An inspection is a test of retrieval, not of storage. The question is never whether a record exists, but whether you can produce it, complete, within the time you are given.
Four weeks out
- Confirm the scope
Which record classes, which years, which branches.
- Test retrieval
Pull ten files at random from the oldest year in scope. Time it.
- Name the people
One person who can authorise a retrieval, and one deputy.
- Close the gaps
Anything you could not find in the test goes on a list today, not on the day.
On the day
- An index of everything held, searchable by the inspector's own terms
- A log showing who has accessed each file, and when
- Your retention schedule, with the rule behind each period
- Destruction certificates for anything no longer held
- A named contact who can request any file and receive it the same day