Establishing and Following Document Archiving Procedures

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A successful document archiving process depends on the collaboration of many stakeholders. Document archiving is more than simply a means of removing data from your operational database. It requires setting up and implementing procedures to ensure that the archived information is available whenever it is needed. To reduce the chance that archived information could be lost in the event of a disaster, or in legal cases, audits or tax audits, companies should establish an appropriate system for storing their archives to ensure the security and accessibility.

It is important to develop a policy overview which can be given to all employees at initial onboarding, and also a refresher training course every year in addition to other required training. It is also important to establish an archive storage location and periodically test the system by extracting an archive.

The archival system must capture data in near-real-time, index it with complete metadata and then move it to the archive location. It is easier for users to retrieve documents without the need to search through all archived data. The archivist should also be involved in the planning of any modifications to the database that may impact the archived data.

Archiving is essential for a variety of types of business and government documents to maintain compliance with regulations. It’s a great means of freeing up space on your device, and also improving performance for everyday processes like reporting. It is recommended to move the archived data off site physically, as well as off your business’s network or website in order to reduce your storage costs and accelerate the time it takes to retrieve archived data.