Records are not something new. They have always been a necessary and required aspect of business. However, the arrival of the digital age has raised some unique issues. The volume of information being created and circulated has exploded. Within this deluge of documents, messages and agreements are items whose importance might require them to be raised to the level of a record. Once raised to this state, they need to be preserved for an appropriate period of time, and then disposed of. Traditionally, these records would be created and stored on paper. Now they are almost certain to be created electronically, and increasingly they are being stored electronically for their lifetime. In addition, there is little point in preserving a record if it cannot subsequently be found if at some point it needs to be referenced.
