How do you conduct a records inventory at a federal agency, and what information do you collect for each record series?

A records inventory is a systematic survey of the records an agency creates and maintains, regardless of format or location. It is the foundation for scheduling: you cannot determine how long records must be kept, or whether they have permanent historical value, until you know what records exist and where they live.

Planning the inventory

Start by defining scope and securing leadership support. Decide whether you are inventorying a single office, a program, or the whole agency, and confirm that the effort covers all media — paper, electronic systems, email, shared drives, databases, and cloud repositories. Identify the offices and staff who actually create and use the records, since they are your best source of accurate information.

Build a simple, consistent survey instrument so data is captured uniformly across offices. Inventory by record series — a group of related records used and filed as a unit because they relate to the same function or activity — rather than counting individual documents. Working at the series level keeps the effort manageable and aligns with how retention schedules are written.

Information to collect for each series

For each record series, capture enough detail to support scheduling and disposition decisions:

• Series title and description — what the records are and the function they support.
• Office of record — the program responsible for the official copy.
• Format and medium — paper, electronic, database, email, microform, or mixed.
• Arrangement — how the records are filed (chronological, by case number, alphabetical).
• Inclusive dates — the date range the records span.
• Volume and growth rate — cubic feet, file count, or data size, and how fast it accumulates.
• Location — physical site or the system/application where records reside.
• Use and access — how often referenced and any restrictions, such as Privacy Act, classified, or controlled unclassified information.
• Vital records status — whether the series is essential to continuity of operations.
• Existing disposition authority — any applicable General Records Schedule item or agency schedule, or a note that the series is unscheduled.

After the inventory

Use the results to identify duplicate, obsolete, or unscheduled records, then map each series to an approved disposition authority. Series with no authority must be scheduled with NARA. Keep the inventory current through periodic reviews so it reflects new systems and changing functions.

For broader context, see the federal records hub.