Information management is part of Uppsala University’s long history

“Information management is about reducing vulnerability in the organisation, but also about improving efficiency,” says Magdalena Flemström, analyst at the Legal Affairs Division, University Administration.

“There is a societal aspect to information management, but it’s also done for its own sake and for the sake of our future colleagues. You shouldn’t have to keep on reinventing the wheel. In other roles here at the University Administration I’ve seen for myself what a difference it can make to have things registered. You save a lot of time by having a good system,” she says.

But a common misunderstanding is that documents added to the register immediately become official documents, and this is sometimes used as an excuse to keep certain documents regarding a matter outside the register.

“You can register proposals, other documents, etc., that should be registered without delay. In fact, internal documents that are part of an ongoing matter do not become official until the case is concluded. The aim is to be able to process matters without needing to rush things. On the other hand, for those documents that do become official immediately, it’s important that they are in the register, because this makes it easier to find them if there is a request for disclosure,” Magdalena explains.

A quality stamp for legal certainty

“Information management should always be done as close as possible to the time a document is received or drawn up. Don’t wait until the entire case has been concluded before you add documents pertaining to it to the register,” says Olof Byström, Document Administrator at the Legal Affairs Division, University Administration.

“And we can always go back in time in the register to see what we’ve done in similar cases. In addition, continuity in this work means that the University is doing things properly, in a legally certain way,” he explains.

It’s part of our democracy to provide the conditions to be able to scrutinise public administrations. The University’s register thus contributes to transparency in our democratic society.

“All of us employees are each doing our bit, adding our documents to a pretty big pile, which will soon be 550 years old. This work becomes a part of our history. Not just to show that the University is doing really exciting things, but also because it demonstrates how organised we have been and how we’ve been improving what we do over time,” says Olof Byström.

“I think you should feel proud when you’ve done your job in the register. Who knows what people will find interesting to preserve in ten, a hundred or five hundred years’ time? Recently, the importance of crisis preparedness has also been highlighted. We need to be able to ensure that the documents are preserved even if a social crisis were to occur,” says Magdalena Flemström.

Annual review by the Chancellor of Justice

The Chancellor of Justice’s (JK) annual review of the case archives of Sweden’s government agencies is just around the corner. JK’s review involves verifying that the government agencies are working efficiently, in a legally certain way, and in accordance with the law, which includes checking that matters are processed in a timely way.

A large portion of the cases generated at the University are matters related to students. Often, it can be particularly important for students to get their cases resolved in a timely way when it comes to credit transfers and leave from studies, for example.

Magdalena Flemström encourages everyone to check their cases again in the register at the beginning of the year to make sure that the right documents have been registered and to conclude cases that can be closed.

“But what I generally see at the University is that we are good at giving students and others the information and decisions they need in good time. We aren’t wrestling with big backlogs and long processing times that you sometimes hear about at other government agencies,” she says.

Support materials and University-wide networks

The University’s document management plans, which list different types of documents that arise in different matters and explains what should be registered, retained (archived) or disposed of, is available as one of the support materials for this work.

“We also have a chatbot called Aivot, which is a digital aid in the information management process. The chatbot takes you step by step through the process of creating a case or registering a document,” says Olof Byström.

Aivot does not have as many functions as the University’s main information management tool W3D3, but is appreciated by infrequent users who process only a few matters and may only need to add a few documents each year.

“However, if you register documents more regularly, it is usually better to use W3D3,” he emphasises.

There are also plans to make it clearer in the document management plans in the future which different digital systems documents can be stored in, and to include even more types of document and processes carried out at the University.

“Ideally, according to the Swedish National Archive, we should keep track of all the documents that the University generates and also document how we should handle them, but it is very rare that a new, completely unique type of document is created,” says Magdalena Flemström.

Training courses set to continue again in 2026

The University Board has made a decision that each department should have a designated contact for handling official documents. This network of contacts plays an important role in the work to train employees in basic and advanced functions for information management.

The in-person training courses in W3D3 started up again in autumn 2025 after a break.

“In the course, we talk about why you should register and about the rules. The aim is to ensure that you have a bit better understanding of why information management is important. We also go through the most frequently used functions directly in W3D3. New employees who come from other public sector organisations might find it very easy to get into this mindset while others might experience it as a bit more challenging,” says Magdalena Flemström.

In 2026, the training courses will continue on site at Segerstedthuset. There may also be one or two online courses offered via Zoom. There are also plans to offer advanced courses and to organise more gatherings for the contact network.