Privacy of records and its control is the most important function for the Secretarial Department of an organization. Records of Contracts and Commercial Documents and Trade Secretes are to be kept confidentially. Describ

The alertness to be observed with respect to keeping records of Contracts & Commercial Documents and Trade Secrets is described as under: Business Contracts: In case of business contracts, every detail of the arrangement should be treated with utmost confidentiality for both the organization itself and for the benefit of third parties. If the contract has a confidentiality agreement, it could be a breach of terms if an unauthorized person gets his hands on the physical copy of the contract. The contracts are full of commercially sensitive information such as the nature of the arrangement, the value of the services offered/received in the agreement, the names of the main contracting parties, etc. Limiting Physical Copies and Digital Signatures: The business should avoid sharing contracts unless strictly required, and limit physical copies. Business should consider using digital signatures for signing contracts in order to reduce unnecessary print-outs, thereby ensuring confidentiality. While these are some of the most important documents required to be stored securely, the easiest and safest way to reduce the risk of a data breach is to implement a secure document retention policy specific to the needs of the organization. Trade Secrets and Proprietary Information: Confidential business information such as "proprietary information" or "trade secrets" shall not be generally known to the public and would not ordinarily be available to competitors. Common examples of "trade secrets" include manufacturing processes and methods, business plans, financial data, budgets and forecasts, computer programs and data compilation, client/customer lists, ingredient formulas and recipes, membership or employee lists, supplier lists, etc. "Trade secrets" do not include information that a company voluntarily gives to potential customers, posts on its website or otherwise freely provides to others outside the company. If such confidential information is available in the wrong hands, it can be misused to commit illegal activity (e.g., fraud or discrimination), which can in turn result in costly lawsuits for the Company. The disclosure of sensitive employee and management information can lead to a loss of employee trust, confidence and loyalty. This will almost always result in a loss of productivity.