The Importance of an Efficient Document Archiving System

Organisations and companies of any size will have a multitude of different documents that are required to be stored securely and which need to be easily retrieved when required in order to comply with current laws and regulations. International corporations may have to be concerned with a number of different international laws so a reliable document storage and retrieval system is a vital element in their business.

The process of creating and managing a centralised document archive can be complicated by the fact that organisations will have different departments that have traditionally categorised, filed and tracked their documentation in different ways. This can make the process of establishing an efficient document archive difficult and yet the risk of non-compliance for an organisation is a serious one. It is, therefore, essential that a single method of categorising documentation is established to enable timely retrieval of any particular document as and when required by regulatory authorities.

A badly organised document archive can make it difficult to find important medical, legal or business records that might be required to prove a company's compliance with a range of regulations. Not only does this mean there is a risk of fines or other repurcussions for non-compliance, but deficiencies in the archive system can lead to a waste of time and manpower searching for vital documents, which will have a knock-on effect on productivity.

In contrast, a good document management system can boost productivity by making access to information quick, easy and reliable. It also offers the possibility of safely storing important original documents and avoiding their loss or damage by scanning the original documents and offering electronic copies to employees who might need to refer to them.

However, most well-established companies will have enormous quantities of paper documents so scanning all of them could be a major task and it is necessary to weigh up the benefits of the ease and speed of retrieval with the time and cost impact of scanning all paper documentation. A cost-effective solution to this problem is to scan and electronically store documents only once they are requested from the archive. Then time is not wasted scanning documentation that is never retrieved but this method can be inefficient.

Usually it is known in advance that particular information is likely to be required for legal or regulatory purposes so particular categories of documentation should always be scanned and stored digitally even before they are requested. By scanning the most important information in bulk at the same time this also avoids the risk of the incorrect version of a particular document being stored, as well as it being more efficient.

It is essential that the end-to-end process of retrieving, scanning, indexing and returning documentation to the archives is a clearly defined and well-controlled process to avoid the risk of documents never being returned to storage or being returned to the wrong location. Paper documentation that has never been expertly indexed and archived is typically stored in diverse places – filing cabinets, archive boxes or even micro-film if the data are very old. This presents not simply problems finding information and re-filing it correctly, but also poses a security risk if the data are sensitive or confidential.

Establishing a reliable document management system that ensures sensitive or confidential information is securely stored but can be quickly and easily accessed by authorised personnel is a complex task for which many organisations simply lack the resources (financial or human). So document archiving and management is often viewed as a low priority task.

But dedicated document archiving companies offer this service for organisations without their own capability to fully index and store their documentation securely. This service will usually include scanning documents to make a digital copy as well as setting up a categorisation and indexing system that will make it easy for every department to access data using criteria familiar to them. It will also include a secure storage facility for confidential documentation and digital versions of the documentation can often be delivered electronically and securely to the requester via an application interface.

The author has written and published articles on a wide range of topics including Small Business Advice, Tax and Accounting, Interior Design, House Renovation and Project Management.