Records with administrative value can be policy records that document how an organization functions and how it is organized. Directives Organizational charts Annual reports Legal opinions Correspondence establishing a course of action for the agency. Most records with administrative value are not policy records. The majority are operational records that document the implementation of an agency's policies. For example, a records disposition form is an operational record because it implements the policy established by the retention schedule.
Retention can vary greatly depending upon what the records document.
In most cases the primary administrative value of records will be exhausted when the transactions to which they relate are completed. As a general rule, file activity can be used to guide retention requirements for operational records. When agency staff no longer have need to refer to a record series, the administrative value diminishes and the records probably are ready for final disposition. Records with fiscal value document an agency's financial transactions. Budgets, ledgers, payrolls, and vouchers are examples of records that have fiscal value.