electronic archive

Electronic archiving is “the process of using modern information technologies, physical and logical from computers and software, and communication technologies and their accessories, to carry out all the tasks that were performed by traditional archiving and more, in order to increase control over documents and improve the means of managing them through the foundations of organization.” Informatics.”

The terms electronic archive and digital document are sometimes confused. For example, a “digital document” is text that is created using word processing programs, but in which the data is not organized into a table.
The developments in information and communication technology in the eighties and nineties had a significant impact on the applications of information systems in public and private institutions; After the emergence of local networks, Internet and intranets, applications in public and private institutions entered a deeper and more comprehensive stage than all the previous stages.

The integration of information and communication technology in rapid networks had a significant impact on the ways of creating electronic records and the ease of transferring messages, documents and software to any point connected to the Internet anywhere in the world; Thus, it was technically possible to process and transfer all the required information in all sections of the official and private institutions that are geographically far apart; Just as if the institution’s staff were working in one building without losing any advantage from the ease of use or the reliability of paper documents: thus the interest of archivists to preserve and retrieve these electronic official documents that take place within a purely electronic structure, and in an important part of these cases without the use of paper.

Contents
1 electronic software
2 stages of electronic archiving
2.1 Planning stages for electronic archiving
2.2 Second: The executive stages of electronic archiving

electronic software
Electronic files are created and modified by appropriate electronic programs capable of recognizing the internal structure of the archive and allowing insertion, modification, deletion and reading of one part of the archive.

The stages of electronic archiving
The stages of electronic archiving are divided into two main stages:

First: the planning stages for electronic archiving.
Second: The executive stages of electronic archiving.

Planning stages for electronic archiving
They include:

Study and survey phase: It consists in listing the documents to be digitized and determining their quantity, shapes and types that differ according to color / size / paper quality.
Analysis stage: It is represented in setting priorities for converting documents from paper to electronic, and preparing lists that include the basic data of the documents, such as determining their locations, addresses of their presence, preservation, and the degree of their activity...etc. It is a complete inventory of documents.
The stage of building the plan: It is represented in developing a plan to preserve the documents: any rules for the periods of their retention, i.e. the duration of their preservation, the date and final determination of their fate, and the date of their destruction or deportation. As well as defining a system for classifying documents, i.e. by assigning classification codes to them and a thesaurus that contains standardized terms as keywords to be used when searching and retrieving the document.
Software selection stage: It includes automated equipment and software specialized in electronic disposal of the necessary documents, systems and databases, setting the appropriate fields, selecting the search tools and preparing the required reports...etc.
Database preparation stage: It is represented in preparing databases that will be included in the preservation and processing of electronic documents.
Second: The executive stages of electronic archiving
It includes the following stages:

The stage of preparing documents and files
photogrammetry stage
Quality control stage
Indexing stage
File preparation stage
Preservation and storage stage
The stage of viewing the electronic archive
First: The stage of preparing documents and files:

Exclude duplicate papers that will not be archived.
Photographing some old documents manually so that we can scan them.
Remove the staples on the documents.
Separation of papers into groups according to size or that contain color or that contain data on both sides...etc.
Putting distinctive marks on the documents and facilitating the process of collecting them as they were before the photocopying.
Second: The stage of photogrammetry:

The process of photocopying the documents that were previously prepared by means of scanning devices suitable for the size and clarity of the document, and the process of photocopying is the first step to convert paper files into electronic files that are stored on computers. It is also necessary to focus on the devices required for storage, the type of electronic file. Use of file compression, view and change permissions...etc

Third: The stage of quality control and audit:

It is a stage that takes place in parallel with the photocopying process, where the employee who scans the files or any other employee whose job is to control the quality is to check the photocopied files and compare them to the original to ensure their clarity and quality and not to lose any information that the document may contain.

Fourth: Indexing Stage:

It is the stage of entering data and indexes related to the files and papers that are being photographed. It is a process of physical, descriptive indexing and indexing of documents in order to establish a link between the index card and the file accompanying this image, by giving a single detector that is written on the digitized document and on the index card. Indexing can be done manually or automatically; Whereas, manual indexing is a summary or analysis of the document, which can be done with a searchlight that contains the descriptive words.

Fifth: The stage of returning the files to their origins:

This process consists in returning the files and documents that were in the process of photocopying to each other and to their originals before digitization by re-stapling them after untangling them from each other.

Sixth: The stage of preservation and storage

The stage of preserving and storing documents in different media and supports, including the computer memory itself, including magnetic and compact discs, as well as in central systems, which is the method of backup preservation.