File retention..

[Olliesaurus]

Annoyingly a backup project of mine for summer has been put on ice, I need some sort of law leverage to try and make people realise that backups are important!

 

Does anyone know if there is a legal period that you MUST keep files for? I read it was 6 years but any laws that enforce this will make them change there minds rather quickly!

 

Thanks

[lew_bob]

If you work in a school much of the data generated either by staff or students has laws about it being kept for x amount of time. You should have a policy in place for the roll/over deletion of the data or confidential removal of the paperwork year on year.

 

thanks,

[DPrince]

I'm not aware of any legal requirement to keep backups at all. You may be required to retain data/records for a certain number of years (often 6, 7 or 10 depending on the type of data) but I'm not aware of a requirement for a backup to be kept.

Backups are there to protect the institution/business. They enable business continuity. On the other hand, it's perfectly possible to run your business without making any backups at all, and I'm sure many do. Wouldn't advise it though.

 

What will change your management's mind will be when you lose a business-critical server!

[cobra427col]

We got told today that certain files (digital and paper based) have to be kept for 35 years - thanks to Jimmy saville and co.

[elsiegee40]

You just need to google for the guidelines for school document retention. Most policies are based on the same document, e.g. This one http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/rms_retention_guidelines.doc

 

Seven years is the minimum for most records including finance. However the advice we have recently received is that insurance records should be kept for 50 years in the wake of the Saville enquiry.

 

This is @GrumbleDook's territory * performs summoning charm *

[Ephelyon]

Out of curiosity, if you lost your network and therefore technically no longer had financial records going back 7 years... or pupils' educational records... what actually happens to the school? Can it be prosecuted/closed for this alone?

[skell]

Write a Disaster Recovery Plan and scare the bejebus out of them when you state in the event of fire / flood / etc you wouldn't be able to restore their data Edited July 18, 2014 by skell
Spulling

[jmak]

 

This is @GrumbleDook's territory * performs summoning charm *

 

Are you taking lessons from @witch ?

[elsiegee40]

Are you taking lessons from @witch ?

 

We are clones. Didn't you know?

[GrumbleDook]

You just need to google for the guidelines for school document retention. Most policies are based on the same document, e.g. This one http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/rms_retention_guidelines.doc

 

Seven years is the minimum for most records including finance. However the advice we have recently received is that insurance records should be kept for 50 years in the wake of the Saville enquiry.

 

This is @GrumbleDook's territory * performs summoning charm *

 

Directly from the Information and Records Management Society.

RM Toolkit for Schools - Information and Records Management Society

 

BCDR (Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery) is a more persuasive argument for backups than legal retention schedules ... even if it might not be legally more important.