RE: OT Document archiving...continued

[Keith Doxey <ukha@xxxxxxx>]

Quoting Ian Lowe <ian@xxxxxxx;:

> -----Original Message-----
> >Do any of you "legal" types know what the
"law" is for scanning
> documents?
>
> Not a lawyer myself, but I sought legal opinion for my own company
with
> regards to scanned versions...
>
> And the situation is basically that there is no clear law stating what
> is, or is not, an acceptable storage mechanism for the documents.
>
> It comes down to what it's used for. Customs & Excise, Inland
Revenue
> and Companies House (the only three groups who really have a legal
right
> to insist that you maintain paper records) all take the view that as
> long as you can make a paper version available to their staff when
> required on demand, you are free to store the documents
electronically:
>
> You still have a duty of care, however, and storing documents in
> electronic format without a backup, such that you conveniently
"lose"
> some receipts would be viewed in exactly the same light as losing the
> paper copies...
>

At work we can view our payslips electronically via the Intranet.

There is also an option to stop receiving the paper copies of the payslip.

Personally I have kept the option of receiving the paper payslip whilst we
still have a choice (I say that because at one time there was a choice of
being
payed by cheque or direct bank credit, now there is no choice, BGC only).

Another reason I chose to retain the paper copy is that it is always
available
to me. The electronic copy is only available whilst I am at work or dialled
in
via secure remote access. I wonder how someone would get on if they left
the
company because they would no longer have access to the electronic version!

Theoretically an electronic copy should be better in that once scanned it
cant
fade (like thermal receipts) and simply by archiving to several CD's you
can
store copies at different physical locations ensuring you dont lose
valuable
information.

I have loads of documents I want to archive as well but I think my approach
will be to scan a copy and save with a suitable title eg.

ElectricityBill_2004_Q1
CouncilTax_2002
GasBill_2003_Q3

etc. That should make it dead easy to find any bill/invoice I want to find
in a
hurry.

Having spent a lot of time in the last 2 weeks sorting out my accounts so
that
I could get my Tax Return done it time (yes I know I *SHOULD* have done it
earlier) I have realise just how much paper we get sent in the post in the
form
of bills, statements etc.

<IDEAL WORLD>
Wouldnt it be nice if there was a defined XML format for all that
information
to be made available to us so we could easily store and retreive it
electronically in a database. It would then also make analysis of said data
much easier..... then again .... it might be dangerous to know just how
many
credit/debit card transactions are due to a "UKHA_D Bargain TM"
</IDEAL WORLD>

Keith

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