Key summary — What to know
A digital record holds up under challenge when you can show it is authentic, was captured reliably, hasn't changed since approval, and can be produced on demand. ISO 15489 calls these authenticity, reliability, integrity and usability.
Picture a customer disputing the terms of a facility letter with their bank. The branch finds the scanned copy on the shared drive within minutes, so retrieval isn't the issue.
Then the customer's lawyer asks two questions. How do we know this PDF is the version that was signed? And who could have edited it since?
The bank has the file. It can't answer either question.
Holding a record and being able to defend it turn out to be two very different abilities.
Why Is This Question Coming Up More Often?
More records today are born digital or signed electronically. In Saudi Arabia, the Electronic Transactions Law gives electronic transactions and signatures legal effect, provided the records behind them meet the requirements the law sets out.
As paper originals become rare, the digital record becomes the evidence. Institutions now have to prove things about a file that a paper signature and stamp used to prove on their own.
Sources: Bureau of Experts — Electronic Transactions Law
What Makes an Electronic Record Trustworthy?
| Characteristic | The question it answers | What usually breaks it |
|---|---|---|
| Authentic | Is it what it claims to be, from who it claims? | Copies with no known source, signatures applied outside the record system |
| Reliable | Was it captured completely and accurately? | Missing pages, wrong index data accepted without review |
| Intact | Has it changed since it was approved? | Files anyone can overwrite, corrections nobody can trace |
| Usable | Can it be found and read when needed? | Unindexed scans, formats tied to one system |
A record can fail one of these and still be useful day to day. The trouble starts the moment someone challenges it.
Sources: ISO 15489-1:2016 — Records management
Where Digital Records Lose Their Evidence Value
The shared drive. If a folder allows editing, everyone who can open it can edit. A file saved over at 4 pm looks identical to the one approved at 10 am.
Unchecked capture. A scanned contract gets accepted with page seven missing, because nobody compared the page count against the original. Years later, page seven holds the clause in dispute.
Signatures that live elsewhere. The signed version goes around by email while the archive holds the unsigned draft. Now the institution can't say which one is the record.
No separation of roles. When the same person can capture, approve and alter a record, nothing in the system distinguishes a correction from a change nobody should have made.
How ELArchive Protects Each Characteristic
ELArchive, our archiving platform, has run in production since 2008 at government and private-sector institutions in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Each of the four characteristics maps to how it handles records.
Authenticity: every record has a known source. Users sign in with their existing Active Directory accounts, so every action ties to a known identity. Each document shows who created it, carries a barcode, and passes through a quality reviewer who is separate from the person who captured it.
Reliability: nothing enters the archive unchecked. Quality control verifies count integrity by comparing pages per document and documents per file against the physical batch. It confirms every scan is legible before acceptance, and that index fields are complete and correct, type by type. Rejected documents go back to the right team with the reason recorded.
Integrity: changes leave a trail. A document enters the archive only after quality control approves it. Earlier versions stay underneath, with a record of who changed what, so a correction can always be told apart from the original. You decide who can view, download or print each file, by user and group, and you can block specific users from certain system features. Confidentiality levels restrict sensitive files to the people cleared for them.
Usability: records stay findable. Four search screens cover documents, text inside documents, files and text inside files, and you can search by document type, folder type or barcode. ELArchive also reads the text on scanned pages in Arabic and English, so a search can find any word in the body of a document.
Run This Test With Your Legal or Audit Team
Pick three records your institution would have to defend: a signed contract, a board decision and an HR action. Sit down with your legal or audit lead and answer four questions for each.
- Who created it, and how do we know?
- Was it checked against the original at capture?
- Could it have changed since approval, and who had the rights to change it?
- Can we produce it, complete, within five minutes?
Any answer that starts with "we'd have to ask" points to a gap.
Bring those three records to a scoping call. We'll walk through each of the four questions with you and show where the archive itself can answer them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes an electronic record authentic?
An authentic record is what it claims to be, created or sent by who it claims, at the time it claims. That depends on a known source at capture, identified users and signatures applied within a trusted system.
What is record integrity?
Record integrity means a record is complete and unaltered since approval, or that every change since then is recorded. It depends on reviewing records before acceptance, keeping a version history, and controlling who can act on each file.
Are electronic records admissible as evidence?
It depends on the jurisdiction and the type of record. In Saudi Arabia, the Electronic Transactions Law accepts an electronic record as evidence when its information has stayed intact since it was finalized, and the Law of Evidence gives digital evidence the same standing as written evidence. Legal counsel should confirm what applies to a specific case.
Does ELArchive keep earlier versions of a document?
Yes. Earlier versions stay underneath, with a record of who changed what.
Who approves a document before it enters the archive?
A dedicated quality reviewer. They approve or reject each document with its index data, and every rejection carries a recorded reason.
Who can see a confidential record?
Only the people you allow. Access is set by user and group, including who can view, download or print each file and which departments' files each person can see. Confidentiality levels restrict sensitive files further.
Could you defend your records under challenge?
Bring three records you'd have to defend. We'll show you what the archive can answer about each.
Book a scoping call