Offsite file storage
By Gillian Kerr, RealWorld Systems
The information in this article is current as of March 6, 2003.
When I worked at United Way of Greater Toronto, we would hear every year
about agencies that had lost files through fire, flood, vandalism or theft.
Each time, the agency involved seemed to think that it was a disaster that
could never have been predicted. In fact, file loss is like death - the question
is not whether it will happen, it's when it will happen. I've written about
this
issue before, focusing on security and backup procedures for digital data,
and most of that article is still current two years later.
Over the past couple of months, I've been investigating offsite storage for
hard copy files, and how they can be integrated with digital storage. Offsite
file storage makes a lot of sense for several reasons - it allows agencies
to use precious office space for programs and people rather than paper; it
protects files from loss or damage; and it forces agencies to go through their
documents regularly to decide what to keep. The storage service that we decided
to use is FileBank, which specializes
in small to medium organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. (Other services
include Iron Mountain and Tippet-Richardson).
Minimum charges start at about $35/month for two or three dozen file boxes,
which is significantly less than renting self-storage spaces. These services
include next-day pickup and delivery of files, and increasingly offer document
management tracking systems that can be integrated with tape or digital storage.
FileBank, for example, offers tape storage with regular pickups, and is exploring
the potential of providing online access to the tapes upon request by the
agency. For example, if an agency needed a set of files, it could call FileBank
and ask them to load those files onto the internet in a secure file area.
Digital archiving is turning out to be more difficult to manage. Because RealWorld
Systems is a virtual company, based on a network of satellite and home offices,
we rent web services rather than running our own servers and LANs. We're finding
that digital storage requires a patchwork of different services: a project
intranet (using SharePoint Team Services) for active projects; an online backup
service (Connected.com) for daily backups; CD ROMS for project archives, filed
in the offsite storage facility; and larger and larger hard drives on our
computers. Some services that we've investigated, such as Storage
Pipe and Storage
Guardian, offer file archives at various price levels (from $4 to $35
per gigabyte depending on how quickly you need to access the data). Others,
like xdrive, provide active file storage
for individuals or groups that acts like an extra hard drive on your computer.
For our use, despite our fascination with all things digital and an interest
in integration, we haven't yet found an easy, inexpensive and reliable solution.
We live in hope, though.
Document management is a fundamental issue for organizations. I spoke to Carolyn
Werle, who heads Records and Information
Management Services in Toronto, about the document needs of nonprofit
agencies. Carolyn said that vital records should be stored offsite in a secured
location rather than at a staff person's house. Critical files should be named
consistently, and there should be a retention and destruction schedule so
that old files are destroyed when they are no longer needed or legally required
(this protects client privacy as well as the agency itself). Document management
consultants can set up systems and classify records if agencies aren't capable
of doing it themselves.
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Gillian Kerr, Ph.D., C.Psych.
President, RealWorld Systems
gkerr at realworldsystems.net
Read my weblog at http://blog.realworldsystems.net
