The Life Cycle of a Document: Archive

Easy tasks often couple with awkward explanations.  I would contend that this follows because certain activities tend to define themselves as ‘routine', and thus, as something that we do not think about, but naturally do.  For instance, if you were to consider the multiplicity of activities that you engage throughout the day--the how's and why's informing the process of saving a file on your PC does not stand out.

With that said, if you were to reflect upon the thought process of why you clicked ‘save as' and proceeded to save your client testimonial as client.doc, in your client folder; then, you would understand how archiving your documents involves a deeper categorical process.

Archive is the third phase in the life cycle of a document.  Archive is also the simplest phase, because it is a natural form of organization.  Specifically, archiving is the process of categorizing a document for efficient retrieval.

Technically, the process of archiving is more intricate than the act itself.  When an individual assigns a document to a folder, they place an ‘index value' on the file.  An index value is any searchable field that you would like to configure.  To illustrate: if you had a physical file cabinet, then the index value would be the information written on the tabs of the manila folders in the cabinet.

After index values are assigned to files, they are stored in a database.  The database communicates with the storage location device to determine where the physical file associated with the index value is archived.  Popular storage locations include: Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices--a solution that connects a bank of hard drives to the network and allows the sharing of folders between workstations and servers; Storage Area Network (SAN) devices--a solution that connects the hard drive to the server via fiber optic cables; and, File Server locations--which are typical servers with a large amount of storage space.

In consideration of the technicalities of the simple task of archiving, the benefits of employing a document management solution becomes obvious, because it automates the process of searching archived information.  This allows for quicker and more proficient retrieval.

Independent of the type if information you are working with, (i.e. Mail, web-info, generic documents, videos, or other business critical information), it is vital to the efficiency of your ECM strategy to categorize your documents in an organized manner--easier done, than said.