Versatile Web Retention User Guide
To view current Ohio State University approved records retention schedules, visit Versatile Web Retention
or, if accessing off-campus, use the proxy link. Below are instructions for searching retention schedules,
records-related criteria, and legal citations.
[Note: If you receive a Public Records Request for a retention schedule, contact Records Management for an official
copy of your unit’s retention schedule complete with front matter and approvals.]

General Navigation Instructions

1. Click(Versatile Web Retention) on any page to navigate back to the the VRHome page.

View List of Current Retention Schedules
1. Click the Schedules tab to search for current retention schedules by department.

(play sign) next to Ohio State
2. Click
3. Click on the unit, then on the subunit. Record series titles with retention periods will appear on the right.

4. Click on the record series title to see additional details, such as the Description and Status.

5. Click(white triangle in orange circle) next to Show/Hide list of UDFs to see additional Notes about therecord series.

6. Scroll down to see the legal Citations linked to the record series (if any).

Search Current Retention Schedules
1. Click Search Schedules (magnifying glass) to find all record series that contain a specific keyword or meet
specified criteria.

22. Under the Primary tab, always start your search by selecting Ohio State University in the Company drop-down
menu; only OSU record series are valid for your department records retention and disposition. (Note: Do notsearch by All Fields as this will show results from other Ohio universities that use Versatile Retention.)

3. If you would like to review record series for a specific unit and/or sub-unit, select from the Function dropdown menu. To see all schedules for a unit’s subunits, check the Include sub-Functions box.

4. You can also search by words in a Schedule Title or Keywords for Description. [Search words must be enteredexactly as they appear on the retention schedule, so use broad search terms to get results. It is notrecommended to search on the User Defined Fields tab.]

5. Click Search to see results. (Click Clear to remove all search criteria and start a new search.)
36. The total number of search results will display. Click the Schedule Title link to see the record series details or
click New Search button to refine or broaden search.

Legal Research
The research function allows users to research whether there are laws or regulations that could affect the retention anddisposition of certain types of records. This citation database can be used as a starting point to see if records areaffected by regulations or if regulations surrounding the retention of records have changed since the schedules were last
updated. Not every record series has laws driving its retention period, and, there are additional factors that are used
when setting retention schedules.
Citations will be formally attached to retention schedules when units work with Records Management on updates. Any
unit that wants to add legal citations to their retention schedules should contact Records Management.
[Note: There are thousands of legal citations in Versatile Retention. If you know exactly what you are looking for(citation, industry, etc.), you can provide specific search criteria to yield more targeted results. However, if you areunsure of exactly what you need, you can use fewer search criteria and yield larger results.]

Searching the Citation Database
1. Click one of two options for Research to review legal citations for your unit’s records and/or industry.

ORSearching can be done in two ways:
1. Select search criteria from populated menus (you can use the Ctrl key to select multiple criteria within a menu).
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Click the Search button to see results.

2. Keyword and Boolean searches
a. Select the Advanced tabb. Enter keywords (Boolean operators, such as AND, OR, NOT, can help broaden or narrow the search)i. You can tailor your search even more by selecting from the other tabs and populated menus
described in option 1.

If a citation is identified that should be linked to a retention schedule, email the following information to librecords@osu.edu:•••

Citation Identifier
Department (as it appears in VR)
Schedule Title (as it appears in VR)

Requesting a Personal Login
To request changes to your unit’s unique schedule or University General Schedule record series for which your unit isresponsible, contact the University Records Manager to request a login.
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