Dependence on the long-term stability of proprietary data formats is a big subject. Very Big. I am the Master Blaster of process automation, but I believe that current systems for long-term digital data storage, other than ANSI text, have no efficacy.
I am not referring to 20 or 200 years, but the typical 5-10 year retention period for corporate docs. Think boxes of reports stacked on warehouse shelves. Brian -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Monrad Monsen Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 11:44 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Original Signed Reports Versus Digital Scanned Reports for EMC Technical Files We really don't want to keep the original signed paper even for 10 years. As you mention, agencies accept our PDF scanned version reports. Is there any requirement to have original signed paper version reports at all once they are scanned to PDF? Monrad Monsen On 7/9/2012 5:54 PM, [email protected] wrote: Monrad, I am not aware of any need to save hard copy reports, especially after "enough" time has elapsed. Document retention in the EU for liability directive is still 10 years (you might double check that). Otherwise, I have been doing electronic submittals (of safety reports) to my certifiers for more than 10 years. I see no need to subsequently print these simply for archival purposes. Doug Douglas E Powell Compliance Engineering and Consulting http://www.linkedin.com/in/dougp01 From: Monrad Monsen <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2012 17:31:55 -0600 To: <[email protected]> ReplyTo: Monrad Monsen <[email protected]> Subject: [PSES] Original Signed Reports Versus Digital Scanned Reports for EMC Technical Files We have EMC lab currently files and saves the original signature documents for every test report. However, we retain the electronic scan copy version of the reports which are backed up and have disaster recovery procedures in place for off-site storage. We would like to stop saving the paper copies and just rely on the electronic scanned copy reports. If we have a scanned electronic copy of the test reports, is there any need to have the original signed paper version? Are there any countries or agencies that require us to have the original signed paper versions on hand? Thanks. Monrad Monsen +1.303.272.9612 Office - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
