EvidenceBased EMail Management at UNC: A Search for Best Practices and User Compliance

1
Evidence-Based E-Mail Management at UNCA Search
for Best Practices and User Compliance

• Dr. Helen R. Tibbo
• Tibbo_at_ils.unc.edu
• http//www.ils.unc.edu/tibbo/HRTibbo.htm

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Thought for the day.

• The end-user manages e-mail.
• -ARMA Guideline for Managing E-mail

3
Primacy of the Individual

• Tip ONeill All politics is local.
• Desktop e-mail management and subsequent
  archiving of material from the university
  environment presently depends on the individual
  and his or her specific information management
  behaviors.

4
The Situation

• Most staff, faculty, and administrators,
  especially the latter two groups, have little or
  no training in information management.
• Electronic records are inherently fragile. If
  they are not preserved early in their lives,
  they will not endure.

5
University Environment

• Universities tend to be loosely tied federations
  of schools and departments that each cherishes
  its own autonomy and vision.
• Faculty generally see themselves as independent
  contractors, working for the university.
• Unfortunately, they may take the same approach
  with documents.

6
Lack of Recordkeeping Systems

• While institution-wide electronic records
  management systems (ERMS) can improve desktop
  management, few universities employ one.
• But deployment is only part of the battle David
  Wallace argues that there are no magic bullets,
  only context-sensitive desktop and system level
  implementations.
• To do this, we need to know more about users.

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A Public Institution

• E-mail (as well as all other print electronic
  records) retention/disposition at the 16 campuses
  that make up the UNC system is governed by the NC
  Public Records Law, NC General Statutes, Chapter
  132.

8
Print It Out!

• To date, the only acceptable means to archiving
  electronic records, and especially e-mail in NC,
  has been printing out all records or microfilming
  them.

9
Reality Check!

• Folks, it aint happening!
• About 1/3 of employees are printing out e-mail
  and other electronic files frequently.
• Are you???
• Rick Barry reports that up to 80 of e-mail
  creators state that they do not have a clue
  when e-mail messages constituted official
  records.

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Ignorance of the Law

• In our pilot survey, only 2 out of 55 respondents
  said they had a good deal of knowledge of the NC
  PRL.
• 21 said they had no knowledge
• 23 said they were not sure they had heard of the
  law
• 8 claimed some knowledge of the NCPRA

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The People

• End users, creators, and receivers control the
  electronic record.
• Rules, guidelines, ERMS, and even laws are nice,
  but they are weak controls on human behavior.
• We do not understand how academics handle their
  electronic records, esp. e-mail.

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Best Answer?

• The most likely answer for the development of
  sound policies and subsequent compliance to state
  laws, and the effective and efficient management
  of electronic mail in general, would appear to be
  user education based on an understanding of user
  needs and behaviors within the context of legal,
  fiscal, scholarly, and administrative
  requirements.

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Project Goals

• Gather and analyze user and system data to
  understand how folks are using e-mail and their
  digital desktops.
• Design practice-based desktop management
  guidelines based the above data a survey of such
  guidelines from other universities, state and
  federal governments, and associations and the
  realities of state records law.

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More Goals

• Develop teaching modules both classroom and
  web-based to train faculty, administrators, and
  staff how best to manage their electronic
  desktops, and especially, the electronic public
  records they create/receive for their own good
  and for the good of the university within legal
  mandates.

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AndDissemination

• Disseminate information about the best practices
  guidelines and instructional units across the
  16-campus UNC system via a statewide conference
  and to other universities via the records
  management/archival literatures and conferences.

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End User Challenges

• What are their document retention practices
  (regardless of records schedules) and
• What particular challenges do they face with
  digitally transmitted materials.

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Project Methodology

• Assess, through campus and system-wide surveys
  and follow up interviews and focus groups, how
  faculty, administrators, and staff use and
  process electronic documents on their desktops,
  especially
• what types of applications they use
• what types of files and public records they
  create/receive
• how they organize their desktops

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Findings from Pilot Survey

• 55 useable survey responses from 8 units on
  campus 34 response rate.
• 39 (71) respondents had worked at UNC 6 or more
  years 26 (47) more than 15 years.
• 24 females 31 males.
• 34 faculty 12 administrators 6 staff 1 NR.
• 6 assistant professors 12 associate professors
  15 professors 7 distinguished professors.

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Choice of Daily E-mail Application
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Importance of E-mail

• 33 (60) respondents said e-mail was their most
  important software application.
• 20 (36) placed it second, primarily behind word
  processing.

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How Long Using E-mail?

• 35 (64) said they had been using e-mail before
  1992
• 14 (26) started between 1992 and 1995
• 4 (7) between 1996 and 1999
• 1 (2) since 2000
• So, 90 have had at least 6 years experience with
  e-mail.

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How Many Messages Per Day?

