The rate of technological innovation over the past two decades has placed corporate legislation and its compliance standards in a new, unfamiliar light: one which does not merely regulate, but also caters to, accommodates, and rewards enterprise-grade innovations like Document Management Software. Ranked in descending order from least to most relevant legislation and standards, these have shaped how organizations achieve compliance with technology.
10. The Department of Defense’s 5015.02 Standard
Although this standard may seem inapplicable to private, commercial sectors of business because it was issued by a government entity, this couldn’t be further from the truth. This standard posits important information security standards that apply to more than national security, particularly its 5015.02 standard, which provides in-depth information on electronic filing and record keeping standards, which was approved by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
9. The National Information Standards Organization’s Z39.85 Standard
This piece of legislation is relevant to DMS vendors and the organizations who rely upon their solutions because it allows a set of metadata guidelines for vendors with metadata driven DMS architectures.
8. The Internal Revenue Service’s 6107 (b) Standard
This standard set an important file retention standard for those using automated document deletion and retention features in their DMS, also ensuring that organizations can automate the deletion of their files via DMS compliantly.
7. The International Organization for Standardization’s 19011 Standard
This standard has far reaching implications, particularly for global DMS use. The most up-to-date version of this standard includes information on remote auditing processes – processes DMS simplifies and facilitates. Furthermore, this standard is so relevant because it was created to accommodate organizations “implementing management systems,” DMS falling under this term.
6. The Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 613
The Securities and Exchange Commission is among the most important legal and compliance entities in the world, and its 613 rule regarding consolidated audit trails requires the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to provide detailed information regarding all reportable events of financial significance – a rule DMS simplifies from organizations’ compliance perspectives.
5. The HIPAA Privacy Rule
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996’s Privacy rule sets forth necessary requirements for confidentiality codes and practices in healthcare, an important standard given the increase in healthcare information breaches in the past decade – breaches that DMS can prevent.
4. The HIPAA Security Rule
This subsection of HIPAA sets forth standards for the protection of certain health information that is transferred electronically, bringing into question email’s legitimacy as a safe file sharing platform for sensitive information in the healthcare field. DMS’s client sharing portals ensure safe, encrypted transferring of information, the best vendors ensuring compliance to the HIPAA security rule via these client sharing portals.
3. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000
This law’s inmost purpose is to deem electronic signatures as legally binding equivalents to their physical, on-paper signature counterparts. Electronic signatures are inherent to some DMS vendors’ features, and this Act legitimizes videos of the signing process, typing names in cursive font, images of handwritten signatures, and drawing signatures with a finger as legally binding. This law has expedited contractual agreements at the corporate level for over a decade now.
2. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Most relevant to finance and accounting professionals, this act provides strictures on financial reporting across industries. Formally referred to as Public Company Accounting Report and Investor Protection Act of 2002, the SOX act also augments the responsibilities of corporate oversight, and therefore requires automated processes like document management software to manage requirements of the act efficiently. Monitoring workflow and changes to records are DMS features that simplify Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
1. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
With eight federal agencies endorsing this Act, it ranks as number one on our DMS countdown. Also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act, this standard, although continually updated, has been around since 1974, making it the oldest on this list. It’s an Act relevant to any business steeped in the financial process, giving it widespread influence. DMS simplifies Gramm-Leach-Bliley compliance by ensuring protection from unauthorized access and mitigating data compromise risk in the event of natural disasters.