Records Retention Schedules

In the context of records management, retention is the length of time required for keeping documents, records, and information resources to assure that they support business functions for as long as needed. Some records are required to be retained past their active support of business functions to support good financial recordkeeping practices or to meet legal or regulatory retention requirements. On top of these considerations for retention, some records have long-term or enduring value and are expected to be retained indefinitely. At the University, there are records retention schedules that address these requirements.

External entities may require different retention periods than the State of Illinois. Please consult our guide to Retention Requirements from External Entities for information on how to proceed in this situation. RIMS does not recommend retaining records longer than their mandatory minimum retention periods.

New to records management? Watch our How-To guide on reading retention schedules or one of the other Records Management 101 Self-paced Video Modules! You can also check out our KnowledgeBase articles for further reading on "What is a Record?" and other FAQs.

If you have a category of records that does not appear below, please contact RIMS.

Records Retention Schedules

Administration Records Retention Schedule

This schedule includes administrative files, committee and meeting records, policies and procedures, disclosures, compliance records, access and authorization records, inventory management, publications, marketing and events records, course schedules, and working documents and drafts.

Capital Projects Records Retention Schedule

This schedule includes project drawing and specifications files, other project files, and equipment and materials files for capital projects.

Human Subjects Research Records Retention Schedule

This schedule includes Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol and review files, federal rosters log files, IRB committee member files, authorization agreements, memoranda of understanding, data use agreements, and withdrawn protocols.

Medical Center Records (UIC) Retention Schedule

This schedule includes patient medical records, birth certification worksheets, immunizations records, patient master index files, fetal monitoring records, blood bank control records, imaging services records, laboratory records, pharmacy records, and patient encounter forms for the UIC Medical Center.

Student Records Retention Schedule

This schedule includes admissions records, general student academic records, community program files, student financial aid records, FERPA compliance records, University of Illinois Laboratory High School records, course evaluations, and grades and graded work.

Business and Financial Records Retention Schedule

This schedule includes budget planning records, comptroller annual reports, insurance records, tax records, financial transactions, payroll, contracts, grant proposals and reports, and ID card records.

Human Resources and Equal Opportunity Complaint Records Retention Schedules

Please note: these schedules are combined on one page because of similar user groups and purposes.

They include applicant files, search files, eligibility files, affirmative action files, discipline files, labor management relations, tuition waivers, leave files, employment files, promotion and tenure files, unemployment insurance cases, conflict of interest files, ethics files, HR policies, worker's compensation claims, internal and external equal opportunity complaint case files, and complaint summary reports.

Law Enforcement Records Retention Schedule

This schedule includes felony and misdemeanor crimes files, protection of minors files, Clery Act files, motor vehicle traffic accident reports, property and informational incident reports, asset forfeiture and seizure records, non-sustained complaints against officers, criminal history records, operation plans, and sworn officer training files.