There are many reasons why companies wish to have all their documents archived . This involves storing it in a way that makes it less accessible for regular use but preserves it for future reference or historical purposes. The specific process and implications of archiving can vary depending on each company’s policies.
What does document archiving entail?
When a document is archived, there are some common things that happen and set out below are the 10 most common together with a summary.
- Removal from Active Use.
- Storage in a Secure Location.
- Organisation and Cataloguing.
- Access Restrictions.
- Retention Policies.
- Back up and Redundancy.
- Preservation.
- Accessibility for authorised user.
- Monitoring and Auditing.
- Disposal or Permanent Archiving.
Archiving typically involves removing a document or file or box from its usual location where it is actively used. These are then stored in a secure and controlled environment to protect them from damage, loss or any unauthorised access. To ensure that all archived documents can be retrieved when needed they are often organised and catalogued via a database which makes searching for a specific document much faster and efficient.
Archived documents are not typically readily accessible by everyone. Depending on your organisations policies and the nature of the document, access may be restricted to certain individuals or teams. Access control helps protect sensitive information.
Why is document archiving important?
Most organisations often have specific retention policies that dictate how long a document should be archived before it can be disposed of permanently. Such policies are influenced by legal, regulatory and operational requirements.
Special care may be taken to preserve the integrity of archived documents, especially for historical or important records. This might include measures to prevent physical deterioration.
Even though archived documents are not in active use, authorised personnel should be able to request and access them when necessary. This might involve formal requests and retrieval processes.
Some organisations may implement monitoring and auditing processes to ensure compliance with archiving policies and to track who accesses archived documents and when.
Finally, when the retention period expires, organisations may decide to dispose of the document if it is no longer needed or to permanently archive it if it has historical or legal significance.
Happy Archiving
At LSR Storage Ltd, we want you to feel safe in the knowledge that your documents are safe so if you do have any questions, feel free to get in touch with any questions you may have – or get a free, no obligation quote
