How do you retain Obsolete Documents?

A

alk26

I was wondering how everyone retains their obsolete work instructions? Do you retain the hard copies and stamp them obsolete or do you retain them electronically? My filing cabinets are gettings so darn full from all the obsolete hard copies. I was trying to get some ideas for saving and organizing them electronically. Any help is very much appreciated:)
Thanks in advance, Andrea.
 
J

Jason PCSwitches

Re: How do you retain obsolete docs?

I was wondering how everyone retains their obsolete work instructions? Do you retain the hard copies and stamp them obsolete or do you retain them electronically? My filing cabinets are gettings so darn full from all the obsolete hard copies. I was trying to get some ideas for saving and organizing them electronically. Any help is very much appreciated:)
Thanks in advance, Andrea.

We file ours electronically. This takes up no space and ensures the documents are protected and easily retrievable. Work with you IT people and have them create a protected folder entitled something like "obsolete documents". Then create sub-folders i.e. "work instructions" and store them there. Just make sure they are protected, i.e ."read only" and have administrative access limited. Your IT people will know how to do this easily. Then just file them away as they become obsolete. Oh...make sure your system is backed up on a regular basis and your good to go.
Now.. have those file cabinets removed and put in a mini-bar, cheers.:notme:
 
L

Lmlazier

Re: How do you retain obsolete docs?

Our obsolete/superseded records are stored electronically on our server in a file named "Archive". Access is limited to these files. We also have a statement on our work instructions, QA Manual etc.. so that if it is printed; it states: "Printed Copies or Copies Not Located on Server are Uncontrolled".
 

Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
Re: How do you retain obsolete docs?

A large part of any records retention policy is determining what to save, how long to save it, and when to "dispose"of it. ("Dispose" in this instance does NOT mean "destroy" - only what happens next.)

A typical retention policy allows for

  1. active documents
  2. inactive, but still valid documents
  3. superseded or obsolete documents.

Active documents are usually kept handy for ready retrieval and reference.
Inactive documents are kept for reference.
Obsolete or superseded documents fall into two categories:

  1. those kept for referral (lots of reasons)
  2. those which have no value to the organization, its customers, or regulators
Those kept for referral are appropriately tagged to prevent accidental use as an active document and archived with limited access for those who have need to refer for "some" reason.

The remaining ones with no current or projected value at the end of the inital retention period are often destroyed. Several companies are in the business of on-site destruction, bringing trucks equipped with powerful shredders to the client's site and destroying documents with an unbroken chain of custody from document to confetti.

In my own company, we had a seven-year basic retention period for most documents covered by our QMS. Some documents might remain in the active category for the entire seven years and when evaluated at the end of that period, given another seven-year retention period.

Some documents, like purchase orders, might be 'once and done' and be active for only a week or two, skipping the "refeence" level and going right into "obsolete" once the invoice had been paid. Those were destroyed without compunction at the seven-year anniversary. Most other documents fell somewhere in between.

Bottom line:
Each organization ought to establish criteria for the categories of their documents in some manner (ours was not the only way to categorize), then evaluate the documents at the end of the initial retention period

  1. whether to continue to retain,
  2. where to retain (active or archive), and
  3. set a new retention period for the next evaluation to determine disposition (disposition whether to class as active, inactive, obsolete, and whether the storage site should be in a different location or if the document should be destroyed.)
The key word here is "evaluate" - almost every document has some unique characteristic which helps the organization determine whether it should be retained or destroyed at the end of each retention period. Some documents may even be subject to much shorter retention periods (why keep a work instruction for a machine no longer owned and used?)
 
L

lego55

I was wondering how everyone retains their obsolete work instructions? Do you retain the hard copies and stamp them obsolete or do you retain them electronically? My filing cabinets are gettings so darn full from all the obsolete hard copies. I was trying to get some ideas for saving and organizing them electronically. Any help is very much appreciated:)
Thanks in advance, Andrea.

Andrea,

We also store our obsolete documents electronically. I add an "obsolete" watermark, put them into a zipped folder, and name the folder with what is inside plus the retention (e.g., Audit 2007_1 YR). I can then remove them when their retention is up without having to look inside each folder.

:D
 
A

alk26

Thanks everyone! I am now going to push forward with storing obsolete, inactive, etc. documents electronically. We do print off our current work instructions and circulate for sign off. I may still only file the "current" work instructions. I still haven't figured out a way to approve docs electronically. As our QMS states approvals are required and sign off is necessary. Any suggestions on that?

Thanks,
Andrea
 

ScottK

Not out of the crisis
Leader
Super Moderator
We don't keep hardcopies of procedures to start with, so all obsolete documents are simply moved from the "active" document control directory on the the network to an obsolete directory that only the Document Control Manager and myself have access to.
If there are hardcopies of forms, same thing goes for the controlled pdf file and all obsolete hard copies are hunted down and shot.
 

Ajit Basrur

Leader
Admin
Thanks everyone! I am now going to push forward with storing obsolete, inactive, etc. documents electronically. We do print off our current work instructions and circulate for sign off. I may still only file the "current" work instructions. I still haven't figured out a way to approve docs electronically. As our QMS states approvals are required and sign off is necessary. Any suggestions on that?

Thanks,
Andrea

Andrea, which industry you represent ?
 
N

Nort1

What ever you do with your obsolete documents, make sure that the process is described in your 'Document Control Procedure'. Also observe any required record retention time. This is especially important if you are in a regulated industry, like Medical Devices.

(See ISO 13485:2003 under 4.2.4 Control of records)
 

SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Trusted Information Resource
We only keep superceded work instructions when the owner thinks there is a good chance that we may need to revert back to them. i.e., we are changing a process but in the long run, we may find that the original methods were better, or we are making a long term, but not permanent change and will go back to the original after, say, we get a piece of equipment replaced. In tose cases, we file them electronically in an "obsolete documents" folder.
 
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