Online chat functions within applications such as Zoom and Teams provide an efficient and convenient way to quickly catch up with co-workers on projects, get quick answers to work related questions and easily collaborate with others without having to leave your office. Although these applications provide great benefits, records created such as chat history, files shared, etc. may become a part of official university records and as such, are subject to be pulled for audits, investigations, legal holds and/or public records requests.
Employees are encouraged to regularly review BPPM 90.01 University Records-Retention and Disposition, BPPM 90.03 Retention of Electronic Communications, and the Records Retention Schedule at Records Retention and Disposition to determine what records must be maintained and for how long and which records can be disposed of and how.
Employees should regularly review chat histories and documents shared, and dispose of any that are not required to be retained as part of an official record. Teams functionality has been updated to allow users to delete their whole conversation, instead of each line, by simply right clicking on the name of the person and selecting ‘Delete’.
For questions, please contact:
- Internal Audit
ia.central@wsu.edu or 509‑335‑5336 - Public Records Office
wsu.pubrecords@wsu.edu or 509-335-3928 - Office of Policies, Records, and Forms
prf.forms@wsu.edu or 509-335-2005
