SDS Scanning Bureau can provide an archiving service for all data such as the data on laboratory instruments, data on all equipment can be archived. Are you looking for a low-cost solution that will accomplish this while remaining compliant? We at SDS Scanning Bureau can offer you recommendations to suit your needs.

It makes good business sense to archive records that are not required to run the daily business. It is also compliant with European regulations, which state: “Data may be archived. This data should be checked for accessibility, readability and integrity. If relevant changes are to be made to the system (e.g., computer equipment or programs), then the ability to retrieve the data should be ensured and tested” (1).

Once SDS Scanning Bureau have transferred the data to your archive (e.g., a cloud-based archive), we can confirm if the data can be accessed. This exercise must be repeated, as it is necessary to verify that you can actually access the data throughout the data lifecycle, which is typically several years (often in the range of 5–15 years). For this reason, it is essential to maintain the access information somewhere safe for several years.

Laboratory data may be in some proprietary format depending on the instrument on which they were generated. If this is the case, consider how the data can be read in years to come.

It’s also important to consider how long you will need to store the data and what your defined retention periods are. It is well known that paper can be stored for hundreds of years and will still be legible. Experience with electronic archives extends to years, at best decades. This is where you will have to keep in mind the longevity of the electronic archive. Low-cost solutions may be tempting, but is there sufficient assurance that these will still exist at the end of your data lifecycle?

Your data are valuable, so you will want to be able to access and retrieve them as you please. Therefore, you will need to know where your data are located. Cloud-based archives may be perfectly appropriate for your purpose, but only if you have appropriate controls over their location and access to your data.