Government Document Storage: How to Meet Compliance Standards

Anyone can scan a document. Getting that scan to hold up under a records audit is another matter entirely. That gap is where agencies get burned.

Government document storage requirements may differ by state; depending on the document type, federal storage guidelines also may apply. When managing the document needs for your organization, you must understand any potential governmental retention or storage requirement that applies. 

The accuracy and integrity of all of your business’ records, including those stored in the cloud and other online repositories, is critical to the success of your business. In addition, it’s a legal requirement should your records ever be included in litigation or submitted to a government agency. While there are many benefits to using a digital document storage system for your business’ documents, it’s important to understand all applicable guidelines.

Learn more about the specific governmental requirements that need to be followed when storing documents digitally.

Guidelines for Legally Admissible Digital Records

When it comes to meeting government requirements for digital document storage, you’ll need to factor in a few different areas of document management. Below, we’ve outlined five guidelines to help you ensure that any records maintained in a digital document storage system will be admissible in court or accepted by a government agency.

Record Retention

Retain your electronic records for the same time frame that your paper records are retained. At the very least, they should be kept for as long as they’re needed for on-going business transactions or tax purposes. Digital document storage solutions can provide many benefits, including simplifying retention management.

Data Security and Integrity

When storing documents digitally, you must be able to demonstrate your digital records system is secure and the chain of custody is maintained.

This requires showing and maintaining secure access logs, mandating role-based access to control document retrieval, updates, etc., encrypting all data when it is in storage or being moved, and ensuring that the chain of custody includes timestamped information (proving who had the documents or data at any period of time).

System Documentation

Architecture diagrams, indexing schema, and input/output specs show how digital records were configured and managed; you need this data for proper system documentation, helping others understand the way it was configured. It’s also necessary when maintaining compliance with federal governmental requirements (36 CFR Part 1236 applies to federal agencies).

With comprehensive documentation, it’s easier to illustrate the physical and logical structure and programs of your digital storage system, along with all inputs and outputs. This does require identifying and indexing all of your text documents, as well as narrative text for other types of data files. But putting in the effort while developing your document management system makes future compliance much easier.

Accessibility

Government-compliant digital records may be required to meet certain accessibility standards for audits or agency review. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that agencies make electronic information and documents equally accessible to individuals with disabilities, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide the universal standards for digital and web accessibility.

When it comes to governmental requirements, they’re focused on just how accessible your records are. Can employees access digital documents easily? 

Can authorized users bring up the necessary information by typing in a file number, keyword, or other identifying data into a search window?

Going digital with documents streamlines accessibility by providing teams access from anywhere with an internet connection. In addition, physical documents often create blockers and silos across teams, decreasing productivity. To solve for that, accessibility is one of the key features of cloud storage and other online solutions.

Governmental requirements push organizations to optimize accessibility as much as possible. If your records aren’t as accessible as they could be, what measures can you take to make them more accessible? It’s important to monitor this by soliciting user feedback and updating your digital document storage system accordingly.

Record Destruction

Certain guidelines should be followed when destroying documents in a government-compliant digital storage program; NIST SP 800-88 is published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), offering guidelines for safely destroying documents via storage media. It’s key for your organization to implement a retention and destruction policy.

This can help your business remain compliant when digitally stored documents reach their retention requirements.When any documents are destroyed, your business’ documented policies and procedures need to be followed, along with governmental requirements.

Routinely destroying records, whether digital or physical, should only take place under those documented procedures. Doing so helps answer any questions that might come up in future litigation.

In addition, almost every document that exists has some sort of retention period associated with it. Some retention guidelines are just that — guidelines. However, others are strict requirements that businesses must meet.

Government Document Storage Considerations, At A Glance

Use the table below as a guideline to understand each record-keeping checkpoint you should assess for government documents.

Requirement Area	Governing Standard / Body	What Your Need To Show
Document Retention Period	Agency records retention schedule; NARA General Records Schedules (federal)	Digital records held for the same, or longer, period as the paper originals. These recommendations are tied to business, legal, or tax need.
Data Security & Chain of Custody	Agency IT security policy; state data-security statutes	Access logs, role-based permissions, and encryption when documents are being moved or stored. You also need to show an unbroken, timestamped chain-of-custody record for each stage of the document life (through destruction).
System Documentation	36 CFR Part 1236 (federal); state records-management codes	Written documentation of the system’s physical/logical structure, indexing schema, and all inputs and outputs.
Accessibility	Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act; WCAG 2.1/2.2	The records and the interfaces used to view them are usable by people with disabilities. Features that aid accessibility include accessible/tagged file formats, alt text, keyboard navigation, and captioning for audio/video records.
Destruction	NIST SP 800-88 (media sanitization); agency retention & destruction policy	Destruction only after retention is met, performed under a documented policy, with a certificate of destruction to show as proof.
State & Industry Variance	Varies by state archives/records board and by industry (medical, financial, legal)	Confirm state-specific retention, security, and destruction rules have been checked.

State and Industry Requirements for Digital Storage

It’s important to note that the above guidelines for digital storage systems are not all inclusive. Each state has their own guidelines and laws regarding the storage of documents, including those kept within a digital document storage system. You should take some time to research your state’s laws to ensure you’re compliant with those as well.