In What Format to Store Scan Replicas in SAP HR?
Format for storing scans in e-Folder
One of the most important obligations of every employer is to store documentation related to employment relationships and employee personal files. Currently, in the era of digitization, many companies decide on digital transformation and store employee documentation only in virtual form.
At this point, the question arises: in what format should digital reproductions of documents (scans) be stored in e-File?
Regulation on employee documentation of December 10, 2018, defines several basic conditions that must be met to properly store HR documents in SAP HR.
Although the regulation does not specify directly, in what format to store documents, §13 clearly states in what format these files should then be exported:
"Documents constituting digital reproductions of paper documents shall be delivered in PDF format."
This one sentence indicates PDF format as the primary format for storing digital reproductions.
Why PDF/A?
Over the years, many different PDF formats have been created. Which one is best for long-term storage of files in e-Folder?
The ideal format for this purpose is PDF/A (archival PDF)It was specifically designed for document archiving. PDF/A is one of the few Adobe formats that has achieved international standard status and is supported by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization).
As a result of joint work by Adobe and ISO, the standard ISO 32000-1:2008 was created, which very precisely defines the conditions a PDF file must meet to be stored for many years in e-Folder. The main goal of the standard's authors was to design a format that does not rely on any external data sources (e.g., fonts). Thanks to this, we can be sure that digital reproductions of scans will look exactly the same after years as on the day they were created.
Our e-Folder meets the highest standards.
When designing our product, we created dedicated software that guarantees the correct creation of the PDF/A format fully integrated with the SAP HR system.
Every created file automatically receives in Adobe Acrobat Reader a status indicating compliance with the mentioned standard.
Thanks to the PDF/A format, we can be sure that employee documents, once created in the e-File, will look the same even after many years.
Are you wondering what elements the ideal e-File should contain? Read in the next article on our blog.
e-File · e-file · document format · scans