Tips for Implementing a Document Retention Strategy

1. Tips for Implementing a Document Retention Strategy A document retention policy describes how a company must manage both electronic and physical data from creation to destruction of the documents that contain it. There are many reasons why a business should implement a document retention policy. The three main advantages it offers are efficiency, security against possible requests for documentation by official bodies, and confidence that we comply with current regulations. Interestingly, there are differences between the various sectors regarding the time that the law requires them to retain certain documents. There are even some documents that are considered permanent and that therefore companies must keep in perpetuity. Most of those permanent documents are tax and accounting records and some issues related to labor matters. How it would be very difficult to try to locate and summarize all the document retention rules for all the particular cases of the different sectors, we are going to see some general tips that should be used in any company. Designate a person responsible for document retention

2. The likelihood of developing an effective document retention policy best practices without someone being directly responsible for it is very low. Consider appointing someone to manage this process, or better yet, create an oversight committee to direct the work. It can be made up of representatives from different departments including employees from the IT department. When in doubt, it is better to exercise caution Sometimes it is not clear which category in particular certain documents fall into. In some cases, the documents may actually fall into multiple categories. If a document can be considered of more than one type, there may be various rules governing its retention methods and it is always a good decision to protect the document. For example, if an accounting document, according to accounting types, has a retention period of 3 years and tax regulations speak of 4 years, it is better to exercise caution and keep the document for the longest period of time. The longer the better Expanding on what was said in the previous point a bit, the best option is to keep all the documents of the company digitized and in a safe place and in an organized way for as long as possible. This can be accomplished quite easily by creating a centralized repository. With the creation of this centralized repository, companies can keep digitized documents for as long as necessary. And perhaps more importantly, company leaders can rest assured that information will not be accidentally lost, damaged, stolen, or destroyed. Cloud storage is the best option Obviously, there are different ways to establish a centralized repository, but utilizing cloud storage is the best way to go. In addition to offering a large amount of space for huge amounts of data, the cloud offers us efficiency and reliability. If a company changes its offices, there is no hardware that it needs to transport to get its documents to the new offices. There are no potentially dangerous networks to deal with. And if the company network receives an attack, be it from a remote hacker or malicious internal employee or even a fire or an explosion, the documents stored in the cloud will be kept safe from danger. Establish guidelines for the destruction of expired or useless documents Once a document expires, the document retention policy should include details of what to do with those documents. The procedure for disposing of the documents must be specified once their retention period has been exceeded. The

3. routine process of expiring expired documents will help manage an ever- increasing amount of data. Periodic review of the document retention policy As new technologies emerge, you should consider covering these new tools in your document retention policy. Risk management needs to be managed by using legal counsel at regular intervals to ensure thatthe legal document review process complies with regulations and jurisprudence. Source Url: https://sites.google.com/view/proteusdiscoverygroup/document- review/document-retention-strategy