IARA: Transfer Electronic Records

3 easy steps for transferring electronic records to the Indiana State Archives:

Identify records for transfer - Begin by verifying that the records are eligible for transfer on a Records Retention Schedule. For assistance with retention schedules please email rmd@iara.in.gov.
Contact Electronic Records Archivist - Have a Records Coordinator or an employee transferring records completed State Form 57413: State Archives Electronic Records Transmittal and Receipt and email the form to erecords@iara.in.gov. We're also available to help with any questions about the form or process.
Determine your preferred method of transfer - You can transfer records to the Indiana Archives via SFTP, using a drop folder, or - for just a few files - by emailing them.

For more information on these steps, and additional options, please read through the tabs below or reach out to erecords@iara.in.gov.

Secure File Transfer Protocol, or SFTP, is a popular method for transferring electronic records to the Indiana Archives. It is a best practice for any records that are designated as confidential or sensitive either in their records retention schedule description or due to an IOT policy. If you are unsure if your records are confidential or sensitive, consult your agency legal counsel or data privacy staff. If you have not used SFTP to transfer electronic records before, our Electronic Records Archivists may want to arrange a test transfer to ensure everything goes smoothly. If you are interested in using this method, please reach out to erecords@iara.in.gov to get started.

SFTP quick facts:

Acceptable for electronic file transfers up to 100GB.
Approved for Confidential/Sensitive records.

This is a popular method to transfer electronic records to the Indiana Archives and can be quicker and easier than SFTP if you do not require that route. It is acceptable for records designated as confidential or sensitive either in their records retention schedule description or due to an IOT policy. If you are unsure if your records are confidential or sensitive, consult your agency legal counsel or data privacy staff.

Our Electronic Records Archivists will create a drop folder for you to use and work with IOT to ensure you have access. They will then share the path, and help you map to it if needed. You can then copy over all records you wish to transfer. Once all records have been placed in the folder and our Archivists let you know the transfer is complete, you can then delete your copy or if you wish to maintain it for business use you can keep it until it is no longer useful. If your retention does not call for keeping a business use copy, please reach out to rmd@iara.in.gov to update your records retention schedule.

Network Drop quick facts:

Records stored on the State network can be shared via an agency/office specific drop folder.
Acceptable file size up to 100GB
Approved for Confidential/Sensitive records

Removable media (like a hard drive or USB key) can be an excellent way to make a large transfer (over 100GB) as you do not need to rely on network speeds. It can also be good if you are doing a big records clean up as it 1) Doesn't double your storage (if you are copying files for transfer from one networked storage location to another) and 2) Can help you keep files for transfer to the Archives separate from files you are deleting or retaining for business use. Please note, the Archives does not provide removable media for transfer - you would need to provide your own hard drive or USB key.

Removable Media quick facts:

Acceptable for any file size.
Approved for Confidential/Sensitive records, so long as the media is encrypted and the password to decrypt the device is provided to the Archives at transfer.
Records stored on obsolete media must be migrated to an accessible format before transferred to the Indiana Archives.

If you have a small amount of records (less than .2GB), you can use email to transfer them to the Archives. Simply attach your records to an email erecords@iara.in.gov along with your completed State Form 57413: State Archives Electronic Records Transmittal and Receipt and our Electronic Records Archivists will take it from there. Please note that your email must be encrypted to send records that are designated as confidential or sensitive either in their records retention schedule description or due to an IOT policy. If you are unsure if your records are confidential or sensitive, consult your agency legal counsel or data privacy staff.

Email quick facts:

Useful for small file transfers <.2 GB
The email must be encrypted to send Confidential/Sensitive records.

For records that are not confidential or sensitive you can use SharePoint/Teams to transfer the records. If you are unsure if your records are confidential or sensitive, consult your agency legal counsel or data privacy staff.

Simply provide our Electronic Records Archivists with a link to your SharePoint/Teams site or folder and a completed State Form 57413: State Archives Electronic Records Transmittal and Receipt, and they will download a copy of the records you wish to transfer. Please ensure that everything in a site or folder is intended for transfer as our Archivists will not be able to make this decision for you. Once our Archivists let you know the transfer is complete, you can then delete your copy or if you wish to maintain it for business use you can keep it until it is no longer useful. If your retention does not call for keeping a business use copy, please reach out to rmd@iara.in.gov to update your records retention schedule.

SharePoint/Teams quick facts:

Not appropriate for transferring Confidential/Sensitive records.
Convenient method of transfer if your records are already stored in a SharePoint/Teams site or folder.