Let's imagine this scenario in a company: the finance team saves all invoices, Marketing archives campaigns, HR maintains records, Operations preserves contracts. An invoice is saved “in case the audit asks for it” and an email is kept “just in case”. We can conclude, based on this information, that there is no clear criterion in document management, something quite common in companies.
This means that, many times, the system grows out of control and storage costs increase. Consequently, searches get slower and productivity decreases. In addition, if there is an audit, some problems are uncovered: How long should that have been kept? Should it have been destroyed by now?
That is, without a clear retention and disposal policy, the company may face risks that are not visible until they occur.
Risks and disadvantages of not having structured data governance
Regulatory risk and fines
Different types of documents have different legal requirements. An invoice in Spain must be kept for 6 years by tax law. An employee record must be kept for some time after dismissal, but not indefinitely (GDPR requires data to be deleted when it is no longer needed). A contract must be kept for as long as it is in force, plus an additional period.
Without automation, this depends on someone remembering it. Someone who will eventually leave. And no one will know what politics there was.
You may be interested in: Data Governance in SAP and Compliance
Compliance risk (GDPR, local regulations)
If your company operates in Europe, GDPR is mandatory. It requires that you have customer data only as long as it is needed. But it also requires that you can prove that you destroyed that when you no longer needed it.
Without traceability, there are more risks.
In 2022, data protection authorities in Germany adopted the highest number of decisions imposing a corrective measure (3 261), followed by Spain (774), Lithuania (308) and Estonia (332). Data protection authorities have imposed over 6 680 fines amounting to around EUR 4.2 billion. Second Report on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation, European Comission, 2024
Slow searches, lower productivity
As the volume of documents without clear classification grows, simple searches require more time and storage space.
With automatic retention policies, the flow is:
1. Classification: the document arrives and the system automatically classifies it
A document arrives in the system. Depending on your type (invoice, contract, employee record), the system automatically assigns you:
- Record type
- Retention period
- Access permissions
- Disposition rules
2. Active retention: saved according to regulations
For example, an invoice is kept for 6 years. A file is retained for 7 years.
3. Legal holds (exceptions)
If there is ongoing litigation, specific documents can be marked with a “legal hold”. These documents are not destroyed even if their retention period has expired. This means, we have an automatism, but with regulatory flexibility.
4. Audited disposition: When the date comes, it is destroyed.
When the expiration date arrives, the document is automatically destroyed. In addition, this removal is done with full traceability. The system creates an audit log that details what was destroyed, when, and so on.
5. Compliance with traceability
In follow-up to the previous point, since everything is recorded, when there is an external audit, if necessary, the automatic configuration can be shown as well as the record of deletion of the previous documentation, that is, the layout logs.
Practical examples of Intelligent Document Management
Scenario 1: Vendor invoice > The invoice arrives > The system automatically classifies it > Retention: 6 years (according to tax regulations) > Year 7: marked for disposal
- Auditors can see that the invoice was created in 2019 and was destroyed in 2025 due to the expiration of the retention date.
Scenario 2: Employee record > the employee leaves > Document is marked: retention according to agreement (7 years from cancellation) >Year 8: automatically destroyed - GDPR: complied with (data destroyed when no longer needed)
The ROI in Document Management: Beyond Law Enforcement
Doing this manually involves a specialist dedicated to periodic reviews, trying to remember policies, regulations, searching for documents that should have been destroyed, etc.
Among other benefits, with automation, the company resorts to less manual labor (automatic policy custody), incurs less risk (does not depend on human memory), benefits from faster audits, less storage space and lower legal costs. In fact, automation allows save up to 153,000 hours in SAP.
Implement data governance in your company with Brait
If your company handles regulated data (financial, health, employees, customers), document governance becomes necessary and is highly reflected in the company's productivity. In addition it provides total security in complying with regulations and, consequently, when facing an audit, without fear of fines or sanctions.
At Brait, we are specialists in document management implementations with the most cutting-edge solutions on the market, such as OpenText or DocuWare. We do seamless configurations with SAP systems, taking into account the needs of the company, carrying out a 360º prior analysis and applying retention policies that respect local regulations (Spanish tax, European GDPR, etc.).
Request a documentary governance audit today. We'll analyze what documents you have, what policies there should be, and what your current risk is. No commitment!
