Electronic Archiving: Requirements, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Security Requirements

Abstract

This article examines electronic archiving as a key approach to managing records and information in a digital environment characterized by increasing data production, rapid circulation, and the need for efficient preservation and retrieval. It frames the shift from traditional archives to electronic archives, explaining that this transition is not merely a replacement of paper with digital media, but a reorganization of the document life cycle from creation, processing, and storage to access and retrieval. The article outlines the requirements for building an electronic archiving system, including technological infrastructure, software, databases, input and storage devices, qualified human resources, and organizational and legal procedures. It highlights the advantages of electronic archiving, such as faster access to documents, reduced space and costs, easier sharing, greater transparency, backup support, and improved administrative and information services. At the same time, it discusses disadvantages and challenges, including technical failures, technological obsolescence, conversion difficulties, data loss, confidentiality, and privacy issues. The article gives particular attention to security requirements, emphasizing the need to protect hardware, software, networks, and data, apply backup procedures, control access permissions, prepare for disasters, and train staff in order to ensure the continuity of electronic archives and the reliability of preserved records.