Arcplace AG – Digital Archiving Solutions

There are a number of reasons why organizations should archive their business records:

Reduce online storage and shorten backup process
Comply with relevant laws and regulations
Be able to produce documentary evidence
Leverage historical data for knowledge management purposes

Reduce online storage and shorten backup process

Moving fixed content into an online active archive and out of the production environment, delivers several benefits. Tier-one production system capacity is reduced. Backups become smaller active data sets, so backup windows become shorter. Recoveries have less static content in them, so are much faster and easier to manage. Application performance improves and is more consistent since there is less data in the system.

Comply with relevant laws and regulations

In recent years, governments across the globe have implemented thousands of regulations making organizations responsible for the retention and availability of information. Typical retention periods are 10 years in Switzerland and 7 years in North America, with legislation in process to increase the median record retention period in some industries to in excess of 100 years. The implications of not complying vary but the generally accepted view is that the financial and criminal penalties for non-compliance will become more severe.

In Switzerland a number of laws and regulations cover the topic of archiving with precise requirements in terms of what needs to be archived, for how long and how.

The main relevant Swiss laws are:

Obligationenrecht (OR) (Law of Obligations - the Contract and Liability Law)
Mehrwertsteuergesetz (MWSTG) (Value-Added Tax Law)
Datenschutzgesetz (DSG) (Data Protection Act)

The main relevant Swiss regulations are:

Geschäftsbücherverordnung (GeBüV) (regulations on the keeping of accounts by companies)
Verordnung des Eidgenössischen Finanzdepartments (EFD) über Elektronisch übermittelte Daten und Informationen (ElDI-V) (regulations on electronic storage and transmission of data, issued by the Federal finance department)
Mehrwertsteuerverordnung (MWSTGV) (VAT notices)

Internationally, the most important legislation is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was intended to protect shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices by enterprises. The act is administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which sets deadlines for compliance and publishes rules on requirements. Sarbanes-Oxley is not a set of business practices and does not specify how a business should store records; rather, it defines which records are to be stored and for how long.

Be able to produce documentary evidence

All companies regardless of industry may be required to produce documentary evidence. Properly archived data can serve as hard evidence internally or externally. Typical internal situations where archived data can be very useful include workplace harassment cases - evidence from archived data can also be extremely useful with suppliers, customers, auditors or governmental authorities.

Leveraging historical data for knowledge management purposes

In 2005, the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) reported that as much as 75% of a company’s intellectual property is contained in the messages and attachments sent through the email system. By adding other digital records such as office files or electronic documents this percentage approaches 100%. Proper data archiving is thus a must to protect an organization’s knowledge base.

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Archiving Definitions Why Archive? Archiving Best Practice Product Information White Paper Learn more about Swiss archiving laws and regulations Click here to download white paper		There are a number of reasons why organizations should archive their business records: Reduce online storage and shorten backup process Comply with relevant laws and regulations Be able to produce documentary evidence Leverage historical data for knowledge management purposes Reduce online storage and shorten backup process Moving fixed content into an online active archive and out of the production environment, delivers several benefits. Tier-one production system capacity is reduced. Backups become smaller active data sets, so backup windows become shorter. Recoveries have less static content in them, so are much faster and easier to manage. Application performance improves and is more consistent since there is less data in the system. Comply with relevant laws and regulations In recent years, governments across the globe have implemented thousands of regulations making organizations responsible for the retention and availability of information. Typical retention periods are 10 years in Switzerland and 7 years in North America, with legislation in process to increase the median record retention period in some industries to in excess of 100 years. The implications of not complying vary but the generally accepted view is that the financial and criminal penalties for non-compliance will become more severe. In Switzerland a number of laws and regulations cover the topic of archiving with precise requirements in terms of what needs to be archived, for how long and how. The main relevant Swiss laws are: Obligationenrecht (OR) (Law of Obligations - the Contract and Liability Law) Mehrwertsteuergesetz (MWSTG) (Value-Added Tax Law) Datenschutzgesetz (DSG) (Data Protection Act) The main relevant Swiss regulations are: Geschäftsbücherverordnung (GeBüV) (regulations on the keeping of accounts by companies) Verordnung des Eidgenössischen Finanzdepartments (EFD) über Elektronisch übermittelte Daten und Informationen (ElDI-V) (regulations on electronic storage and transmission of data, issued by the Federal finance department) Mehrwertsteuerverordnung (MWSTGV) (VAT notices) Internationally, the most important legislation is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was intended to protect shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices by enterprises. The act is administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which sets deadlines for compliance and publishes rules on requirements. Sarbanes-Oxley is not a set of business practices and does not specify how a business should store records; rather, it defines which records are to be stored and for how long. Be able to produce documentary evidence All companies regardless of industry may be required to produce documentary evidence. Properly archived data can serve as hard evidence internally or externally. Typical internal situations where archived data can be very useful include workplace harassment cases - evidence from archived data can also be extremely useful with suppliers, customers, auditors or governmental authorities. Leveraging historical data for knowledge management purposes In 2005, the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) reported that as much as 75% of a company’s intellectual property is contained in the messages and attachments sent through the email system. By adding other digital records such as office files or electronic documents this percentage approaches 100%. Proper data archiving is thus a must to protect an organization’s knowledge base.