Chain of custody
The continuous record of responsibility for a file, from its origin through its use, with no gaps in ownership.
The documented sequence of people responsible for a record. The term comes from criminal procedure, where Mexico’s National Code of Criminal Procedure defines it as a system for controlling and recording evidence. Document management uses the term more broadly for paper and digital records, demonstrating an unbroken chain of responsibility from their origin to the present.
Where the chain breaks
Usually during a handoff: when records leave a storage facility, are digitized, move to another storage provider or change hands when someone leaves. These are the moments when the paper and its record can stop matching.
Paper and digital together
A chain covering only the digital side leaves out the box holding the original. When a record may be examined by a third party, useful custody covers and connects both: the physical box and its location, and the digital record identifying it.
Read alongside
Document practice
Document traceability
An automatically generated record of who changed a document, what changed and when, including the previous and new values.
ReadPreservation and evidence
Preservation certificate
Evidence that a digital document has remained intact since a specific date.
ReadDocument practice
Single record
One authoritative document record for a matter, rather than separate copies across departments.
Read
Reactive compliance served its time.
Today’s environment rewards control.
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