• 3 (6) 0-10
• 11 (20) 11-20
• 16 (29) 21-30
• 7 (13) 31-40
• 8 (15) 41-50
• 2 (4) 51-60
• 8 (15) more than 60

23
How Many Messages in the Old In-box

• Average 558
• Median 58
• Least 0
• Most 5545

24
How Many Messages in the Sent File?

• Average 893
• Median 216
• Least 0
• Most 5500

25
How Many Messages in the Delete File?

• Average 832
• Median 17
• Least 0
• Most 12,000

26
How Much Time Is Devoted to E-mail Management
Each Day?

• 8 (15) less than 1 hour/day
• 28 (51) 1-2 hours/day
• 12 (22) 2-3 hours/day
• 4 (7) 4-5 hours/day
• 1 (2) 5-6 hours/day
• 1 (2) more than 6 hours/day

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Is E-mail a Productivity Tool?

• 25 (46) Definitely!
• 12 (22) Probably
• 9 (16) Not sure
• 6 (11) Probably not
• 2 (7) Definitely not

28
Percentage of Business Correspondence Done Via
E-mail

• 26 (47) 76-100
• 15 (27) 51-75
• 12 (22) 26-50
• 2 (4) less than 25

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When Do Folks Read Their E-mail

• 50 (91) First thing in the morning
• 20 (36) When signaled
• 27 (49) Occasionally during workday
• 18 (33) All the time during the workday
• 17 (31) End of workday
• 30 (55) From home
• 29 (53) When away from UNC-CH

30
How Do University Folks Feel about E-mail?

• Great! 27 (49)
• Comfortable 25 (46)
• OK 2 (4)

31
How Do They Feel about How They Are Managing
Their E-mail?

• Very satisfied 11 (20)
• Somewhat satisfied 26 (47)
• No opinion 1 (2)
• Not very satisfied 13 (24)
• Unsatisfied 2 (4)

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Organizing E-mail

• 47 (85) organize e-mail messages into folders
  while 8 (15) do not. Of the 47
• 6 (13) respondents have fewer than 10 folders
• 17 (36) have 11-25
• 12 (26) have 26-50
• 12 (26) have more than 50

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Back-up!

• 31 (56) said their e-mail was backed up
• 12 didnt know
• 6 said that it was not backed up
• 6 indicated they did not know if e-mail was
  backed-up.
• 23 of the 31 who indicated their e-mail was
  backed-up said their school or department was
  responsible for this
• 5 said UNC IT program and
• 2 said they did all their own back-ups
• 1 did not know who might be doing this

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What do Folks Do With Important Messages?

• Print them out and file in a paper filing system
  and file it in an e-mail folder for electronic
  retrieval
• Frequently 13 (24)
• Sometimes 24 (44)
• Never 17 (31)

35
Just Print and File Paper

• Frequently 7 (13)
• Sometimes 29 (53)
• Never 17 (31)

36
Just File Electronically

• Frequently 34 (62)
• Sometimes 11 (20)
• Never 6 (11)

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Read, Act, Delete Without Filing

• Frequently 20 (36)
• Sometimes 26 (47)
• Never 8 (15)

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Keep Message in the In-box

• Frequently 23 (42)
• Sometimes 21 (38)
• Never 11 (20)

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What About Those Pesky Attachments?

• Print them out and file in paper system and file
  as electronic files.
• Frequently 12 (22)
• Sometimes 25 (46)
• Never 12 (22)

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File Attachments in Paper Filing System

• Frequently 4 (7)
• Sometimes 28 (51)
• Never 16 (29)

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File Attachments in an Electronic Folder (Word,
Excel, etc.)

• Frequently 25 (46)
• Sometimes 22 (40)
• Never 4 (7)

42
Keep Attachments with Original E-mail Message in
E-mail Application

• Frequently 14 (26)
• Sometimes 20 (36)
• Never 17 (31)

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Conclusions

• Folks get a lot of e-mail, but the amount varies
  greatly different practices may be necessary
  for different folks.
• People exhibit very different behaviors from
  constantly cleaning their delete file to having
  over 12,000 messages in it. Differing behaviors
  may relate to differing compliance levels with
  guidelines and laws.

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Conclusions

• Few folks have heard of the NC PRA in any detail
  few probably know what constitutes a public
  record few are following UNC-CH guidelines for
  retention.
• Lots of folks are filing their messages
  electronically (perhaps only electronically).
• We need to know how folks are filing.

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Conclusions

• We may need instruction/resources available in
  how to name and organize files.
• With so many folks filing messages electronically
  we need to make sure these files are backed up.
• This will have to be an ongoing effort with
  support from the top administration.

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Future

• Record creators/receivers need to understand the
  fragile nature of the electronic record.
• They also need to understand some of the basic
  principles of records management archivy.
• Additional they need to realize that they are
  first line records managers and archivists who
  will determine if electronic records live or die.
• We need to give folks the tools for ubiquitous
  archiving.