Roles in a Records Program: Who Does What

Records management fails when everyone assumes it’s someone else’s job. A working program assigns clear responsibility across several layers — each with a distinct part to play.

The records officer

Most organizations designate a records officer (or Records and Information Management lead; in federal agencies, the Agency Records Officer). This is the engine of the program: developing retention schedules, writing policy, training staff, coordinating disposition, and serving as the point of contact with oversight bodies. They run the program day to day — but they can’t do it alone.

Executive sponsorship

Because records management crosses departments, it needs authority from the top. An executive sponsor — in federal agencies, the Senior Agency Official for Records Management (SAORM) — provides the mandate, resources, and ability to resolve cross-functional conflicts. Without it, the records officer has responsibility but no leverage.

Record liaisons / coordinators

Many programs embed record liaisons (or coordinators) within business units. They understand their unit’s records, help apply the schedule locally, assist with inventories, and bridge the unit and the central program. They’re how a program scales beyond one office.

Legal, IT, and security

• Legal manages litigation holds and e-discovery and interprets regulatory obligations.
• IT provides and maintains the systems where records live and executes technical disposition and migration.
• Information security protects records according to their sensitivity.

These functions are where records management meets information governance.

Everyone who creates records

Finally, every employee who creates or receives records has a role: capturing them, classifying or filing them (increasingly with automation’s help), and following policy. Modern programs reduce this burden through auto-classification and capture, but no system removes individual responsibility entirely.

Why clear roles matter

The difference between a program that works and a policy no one follows is named accountability at each layer: an officer to run it, leadership to empower it, liaisons to extend it, support functions to enable it, and everyone to participate. See the fundamentals hub and our Q&A on who is responsible for records management.