Checklist for data backup and storage

Backup - computers should be backed up every night There are many ways of doing this, such as tapes, CD rom and a network server
Whenever possible backup data should be stored securely off site eg. on a remote network server
Archiving & storage – develop systems for storing processed participant data, data records that are still in process, and for archiving the data for the whole trial, both electronic and paper data, for the stipulated length of time. The retention time for the trial data is stipulated in the GCP guidelines or, if an industry sponsored trial, by the company guidelines