yes

Salary Distribution Source Documentation

Category: Grants and Awards

Description:

CCAD, NADS, IIHR, and Physics departments distribute salary/wage costs to grants & contracts based on time tracking system. Source documentation supports the distribution.

Official Files Maintained by:
Local Department responsible for creating or overseeing the record

UI Retention Guidelines: 10 Years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

School Eligibility Records

Category: Student Financial Aid

Description:

School Eligibility Records include the university's Program Participation Agreement (PPA), Eligibility and Certification Approval Report (ECAR), Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP), State of Iowa agency reports, and the records used to verify the data that appears in reports/forms used by the school for its participat

Official Files Maintained by:
Office of Student Financial Aid

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 years

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Scientific/Technical Progress and Final Reports

Category: Grants and Awards

Description:

Summary of the project performance, outcomes, results, or completion, submitted to the sponsor as periodic progress reports or final reports.

Official Files Maintained by:
Local Department responsible for creating or overseeing the record

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years after award closeout

Confidential: Yes
Vital: Yes

Sealed Source Inventory and Survey Records

Category: Environmental Health & Safety

Description:

EHS Records of Inventory and surveys of sealed sources (radioactive sources that have been designed to prevent spread of radioactive material under normal working condition, e.g., they are permanently bonded or fixed in a capsule or matrix designed to prevent release and dispersal of the RAM under the most severe conditions of normal handling.)

Official Files Maintained by:

UI Retention Guidelines: 5 Years

Confidential: No
Vital: Yes

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