scope:

Introduction

1. This manual delineates the process for segregating and filing Navy and Marine Corps records and provides the standard system of numbers and letter symbols used throughout the Department of the Navy (DON) to categorize and classify Navy and Marine Corps records. A standard subject identification code (SSIC) is required on all DON records including, but not limited to, letters, messages, directives, forms and reports. Only approved SSICs will be assigned; however, expansion of the system for filing purposes is authorized following the procedures contained in Part 3 of this manual.

A significant and ever increasing portion of the Department's records are created, used and/or stored electronically. The requirement to assign an SSIC applies to any record regardless of its format and medium.

This manual is to be used in conjunction with SECNAV Manual M-5210.1 (1st Revision), Department of the Navy Records Management Manual, dated January 2012; hereafter cited as SECNAV M-5210.1. The records management manual describes specific DON records and provides disposition schedules for them.

2. Definition of a Navy Record. In order to determine which items should receive an SSIC, DON personnel must be able to determine which materials are records. The use of Standard Subject Identification Codes is the only approved means to number, segregate, symbolize and file Departmental records.

As defined in statute, records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable materials or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of data in them. Library and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference and stocks of publications and of processed documents are not included (44 USC §3301).

Several key terms, phrases and concepts in the statutory definition of records are defined in National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Regulation (36 CFR 1220.18 and 1222.10) as follows:

"Documentary materials" is a collective term that refers to recorded information, regardless of the medium or the method or circumstances of recordings.

"Regardless of physical form or characteristics" means that the medium may be paper, film, disk, or other physical type or form; and that the method of recording may be manual, mechanical, photographic, electronic or any other combination of these other technologies.

"Made" means the act of creating and recording information by agency personnel in the course of their official duties, regardless of the method(s) or the medium involved. The act of recording is generally identifiable by the circulation of the information to others or by placing it in files accessible to others.

"Received" means the acceptance or collection of documentary materials by or on behalf of an agency or agency personnel in the course of their official duties regardless of their origin (for example, other units of their agency, private citizens, public officials, other agencies, contractors, Government grantees) and regardless of how transmitted (in person or by messenger, mail, electronic means, or by any other method). In this context, the term does not refer to misdirected materials. It may or may not refer to loaned or seized materials depending on the conditions under which such materials came into agency custody or were used by the agency. Advice of legal counsel should be sought regarding the ``record'' status of loaned or seized materials.

"Preserved" means the filing, storing or any other method of systematically maintaining documentary materials by the agency. This term covers materials not only actually filed or otherwise systematically maintained but also those temporarily removed from existing filing systems.

"Appropriate for preservation" means documentary materials made or received which, in the judgment of the agency, should be filed, stored or otherwise systematically maintained by an agency because of the evidence of agency activities or information they contain, even if the materials may not be covered by its current filing or maintenance procedures.

3. Record Series. A series is the basic unit for organizing and controlling files. It is a file unit or documents arranged according to a filing or classification system or kept together because they relate to a particular subject or function, result from the same activity, document a specific kind of transaction, take a particular physical form, or have some other relationship arising out of their creation, receipt, or use, such as restrictions on access and use.

Programs should organize documents in order to facilitate management of records throughout their life cycle. For example, record series kept in paper copies should be physically separated from other record series. Electronic records should be managed in ways that link records to their disposition authority, within the context of a record keeping system. (Electronic records management applications must be certified in accordance with DoD 5015.2-STD, "Electronic Records Management Software Application Design Criteria Standard.)

The DON uses the SSIC system to establish and identify record series. Each record series must be scheduled for appropriate disposition. The DON's disposition authority is found in the SECNAV Manual M-5210-1, The Department of the Navy Records Management Manual.

4. Records File Plan. A file plan is an organizational scheme for how records are organized. The plan specifies the identifying number, title or description and disposition authority of files held in an organization. A file plan allows users to select categories in which records are filed and assign records to these categories. A plan allows users to add, edit and delete file categories or file folders. Within the DON, the SSIC provides the basis for organizational file plans. To build an activity file plan, refer to OPNAV 5210/76, Naval Organizational Records File Plan. The Marine Corps electronic file plan is contained in MCO 5210.11.