Certified archive

Instead of failed audits

The purpose of a certified archive is to provide a centralized record of the certified copies of documents held by the organization. The storage and management of paper documents requires a large investment of energy and manual work, which results in increased costs for the organization. A certified copy repository is a storage process that allows paper documents to be digitized and stored as electronic copies with evidentiary value, allowing paper originals to be discarded.

The purpose of a certified repository of documents, in addition to the central register:

• Preserving the authenticity and reproducibility of documents
• Internal control and compliance with legal obligations
• Supporting the work of case handlers, reducing the time spent by them
• Reducing costs
• Support archiving.

A certified repository preserves the authenticity of documents, monitors their expiry and supports their renewal.

Only documents from a defined source and from persons with a defined authorization can be accepted into the authentic archive. The admissibility of the incoming documents is checked beforehand, and authenticated documents can be admitted according to several different processes:

• From another repository automatically, on a scheduled basis, or
• As an attachment to e-mails sent via e-mail to a dedicated address

Incoming documents are reviewed by the system without user intervention. It checks for the existence of an electronic signature and its correctness, and also automatically authenticates the document (if it has not been authenticated). It takes into account that only legally authenticated documents are stored in the document repository. The authentication is done using the authentication software used by the organization.

Authenticated documents are automatically stored in a separate dedicated IBM FileNet system. The documents are stored in a structured way, for example according to specific areas of expertise or departments (HR, Accounting). The structuring also implies a separation of rights by area. The management of authorizations is done automatically by the system, so that each user automatically has access only to the authenticated documents corresponding to his/her own authorization group.

Authenticated documents are stored according to predefined properties, which make them easy to retrieve by users. Such document properties can be, for example, a generic identifier (authentication data) or even individual data per area (e.g. filing number for documents received from the filing system).

There is also the possibility to publish authenticated copies in the archive, the type of output channels can be:

• On paper, by printing, or
• On digital basis: by download, as e-mail attachment.

The possibility of publishing can be linked to an authorization or logged.