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Student records

Does anyone know why current student records must be safe from fire, flood and theft but graduate records are not subject to the same guidelines?

Some accrediting bodies do, in fact, require this safety precaution for former as well as current students. My understanding of ACCSCT standards is that the transcript is considered the most "critical" compilation of student information and therefore, requires that transcripts of all former students also be maintained in a manner safe from damage or loss. There are also specifications for what information must be included as part of the transcript. Additionally, some states have requirements that may be stricter than the accrediting body.

Hi Julio,

From what I read in the guidlines of accreditation all records must be kept safe from fire, theft or any type of destruction. It can become very expensive to buy as many fire proof safes to hold all of your records. I would recommend on-line storage, it safe and easy to access.

Excellent suggestion. More and more institutions are moving to electronic storage as a primary and/or back up means to their data. Regulators embrace this solution, providing the online storage still has safeguards and that the records are easily accessed as needed.

Online storage takes up far less space and can actually be accessed much quicker than physical files, as the size of a school grows larger (especially well established older institutions).

Maureen - Very true. And, as schools tend to grow with multiple locations, physical file storage does not support the needs of individuals at various locations needing to see the student's file. Online storage is a good solution for multiple locations as well.

Are there standards that relate to the security of on-line storage? There has been a lot on the news lately of the ability of hackers to get into confidential information from remote locations.

Does on-line storage need to be redundant -- stored at two different locations in case of fire or other damage?

I was just thinking the same thing. I am sure that there have to be some set of criteria that must be followed to secure the data. Especially with so many schools moving to this mode of storage.

I'm not sure about the standards, but to answer the question of redundancy, we have our records stored electronically and then do a backup each day and have the backup taken off site in case of fire, etc.

Generally speaking, online storage requires the same protection as hard copy - protection against risk of fire, flood, etc. damange, with appropriate security measures. Of course, online security has different challenges than physical storage but, the same concepts apply. Just as you lock storage areas/filing cabinets, you must "lock" the access to online records accordingly. Hackers are certainly a risk and most institutions require sophisticated firewalls and password blocks to manage the risk of such breaches.

That sounds like a great plan. I cant think of a more effective way to maintain records.

Just to be on the safe side, it is important to keep all records in fire/flood safe area.

In agreement with both of you, online storage is definitely the way to go. With so many functions of our job going "paperless" anyway, my guess is that online will be the only storage of records in the very near future.

Since online storage seems to be the future of maintaing records, if your school is using an outside source for mainitaining its records, should the school still have a disaster recovery procedure, or does the school rely on the servicer's internal controls?

I'm a big believer in having multiple back up plans, particularly with sensitive information such as student records. Therefore, I think a school should have a disaster recovery procedure that includes consideration of any method of storage - online or physical. Additionally, I think disaster recovery should include business continuity considerations as it's not just about having access to the data/information but, having a plan for how staff can continue to do their jobs after such a disaster. For example, it's of little use to have the data safe if there is no plan on how someone can print a transcript from that data to provide to a student.

Our school maintains paper files (academic, financial, program specific documents, etc) for 5 years. We have several campuses and space is always an issue in addition to the cost of FireKing cabinets. Our SIS is backup nightly.

Electronic Storage is the way to go.

Tiersa - I completely agree although I am also in the midst of a migration from paper files to imaged documents and there are challenges with imaged files as well. I'm curious if anyone has some "lessons learned" or best practice recommendations for those reading these posts related to managing imaged files. Please share...

I’m nor sure I have a best practice as it sounds more like a nightmare…..
Our accrediting agency requires that we maintain an official transcript for every student INDEFINITELY. We have an off site storage unit that is filled to the brim with old files. At first we were scanning every piece of paper contained in the student file which became time consuming. So we switched to keeping just the Official Transcript, the full attendance history, the accounts receivable ledger and a copy of the diploma awarded…which is the bare minimum. The nightmare began when our computer servers crashed and we could not retrieve all software programs…including the scanned archived student records. THEY WERE COMPLETELY DELETED. Good thing we hadn’t destroyed the paper files…we had to do all the scanning over again (double work) !!!! :(

It makes perfect sense to keep current files protected on location especially since students are still in attendance and administrators should be able to locate files easily when issues come up and needs to be resolved right away. Additionally, as institutions grow and population increases, space will be a factor as it relates to storing information.

More and more schools are moving to digital/imaged storage solutions to address the space issue you reference (in addition to additional security measures). If anyone has any tips on that, please post any suggestions on this discussion thread.

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