The metadata that describes your records is so critical that it must be managed and preserved as a fully-fledged record in its own right.
Ensuring that your metadata is protected from unauthorized deletion guarantees that the context and history of your files will survive even if the original documents are migrated.
- If a document is lawfully destroyed at the end of its retention period, does your system retain the metadata to prove it once existed?
- How do you back up the structural and contextual data that organizes your digital archives?
Action Item: Check your system configurations to ensure that metadata stubs are retained as proof of destruction after a file is purged.