Document archive. How to organize and where to store paper and electronic documents?

It doesn’t matter how many electronic documents do you receive or send while working with business partners. In any case, they will have to be stored somewhere, since the law requires it. But how to choose the right solution for the organization of an electronic archive? Should we allocate a special server in the office for these tasks or start cloud storage?

Electronic documents are easier to store because you don`t need to get a room and waste employees' time sorting and searching. However, the storage of electronic documents also requires compliance with the rules and the provision of technical capabilities. Information needs to be properly formatted and protected from system failures and external interference.

There are several ways to store electronic documents, among them are:

External links

Electronic documents are stored on flash drives or disks. This is the most unreliable way. The carrier is easy to lose or damage, it can become unusable over time. Information security with this method is the lowest. The protection of a disk or flash drive is easy to crack.

Cloud-based electronic archive

It doesn’t require software installation, complex configuration, and high costs. Cloud service provides the necessary level of protection, stores documents according to the rules of the law. It allows you to customize functions to the needs of the business, and manage the roles of employees. You will need a stable Internet to access data.

Electronic archive of your own

This is usually a folder on a computer, such as an accountant, to which some employees have access. This is the easiest, but unsafe way. The computer may break down, then all data will be lost. Simply protecting a folder isn't enough to keep information from being altered, lost, or copied. Even the document moderator does not provide the proper level of security and manageability. Another disadvantage is the rules for storing and organizing a local archive. You will need to spend a lot of time training employees to work with your own archive.

Electronic archive programs

Usually, this is an archive with an electronic document management system (EDMS) or separate software that provides the desired level of protection, operational access, clear structure, and storage rules. But for many companies and entrepreneurs, the method can be redundant, because it requires separate software, configuration, and considerable costs.?

Also, the owner of the documents is obliged to save the paper variant of the document, if its electronic image is sent to the archive, have evidence of the legitimacy of expired electronic signature certificates. This data should be requested from the accredited certification authority that issued the certificate.?

We can allocate the following groups of document keeping:?

1—5 years for letters, references, schemes, rules;

5—∞ for contracts, agreements, and annexes. As well as reporting documents acts, and invoices;

75 years old for information about income, seniority, accounts, and payments to employees.

The law defines the terms of document storage in the same way as for the paper, and for electronic originals. The archive can be organized directly on the hard disk of your computer, in the cloud (the service of the EDI operator), or a specialized solution from the developers of information and other systems.

Which option is suitable for your company depends on the need to ensure the confidentiality of commercial data to the desire to speed up the process of working with documents.

Stop reinventing the wheel, and automate your process with DocStudio!