Terms

Confidential Documents: Confidential documents contain numerous types of high-value and potentially at-risk information. Those documents include financial data of the organization or client, employee or client records, legal documents, contracts and agreements, business planning records, and blank information media intended for authorized use only. 

Non-Records:  Non-records are information created or received that do not relate to a public body's business or activities, and include personal emails and spam messages. Non-records should not be stored or maintained on government servers or in storage areas.

Official Records: Official records are required for statutory, legal, fiscal, administrative or operational purposes, form part of the complete records series, and must be retained in accordance with approved records systems and formal recordkeeping systems.

Public Records: A public record is information that is created, received or maintained by a public body in the course of its administrative and operational activities.  Public records can be in physical forms, such as printed documents, photographs, and maps, or stored as electronic media, such as emails, information stored in databases, and Word documents.

Records: A record is information in any form, including electronic form, but does not include a mechanism or system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing information.

Records System: A records system is a group of retention schedules that relate to common areas of activity or functions, and is often arranged by work section or division.

Retention and Disposition Schedule:A retention and disposition schedule (commonly referred to as retention schedule, or schedule) organizes, lists and describes an organization's records series, their purpose, format, retention requirements and disposition methods. Schedules are created at the primary classification level of a records system (i.e. typically by activity, program or service).

Special Media: Special media are uniquely formatted records, and may include cartographic materials, film, sound and video recordings, and photographs. These records may require special disposition methods depending on the material.

Transitory Records:  Transitory records are public records of temporary usefulness that are needed only for a limited period of time, to complete a routine task, or to prepare a subsequent document. Transitory records do not have to be kept for legal, evidential, historical, or financial purposes. Transitory records include advertising and promotional materials received in the course of business, blank information media, convenience copies and duplicates, non-significant drafts and working materials, external publications, and information of short-term value (such as FYIs and reminders).