Is it required by SQF to archive your documents?

Hello,

I am wondering if it is required by SQF to archive your documents? For instance, if I added information to an SOP or changed the formatting of a record, would I keep a copy of the old version? Or is it fine to just record the change that was made on a "document control change log"?

The document control change log includes:

- document name/location

- date created

- revision date

- editor name

- description of the change to document/justification

- verification.

Thanks!
 

Jenna

rare, but it has happened that when an auditor does not think you are telling the truth, being less than honest, etc he/she may ask for the original or series of documents. I have witnessed this twice while sitting in at audits and when I was an SQF audit I asked for a look see going back about 1 year.

Hello, 

Preferably always archive your document  as proof of compliance

Thanks for asking this. I am new to SQF and inherited several binders full of outdated SOPs. I think keeping versions for 12 months is reasonable but ultimately decided I didn't want to keep all of the additional binders from years past. 

Hello;

I think it is always better to archive your documents. 

I just keep a folder on our external drive of old versions of documents. I see no point in keeping a hard copy of them. There is also less confusion about the most current version of a document because they are separated. 

I designed that into our Document Control section. Each document has a revision table at the end where there is a reference to the sections changed. Once I get the new version approved I archive a digital copy of the previous revision. The revision table, and consequently the archived copy, only need to go back 3 years so the revision table shows at least 3 years of changes. I will keep them until I need the room but that might be 20 years or so :cheezy:

Thank you all for your input!

I decided that I will archive the hard copy since I already have my documents printed and I have the space to store them (for now). I keep them in a separate folder. I also document the changes I made on a document change log as I described in my first post. This is similar to Hoosiersmoker, but it is not at the bottom of each page but on a separate sheet that tracks changes that I or the auditor can refer to.

I do like the idea of having it at the bottom of each page but I will see how this system works out for us first. We are a small company so changes can be easily tracked.

Jenna :smile:

Just for clarification our revision tables are located at the end of the document on the last page only. Just document related and current revision information is in the footer. See attached example of revision table.

Thank you for the example!

Not sure if this is an odd question but when you fill in the "approved by" section on the table, do you type in the persons name or do you have them physically sign off as approved?

I think you could do either but for us, since our documents are all electronic, I just enter their initials after they approve the document. It's just a record that the process was performed.

It is good to archive all your documents especially if are using a computer system with paper backup, computers can and will fail. But, make sure during an audit you don’t mix the two. If your going to use the computer system then stick with that don’t have the paper backup documents that may have different or unlegible documentation that can possiably conflict with that of the computer report. I’ve seen the be the case especially when our pest control company went totally digital with a e-log book and wel still kept the old paper log book that was incomplete, it caused a lot of problems in the audit. Hope this helps.

beeziefied

I did an IFSQN blog on simplifying controlled documents including revision change records, you can find it here.

My recommendation is recycle those physical old revisions and have an indexable revision change log where you include the justification so no one forgets and changes things back to how they were.

Thank you for sharing your blog, it is very helpful and well written!