It is impossible to imagine education without digital teaching aids. The digitisation process that often leaves much to be desired within educational institutions can mainly be found at the back of the organisations. This makes compliance with legislation and regulations, also referred to as digital compliance, a major challenge. Personnel files, diplomas, grades lists or student files: one is digital, the other is still on paper. The result is an unstructured mountain of information.
The risks of an outdated archive
Nowadays, students can perform certain searches and find information for school with one mouse click, swipe or voice command. Oddly enough, the operations or administration department often still has to carry out these searches when, for example, a former student needs a file, a list of marks or a diploma. Not only does this reduce the efficiency of the work, but it can also involve certain security risks, such as fire or water damage. There are also privacy risks. The kind of documents that schools keep often contain personal information about an employee or pupil. If you use a physical or digital archive without applying the correct laws and regulations, there is little or no supervision on who has consulted which file. In addition, documents are subject to certain retention periods, which are becoming increasingly strict. Sharing certain documents with people inside and outside the organisation can also be quite a hassle if it is not properly organised. All in all, reason enough to switch to a compliant digital archive.
The benefits of digital compliance
When an educational institution complies with digital compliance, it enjoys significant benefits. First of all, it works in accordance with legislation and regulations. Documents can be deleted in a structured way and automatically when the retention period has expired. Authorisation is also an important aspect. Only those employees who have access to documents can do so, and all actions on documents are fully logged. This prevents people who have no interest whatsoever from accessing sensitive information. It also increases work efficiency. When someone outside the educational institution, such as another school, former pupil or former staff member, requests a document, it is possible to share the file concerned quickly and securely.
Digital compliance is a tricky term, which actually means no more or less than applying and complying with laws and regulations. Having an application that facilitates this is of great importance within educational institutions in order to get a better grip on data. That mountain of data will only grow in the coming years. So make sure that you are in control and that digital compliance is fully integrated and accepted within your educational institution!
