Difference between EDM and Electronic Archiving: what you need to know

Imagine your accounting department is facing a tax audit. The inspector requests the invoices from the last three years. Your teams can quickly find them in your Electronic Document Management (EDM) software.

But can they submit them as legal evidence? The legal answer often surprises people: not necessarily. Simply having digitised, accessible documents does not guarantee their evidential value.

Many companies blur the lines between EDM and electronic archiving. However, confusing the two can have serious legal consequences, especially during litigation or an audit.

Sommaire

• Do EDM and Electronic Archiving serve the same need?
• Can you rely on EDM alone for archiving?
• Legal obligations for Electronic Archiving
• How to structure EDM and Electronic Archiving in your organisation
• Which solution is right for your business?

Key take-aways: understanding the difference between EDM and Electronic Archiving

• EDM manages “active” or “living” documents that are modified, shared, and collaboratively edited, whereas Electronic archiving preserves “frozen” documents, ensuring their integrity over time.
• EDM does not fulfill legal archiving requirements: because documents can be edited, they lose probative value.
• An Electronic Archiving System (EAS) typically complies with the NF Z42-013 standard, which mandates integrity, traceability, permanence, and reversibility.
• Both systems are complementary over the document lifecycle: EDM is for day-to-day use, while the EAS is for long-term legal conservation.
• Your choice depends on your sector’s obligations: required retention periods, document volume, and regulatory demands.

Do EDM and Electronic Archiving serve the same need?

The confusion often arises because organisations misunderstand a document’s lifecycle. A document typically goes through: creation, modification, validation, active usage, retention, destruction. EDM and electronic archiving come into play at different stages.

EDM (Electronic Document Management): a tool for everyday use

EDM is designed to facilitate collaboration on ever-changing files. It centralises access and allows real-time editing.

For instance, employees might:

• update a commercial proposal,
• approve a contract,
• annotate a scope of work,
• or share a client file.

EDM deals with so-called “living” documents. These are frequently revised, circulate between teams, and have multiple versions. Typical EDM features include: access rights management, change tracking, validation workflows, and indexing for fast search.

Electronic Archiving: the guardian of corporate memory

In contrast, electronic archiving is about preserving “frozen” documents, those that should no longer change. Think of a validated invoice, a payslip once issued, or a signed contract. These documents aren’t meant to be edited again; they must remain in their final form, either for legal compliance or as proof in case of dispute.

An Electronic Archiving System (EAS) ensures three central properties:

• Integrity: the document cannot be altered
• Permanence: it is maintained over the legally required retention period
• Traceability: every access is logged

There’s also the concept of a digital safe, governed by the NF Z42-020 standard. It is more narrowly focused than an EAS: it secures sensitive documents (e.g., payslips, contracts) by guaranteeing their integrity at the moment of deposit, without managing their entire lifecycle like a full EAS does.

Legal intent matters

It’s not just about technology, the real distinction lies in legal purpose of each solution. EDM is built for operational efficiency, not for establishing documents as valid proof. Conversely, an EAS is explicitly designed to preserve the probative value of documents, anticipating potential disputes.

Consider a small business: it may rely on EDM to manage proposals, drafts, and working documents. But once a contract is signed or an invoice validated, it should be transferred to an EAS for long-term, legally sound storage.

Can you rely on EDM alone for archiving?

Many EDM software solutions now offer archival functions. So, why invest in a separate EAS? The reason lies in legal requirements, which an EDM, by nature, cannot always satisfy.

What does Standard NF Z42-013 require?

Cette norme française définit les spécifications d’un système d’archivage électronique conforme. Elle impose quatre critères non négociables :

This French standard defines the technical and organisational specifications that a compliant EAS must meet. Its four non-negotiable criteria are:

• Integrity: the document must remain unalterable.
• Traceability: every access or action must be recorded.
• Perpetuity: the system ensures readability over time.
• Reversibility: you must be able to migrate data out if you change systems.

By contrast, a typical EDM system prioritises accessibility and editability, which runs counter to these requirements.

Three legal pitfalls of EDM-only archiving

Documents can still be modified

Une GED autorise les utilisateurs habilités à modifier les documents, même rétroactivement.

Imaginons une facture émise en janvier, classée dans la GED puis corrigée discrètement en mars pour rectifier un montant. En cas de contrôle fiscal, l’administration pourra contester la fiabilité de ce document. Le juge pourrait refuser de lui reconnaître une valeur probatoire, faute de garantie d’intégrité.

Even after a document is stored in EDM, users with permission may alter it, potentially retroactively.

For example, an invoice issued in January could be subtly corrected in March. In a tax audit, the tax authorities might question its reliability, and a court might refuse to recognise it as valid proof if its integrity isn’t guaranteed.

Metadata can make preservation heavier to manage

To manage “living” documents, EDM systems generate many metadata: author, creation date, version history, comments, workflow data, etc. While some metadata (like author or date) can matter for archiving, others (like comment threads) are irrelevant once a document is final. These excess metadata not only bloat storage but don’t contribute to legal value.

