Records Management, Document Management and Email

As e-mails become more and more accepted as business documents the need to manage and archive those documents in a similar manner to electronic or scanned documents becomes important. E-mail archival allows important e-mails to be selected and stored into a Document Management or Records Management system.

What is e-mail?

E-mail is a method of delivering information. It is not a kind of record.

E-mail is like regular mail - you get letters, correspondence from clients customers and suppliers, signed contracts and purchase orders, enquiries and complaints; and also advertisements, brochures, personal messages and so on. Whether these are received by regular mail (on paper) or by e-mail (in an electronic format) you handle them in a similar manner. You manage e-mail the same way you manage your paper records – by customer, client, matter, contract, project, engagement or business function. The method of delivery is irrelevant.

To meet business and legal obligations, you have to maintain much of the information you receive by e-mail in the same way you manage paper records. Just like paper, you have to sort or index your e-mail so that you can find the important things when you need them.

Typically, an entire e-mail (including the message profile, message text, and all attachments) should be treated as one single item in order for the record to be considered a legal document and to be admissible as evidence in court proceedings.

Should I save all my e-mail?

You shouldn’t save every e-mail any more than you should save all of your paper mail. Just like you discard some of your regular mail – brochures, leaflets, advertisements, and so on – you should also discard unwanted e-mails. If you never deleted your e-mail, it could present legal risks for the organisation. You should save business-related e-mails - those that document your business and its processes, as well as those that may be needed to determine what we are (legally) required to do for someone or what they are required to do for us. However, deleting email or not taking sufficient steps to retain email and other electronic data that should have been retained can also be Contempt of Court.

Information that is stored electronically such as e-mail (or other data on a computer’s hard disk) has the same status as printed information and is equally admissible as evidence. 

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is the most commonly used e-mail software. Outlook e-mails can be saved in the Microsoft .msg format. Any attachments are also saved, inside the .msg file.
Saved .msg files may be viewed with Outlook or an Outlook viewer.
An alternative is to save into a different format, e.g. PDF or XML which may be more 'standard' though not necessarily a 'true' copy as some conversion is required.

Records Management is used for the storage, tracking and retrieval of original documents, files and archive boxes, and optionally scanned documents (in TIF or PDF format) and electronic documents such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Outlook e-mails.

Document Management enables organisations to manage their documents in an electronic format. Typically a large number of documents are stored for subsequent retrieval.

Click here for Alliance PaperChase Records Management software.

PaperChase records-management is an Alliance Group product.

Alliance specialise in Document Imaging for Windows, Records Management, Document Management, Imaging for Windows XP, file-tracking, document scanning solutions, RFID smart labels, medical records-management software, Document Tracking, Fujitsu scanners, EDRMS, record management, Hospital Patient Records, email archiving, File Tracking, Paperless-Office, Document Scanning services, Barcode Scanning solutions, ISO 15489, Wang Kodak Imaging-for-Windows, TIF, TIFF, Kodak Scanning and Imaging Solutions, File Tracking system, Archiving, Kodak Imaging-for-Windows Professional, EDRM, RFID printers, Records-Management system, Imaging windows, electronic records, document tracking, drawing and blueprint tracking, record tracking, asset tracking.

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