- Todd Johnson wrote " I am curious to know if anyone has successfully deleted data out of tables from an ERP system such as PeopleSoft or SAP."
- Natasha Khramtsovsky wrote "If you use it in the course of your normal regular business activities...then it's your record."
- Steve Whitaker wrote "...a database is an information asset."

	Kudos to Ken for initiating this intriguing thread. Whether or not a PeopleSoft (PS) database meets traditional record definitions, in some cases it must be considered as important as the record output itself and may necessitate a broader characterization of traditional RM considerations.

Working within the Office of the University Registrar at The University of Pittsburgh, we utilize PS to matriculate, process, manage, and produce student academic information, perhaps most important of which are academic transcripts. Transcripts are required to be permanently retained.  

The datasets and tables behind the application used to generate the transcript output (the record) are vital to our operations. We cannot produce the record without the data tables – and the queries and interface used to properly aggregate said data – thus, our PS database is a singularly important information asset. 

Prior to PS and earlier electronic systems, hardcopy transcripts were microfilmed for permanent retention. We access and use these reels and fiche regularly in our daily business to fulfill requests. More recent transcript requests (2005 and on) are compiled from PS data, which by default is required to be permanently retained. No thought is given to data deletion (presumably ever) as no other official academic transcript evidence exists outside of PS. 

While PS aggregates data from tables to compile a fixed output, in academic scenarios the datasets, tables, and application interfaces are what’s most important in terms of RIM. As we continue to matriculate students we must be able to produce a fixed transcript, but the virtual data is what’s of most consequence. In terms of the management and preservation a “fixed record” would receive, those characteristics may need to be applied to the database itself.

Not sure that I articulated that as well as I would have liked... The point being, this is an awesome topic because academic institutions using student information systems need to seriously consider, if they haven’t already, long term RIM implications regarding database content. If they don’t, 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now, today’s students will have a hell of time requesting a transcript.

Alex J. Toner
Archives & Records Manager
Office of the University Registrar
University of Pittsburgh
G-3 Thackeray Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
P: (412)624-0054
F: (412)624-9782
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www.registrar.pitt.edu

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