Managing Email Effectively

Managing email effectively

is your responsibility

AT THE END OF THIS MODULE YOU WILL:

Know your responsibilities with respect to the
management of email.
Understand that email messages can be official
records.
Distinguish between emails that are official records
and emails that are transitory records.
Recognize when you must save an email.
Understand what you need to save.
Have an awareness of the security side of email.
Be familiar with some IM email best practices.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
As a GoC employee you are expected to:
Distinguish between emails that are official records of business
and emails that are transitory in nature.
Regularly delete all transitory emails.
If available, systematically transfer email records to an official
central repository such as RDIMS to ensure accessibility,
appropriate classification and preservation.
Understand the basic security and privacy requirements of email.

ARE EMAILS RECORDS?

Yes
Just as paper and electronic documents may be
official records, so may email messages and
their attachments.

OFFICIAL RECORDS MUST BE SAVED

Official records document or provide

evidence of a departments business
activities.
You must save all of your official records.
This means email too

EXAMPLES OF OFFICIAL EMAIL RECORDS

An official email record may contain or demonstrate:
the position of the
department
business transactions
approval or evolution of
a document
information from outside
sources
briefing notes, directives,
policies

agendas and meeting

minutes
work plans, schedules,
assignments and
performance results
decisions
final reports and
recommendations
external deliverables

TRANSITORY RECORDS SHOULD BE DELETED

Transitory records are records that are only required for a limited period of
time in order to complete a routine action or to prepare a subsequent record.

You should dispose of or delete

transitory records once they have
served their purpose, including email
messages and attachments

EXAMPLES OF TRANSITORY EMAILS

A transitory email would be a message like one of the following:
duplicate copies of
official records
draft documents where
all critical content
changes have been
incorporated into a
subsequent document
casual communications
and personal messages

information received as
part of a distribution list
miscellaneous, FYI
notices or memoranda
on meetings, holidays,
charitable campaigns,
boardroom reservations,
etc.

But
if you are ever in doubt about a records status.
Save it!

EMAIL AND ATIP

It is unlawful to delete any email or

document, once a formal Access to
Information or Privacy (ATIP) request is
received or anticipated by the
department, relating to the subject.

EMAIL AND ATIP

All email is subject to Access to Information or Privacy
(ATIP) legislation
official and transitory
It is illegal to delete transitory records that are required
for an active, or anticipated, ATIP request, litigation or
official investigation.
Also note that personal comments in emails cannot be
removed when providing an email record upon an ATIP
request.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SAVING AN OFFICIAL EMAIL

RECORD?

You are

YOU SAVE IT WHEN:

You are the originator

the person who created and sent the email message.

You are replying to an email message, thus creating a new

record.
You must save it as a complete email message (including all
of the original text, your additions and any attachments you
may add).
You receive an email message from outside the department, and
the following conditions apply:
1. It forms part of a departmental record; and
2. You are the first person from your department named on:
the To field of the email.
the CC field of the email.

WHAT EXACTLY MUST YOU SAVE?

The whole enchilada!

Your Goal:
To preserve the integrity of the original
message in content, structure and context

TO MEET YOUR GOAL

Save the entire email with all header/footer information and
all previous messages in the thread.
Save all associated attachments (unless they are
completely irrelevant to the message).
Apply your organizations file naming conventions (if
available) or use meaningful file names when saving email.
If available, save your email messages to a central
repository such as RDIMS.

BASIC EMAIL SECURITY AND PRIVACY

CONSIDERATIONS
Information with a designation higher than Protected B should not be
sent via email, saved on network shared drives or in RDIMS.
The security level of your email is based on the content within the
email and/or the content within the attachment - whichever is higher.
Do not overlook the physical security requirements of hardcopy emails.
Be conscious of whether your email contains personal information
about someone and protect that persons right to privacy.

IM BEST PRACTICES IN EMAIL

Try to keep to one main topic per official email record to
ensure accuracy in filing/classifying the message.
Use meaningful subject lines that reflect the content of the
email message.
Use meaningful and descriptive titles on email
attachments.
Be careful with personal comments and opinions they
will become part of the record.

IM BEST PRACTICES IN EMAIL

Use signature files for all outgoing email messages
containing official GoC business.
Signature files should contain:
Senders name;
Senders title (optional but advisable)
Institution;
Telephone and fax numbers;
Postal address; and
Email address.
Signature files must be in both official languages.

SAMPLE EMAIL SIGNATURE FILE

Look forward to seeing you in November.

Yours Sincerely
Jane Doe
Jane Doe
Project Manager/Gestionnaire de projet
613-123-4567 | facsimile / tlcopieur 613-123 4567 |
TTY/ATS 613-123-4567 613-123-4567
doe.jane@hc-sc.gc.ca
Health Canada | 123 Green St Ottawa ON K2P1B2
Sant Canada | 123 rue Green Ottawa ON K2P1B2
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have just completed Managing Email Effectively an IM selfstudy module.

You may now:
Test your knowledge with the following quiz.
Review other IM self-study modules in this series:
Information Management 101
Information Security
Records Management and You!
IM and the Departing Employee
Privacy and Personal Information What Canadians Expect
Understanding IM Within the Federal Government