Open access weakens compliance

Une GED se veut multi-utilisateurs afin d’être accessible au plus grand nombre de collaborateurs. À l’inverse, un SAE repose sur une gestion stricte des habilitations. Un administrateur désigné contrôle qui peut consulter quoi et quand. Cette rigueur garantit que les documents sensibles ne subissent aucune manipulation non autorisée.

Ces limites techniques ont une traduction juridique directe : en cas de litige, une partie adverse peut contester la fiabilité d’un document extrait d’une GED. Les juges examinent alors si le système garantissait l’intégrité. Sans cette garantie, la preuve peut être écartée.

EDM systems are often widely accessible — many users can view or edit. In contrast, a compliant EAS enforces strict access control. Designated administrators manage who can view, archive, or delete documents. Without this rigour, sensitive documents may be manipulated or accessed improperly, which jeopardises their evidential integrity.

These technical limitations translate into legal risk: in a dispute, an opposing party could challenge a document’s reliability extracted from an EDM. If the system can’t guarantee integrity, a judge may discard it as evidence.

Comparative Table: EDM vs Digital Safe vs EAS

Criterion	EDM	Digital safe	Electronic Archiving (EAS)
Primary usage	Collaboration on active documents	Secure deposit of sensitive documents	Standardised lifecycle management of critical documents
User experience	Collaborative platform	Easy deposit, no deep technical skill needed	Specialist interface, requires training
Technical capabilities	Editing, sharing, versioning, validation workflows	Secure deposit + timestamp for integrity	Immutability + long-term preservation
Regulatory framework	No specific obligation	NF Z42-020	NF Z42-013, possibly ISO 14641, eIDAS 2 (qualified services), plus sector regulations
Evidential strength	Limited (risk of alteration)	Limited to integrity at deposit	Maximum: authenticity + integrity across time
Cost	Moderate	Moderate	Higher

Legal obligations for Electronic Archiving

In France, legal minimum retention periods apply depending on the document type:

• Invoices: 10 years from issue date
• Employment contracts & payslips: also 10 years
• Tax documents: 5 years
• Energy invoices: 3 years

These are minimums, some sectors require longer retention. For example Healthcare providers may need to keep medical records for 20 years, and financial institutions face additional obligations via the ACPR. However, mere storage isn’t enough: you must guarantee integrity.

The eIDAS regulation (EU) provides a legal framework for digital trust. It recognises legally binding qualified electronic seals and qualified timestamps, which help prove that a document has not been altered since its creation — and precisely date it. A compliant EAS relies on these mechanisms to reinforce the document’s legal credibility.

How to structure EDM and Electronic Archiving in your organisation

Document lifecycle: the key to strategy

Each document follows phases: creation ? editing ? validation ? active use ? legal retention ? destruction.
EDM comes into play during the dynamic phases, while the document is still evolving. The EAS takes over once the document is frozen, usually after final validation.

For example: a sales team drafts a quotation in the EDM, negotiates with the customer, then finalises it. When the invoice is validated in the accounting system, it’s deposited into the EAS. That moment of validation corresponds to the “freezing” of the document — it becomes legally significant. Meanwhile, its legally valid and unalterable version is stored in the EAS.

Organising the transfer of documents from the EDM to the EAS

This transition relies on clear transfer rules, defined in advance. Several elements structure this organisation.

First, identify the documents subject to legal obligations. Not all files in the EDM are intended for archiving. Only finalised, validated documents that may serve as evidence warrant legal archiving.

Next, define the transfer triggers. What event marks the shift of a document from “living” to “frozen”? For an invoice, it is its accounting validation. For a contract, the signature of all parties. For a payslip, its delivery to the employee. These milestones should be formalised in a written document management policy.

Finally, appoint a person responsible for archiving. Unlike the EDM, which is accessible to all employees, the EAS requires a dedicated administrator. This person oversees transfers, verifies metadata compliance, manages access rights, and monitors statutory destruction deadlines.

Choosing based on your context

Document volume

If you’re a small business generating only a few hundred invoices a year, a light solution might suffice. But larger organisations archiving millions of documents need scalable, robust infrastructure.

Regulatory constraints by sector

Healthcare providers in the UK, subject to Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulations, must ensure full traceability of patient records. Financial institutions are required to comply with rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Publicly listed companies must follow auditing standards such as UK SOX or IFRS. Each of these regulatory requirements points towards the need for appropriately certified solutions.

Retention duration

Archiving documents for three years presents far fewer technical challenges than ensuring their readability over thirty years. The issue of format obsolescence then becomes central: will a file created today still be readable in 2054? An EAS must plan for regular migrations to sustainable, long-term formats.

Which solution is right for your business?

EDM and an Electronic Archiving System do not compete, they complement each other through the document lifecycle. One ensures daily operational efficiency; the other ensures legal certainty and long-term document value.

Before investing in a solution, it is important to map your document flows. What documents do you create? Which ones need to be retained for legal purposes? For how long? Who should have access, and at what point in their lifecycle? These simple questions help identify what falls under active management (EDM) and what requires legal archiving (EAS or electronic safe).

In practice, EDM and EAS are two sides of the same document management strategy: day-to-day efficiency and long-term legal security. To ensure this continuity, an electronic archiving solution such as Evidency’s, as a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), guarantees the probative value of your documents from creation through to legally compliant retention.