Taina Makinen wrote: " But "tax roll" is the title of a record series, not a function. As such, I'd think that the tax roll would belong to different functions in the schedule, according to how it is used." Yes, this is precisely the point. However it's function changes by virtue of its placement in the organization not because the title changes, or what is in the record. It's function changes because of the way the same record is used by various offices, and in terms of what information in the record is most important to that office. Barbara Wyton wrote:" Isn't that the purpose of a Functional Schedule, to concentrate on the documents rather than the name of the department that is responsible for them? Department names change. Reporting structures change. Would you not have to update your schedule every time one of these changes occur?" I guess I should have made clear that many people inaccurately use the term "functional schedule" to mean that the title of a record series is often taken to mean that it reflects function instead of analyzing the function as it relates specifically to a given office. Even if the series is called the same thing wherever it is held in the organization, so-called "functional record series," as referred to in the original question, are often identified by title, and not by function. The purpose of a functional schedule is not to focus on the documents, but to focus on the function, which should be reflected there anyway. The original purpose of a record schedule was to reflect the purpose and function of the schedule by office and its level of responsibility, making the use of the word "functional" redundant. Barbara's comment that "department names change" shows that, to her, title seems to matter. It doesn't. What matters is whether, if the name changes it also reflects a change in the function of a) the department and b) the relationship to records it deals with both internally, and externally as it relates to the organization as whole. Barbara wrote: "reporting structures change. Would you not have to update your schedule every time one of these changes occur(ed)?" The answer is yes. If the reporting structure changes, the functions may well change in the way information in the office functions for both that office, and for the organization in relation to that office. This needs to be reflected on the schedule. Take something more general, such a "purchase order." It may commonly be held by almost any office in an organization as either a copy or as an original. The accountability changes for this type of record depending on who has responsibility for it's final accounting, and where in the organization it is held. A purchases order can be more or less than a purchase order depending on who uses it and how it is used. In this case a functional schedule might still have to describe it separately for each office because the function may well vary, defeating the intent of trying to reduce the number of entries in the schedule. If you identify by function the same record series, whether it is called by the same title or not, it must be explained in relation to the office in which it is held, making a generalized functional schedule almost useless, since it still requires a separate description. When the office of record and any other offices carrying the same title, such as "purchase orders" one must describe what that series does within that office, relative to the organization as a whole, in order to have a schedule which functions adequately. The schedule should be developed on the basis of function, regardless of what the record series is called, the same or different in each office, but most so-called functional schedules are used to reduce the number of series reflected, when in fact, a true functional schedule generally increases a)the number of series or b) the number of times it is described separately by function on the schedule. Sorry to sound long-winded about this. Hope that explains my meaning a bit better. Elizabeth List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance