A service for the preservation of evidence and data – a key for a trustworthy & sustainable electronic business

Abstract

There is as high need to digitize and automatize business processes as well as to preserve the created electronic records for 2 up to 100 years or more to make business transactions evident against third parties. This requirement is not only mandatory for public administrations but also private companies especially in high regulated industries such as aviation, LifeScience & Pharma or financial sector. According to decade-long retention time it`s a challenge to ensure the availability as well as the preserve the authenticity, integrity, negotiability or reliability of electronic records. A digital archive service based on SOA and current technical standards to preserve all electronic records and their evidences provides a sustainable solution to this challenge. The paper shows based on current standards and the long-term experiences of the author possible solutions and an example of an architecture framework a digital archive service.