OUTSTANDING FEATURES

¿DO I HAVE TO KEEP THE ORIGINALS ON PAPER?

Certified scan-enabled software can make your wishes come true…

  • 1. Return originals to sender

  • 2. Securely destroy original documents

  • 3. Save your documents as electronic evidence

In Spain, following the publication of standard EHA 962/2007, it is possible to destroy paper invoices if a certified digitalisation process has been carried out previously. The homologation of the software that implements certified digitization requires certain requirements that are detailed in the Resolution of 24/10/2007 of the State Agency of Tax Administration, on procedure for the homologation of digitization software.

SOFTWARE HOMOLOGATED BY AEAT

abox ECM has been approved for the Certified Digitalization of invoices by the Department of Informatics of the Spanish AEAT with reference number: 4187598A0D12B49F

CERTIFIED DIGITALIZATION

Certified digitization is a mechanism to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the document digitization process. It imposes a series of requirements on the digitization process:

  • Format and quality of the image;
  • Quality assurance of the entire scanning process;
  • The security of the process, making it impossible to manipulate the digitized image;
  • The inclusion of a digital signature with chronological stamp ensuring the validity of the scan.

The importance of certified digitization is its legal consequence, which translates into two significant benefits for any public or private entity:

  • The possibility of returning the originals to the sender.
  • The possibility of destroying physical specimens.

The legal field of certified digitization is still in the development phase in the different countries of the Latin American environment. In each country, laws have been enacted to protect the digitization of processes and provide legal support to the process of replacing the physical original with its electronic equivalent.

IN COLOMBIA

In Colombia, certified digitization is specified in the guia-5-digitalizacion-de-documentos of the Office of the High Counsellor for Good Governance and Administrative Efficiency of the MinTICs (Online Government Directorate) and by the “Protocolo para Digitalización de Documentos con Fines Probatorios del AGN” of the General Archive of the Nation (AGN).

These guides describe the procedures by which it can be demonstrated that a copy (paper or digital) is a true copy of the original, of equal legal and evidentiary validity, whether its origin is an electronic data file or a physical original.

It is clear that certified digitization requires not only a re-engineering of the process of receiving, digitizing, distributing and classifying documents, but also software to ensure the quality and safety of the process.

Certified digitization process

SCANNING / DIGITIZATION

This is done by the scanner itself when the user deposits the invoice in the input tray of the device, or when pressing a button or activating a command of the scanner’s configuration program.

optimization/Image filtering

It is carried out by the scanner’s own hardware or by the software for the configuration and graphic processing of the scanned images.

Storage in secure swap folder

This is done by configuring this folder in the scanner’s configuration software, installed on the workstation to which the scanner is connected.

Validation of the electronic signature

Before launching automatic processing, the authenticity and validity of the digital signature to be used are checked.

Automatic batch image processing

Before launching automatic processing, the authenticity and validity of the digital signature to be used are checked.

Format check

It is verified that the format of the image is effectively without loss and with a resolution higher than 200 dpi (300 dpi recommended).

File signature

The electronic signature is carried out by means of a system accepted by national legislation and on the basis of a certificate provided by the company that is responsible for the digitalisation of the invoices.

Document repository storage

The signed file is filed in the document management software. The image is already visible from that moment.

Annotation in audit table

In addition to moving the original image file to the “Processed” subdirectory of the HotFolder, the system makes an annotation in audit tables for traceability and statistical purposes.

Another important point is the classification of the documents digitized in the document management software itself according to accounting criteria (year/month), legal or documentary grouping (files). The software must provide secure mechanisms for the closure and preservation as evidence of the digitized documents.

Finally, certified digitization has little to do with the process of digital signature of electronic documents (see Security section), since in the first case the scanned documents are signed, with the ultimate purpose of replacing the paper originals, and in the second case the original electronic documents are signed, with the purpose of ensuring their authenticity and non-repudiation by the parties involved.

Remember

Digital signature and certified digitalization are different things… In a complete document management project, both situations should be considered.