What KPIs and metrics should a records manager report to leadership each quarter?

Reporting to leadership works best when metrics connect records work to outcomes executives care about: risk, cost, compliance, and readiness. A quarterly dashboard should be short, trend-focused, and consistent from quarter to quarter so leaders can see direction at a glance.

Compliance and Disposition

These metrics show whether the program is keeping records under control:

• Retention schedule coverage - the percentage of record series or systems mapped to an approved schedule.
• Disposition completed on time - how much eligible content was destroyed or transferred versus how much remained past its eligibility date.
• Backlog of records past their disposition date - a key risk indicator, since over-retention raises legal and storage exposure.
• Audit and policy exceptions - open findings and how many were remediated during the quarter.

Digitization and Imaging Progress

For programs digitizing physical holdings, track volume converted (boxes, pages, or files), throughput per period, and a quality measure such as the rate of images passing capture standards on the first pass. Reporting against recognized imaging guidelines keeps quality claims credible. You can explore related guidance on the digitization and imaging hub.

Access, Risk, and Cost

• Search and retrieval performance - average time to locate requested records, which signals operational efficiency.
• Request fulfillment - timeliness of responses to legal holds, FOIA or public-records requests, and discovery, plus any missed deadlines.
• Storage footprint and cost - physical storage reduced and growth of electronic content, framed against avoided cost.
• Incidents - data exposure, misfiled sensitive records, or holds applied late.

Program Health and Adoption

Include training completion rates, the share of staff or systems under records governance, and progress on remediation projects. Adoption metrics tell leadership whether policy is actually reaching the desk level.

Presentation Tips

Pair every number with a trend arrow and a short narrative explaining what changed and why. Tie metrics to organizational goals rather than activity counts alone. Use targets where you have defensible baselines, and clearly label estimates. Keep the same core set quarter over quarter so leadership can judge progress, and reserve deep detail for an appendix rather than the executive summary.