Glossary

Public Records Archiving

Public records archiving is essential for ensuring compliance with government regulations and maintaining accountability in the workplace. In today’s digital landscape, archiving public records can be challenging due to the high volume of data and documents that organizations must manage. At the same time, organizations must ensure that their archived records are easily accessible and secure.

Current State of Archiving Public Records for Remote Work

For decades, organizations have focused exclusively on archiving emails and print documents. Other forms of electronic communication remained largely out of the jurisdiction of most governing bodies. This changed in 2014 when the federal government amended its definition of electronic messages. The amendment set a new stand for other governing agencies to follow.

Consequently, agencies now require archiving of the following additional types of data:

  • Chat messages on business platforms, such as Skype, Teams, and Slack
  • Shared rich media, such as PDFs
  • Social media posts and activity
  • SMS or MMS messages
  • Metadata

Despite these changes, companies still struggle to create company policies, enforce policies and find archiving solutions that cover all their bases. This has led to $1.8 billion in fines for Wall Street companies.

Compliance Concerns for Archiving Public Records

Compliance concerns vary across businesses based on the regulations that govern them. Even so, there are some common issues organizations tackle.

Knowing What Communication Records To Save

There are dozens of communication record types. Tech companies and regulatory bodies add new classes regularly. These constant changes can make it challenging to track what organizations need to save. BYOD policies and data privacy laws can further complicate the process of earmarking records for archiving or knowing what to retain.

Meeting Storage Requirements

Public records must be stored for a predetermined period and meet specific technical requirements. Keeping millions or even billions of records requires significant storage capacity, which can be challenging for many organizations. Additionally, managing and retrieving these stored records can also pose logistical challenges.

Managing Regulatory Changes

New regulations and changes to existing laws are standard in the digital age, making it difficult for businesses to keep up with compliance requirements. Any lapse in meeting regulatory standards could lead to fines and other legal consequences.

Data Security and Privacy

As more data becomes digitally stored and accessible, security concerns also rise. Organizations must ensure that their archived records are secure against unauthorized access or tampering. Companies must also reassure workers and customers of the safety of their information.

Ease of Accessibility

Investigations and eDiscovery requests could prompt companies to produce records quickly. It is essential to have an archiving solution that allows for quick and easy retrieval of archived documents. Some storage options limit access to several times per year, so keep this in mind.

Best Practices for Archiving Public Records

Despite the challenges, there are best practices that organizations can follow to archive public records for remote work effectively. Consider the following.

Enlist the Help of Compliance Experts

Organizations that make a guessing game will ultimately either store too little and face fines or store too much data and pay high storage costs. Work with a compliance expert to narrow down compliance requirements.

Prioritize Cybersecurity

Security breaches have become a common trend but companies cannot treat them as the norm. Breaches erode public trust, cost companies customers, and can lead to millions of dollars in recovery expenses. Protect your archived records against unauthorized access, data theft, and other security risks.

Create a Tiered System for Records Retention

Archive the records you need to keep, but don’t save everything. A tiered system allows companies to archive only what they need while maintaining compliance standards. This will help mitigate storage costs associated with keeping records indefinitely.

Choose a Reliable Archiving Solution

When choosing an archiving solution, consider data security and accessibility factors. Minimize redaction time and automate compliance processes using an archiving solution designed to meet regulatory changes in real time. With the right tools, companies can confidently archive public records for remote work.

How LeapXpert Streamlines Public Records Capturing and Archiving Compliance

At LeapXpert, we understand the challenges organizations and governments face when capturing and archiving public records. Our advanced message and voice-capturing solution simplifies compliance and protects the records against security risks and data leakage. Are you ready to see what our software can do for your organization? Book a demo today.