This document will give you the framework to develop your own archiving policy, showing you how to archive your business data.

1. Prosyn Limited, Registered Address: 70 Clifton Street, London. EC2A 4HB. T: 0845 644 2351, F: 0845 128 3961. www.prosyn.net
VAT No: 802 8699 09, Registered in England No: 4520472
A comprehensive archiving policy
template for Small to Medium sized
companies
How to archive
your data

2. Prosyn Limited, Registered Address: 70 Clifton Street, London. EC2A 4HB. T: 0845 644 2351, F: 0845 128 3961. www.prosyn.net
VAT No: 802 8699 09, Registered in England No: 4520472
ARCHIVING POLICY FOR “ABC COMPANY”
[This document lays out an example of an archiving policy that can be used for small to medium size companies,
archiving can be very specific to your company and this must be reviewed and decided at management level]
This sets forth our policy with regard the archiving of data and emails in the company. It is important to note that
whenever working with data always confirm that you have a good backup. This needs to be in the format of one
confirmed system backup and a second copy (three copies in total) at any stage that you are moving or removing
data.
The purpose of the archiving policy is to ensure that data is understood, sorted and managed in a manner that
compliments the business operations. [This policy should sit in conjunction with staff file and email HR policy]
The life stages of data can be defined at are as follows:
Operational – files and structures that are in daily use.
Reference – files that are no longer in daily use however they are used for reference
Inactive – files that are no longer accessed
Remove – 6 months after marked as inactive
ABC company carries out an archiving exercise on the [date] each year [or twice a year if possible]
File Data:
Company data [define company data, screenshot file structures and insert]
Private user data [define what is private data and where it is to be stored]
Restricted file types [what data is not allowed on the system]
Operational [define what files are operational and when they are to be moved to reference]
Reference [move files to a reference area, take a copy and mark as read only on the file system. Users can find
and see these files, copies can be taken but no changes can be made]
Inactive [removed to a non user-visible data area once reference in no longer needed]
Remove 6 months after marked as inactive
Email data:
Company data [typically all of emails, contacts, calendars etc]
Private data [if your staff are allowed personal emails is any allowance for space allowed here]
Emails are sent to archive at the beginning of each year, storing [x] number of years emails. Once archived they will
be accessible [in an archive folder that IT will provide]
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