Running the Quarterly Archive in Scotland

Quarterly archiving is mandatory in Scotland and takes place at the beginning of each quarter, unless you are given the option to extend the quarter, see Archiving in Scotland for details.

You should carry out a Quarterly Archive on or after the third day of a quarter month. You are prevented from carrying out a Quarterly Archive too early:

  • 3rd January

  • 3rd April

  • 3rd July

  • 3rd October

Training Tip - We highly recommend that you create a Quarterly Archive folder within P:\extract, for example, ‘P:\extract\Quarterly Archive’ and then save the Quarterly Archive PDFs into it.

Before you run a Quarterly Archive:

  • Check there are no unacknowledged acceptances awaiting approval, see Unacknowledged Acceptances (Frozen Patients) for details.
  • Check there are no outstanding deductions from the quarter just finished, see Incoming Transactions for details.

  • Ensure you change your default printer to Vision PDF.

  • Run a backup (local server only).

To run a Quarterly Archive:

  1. From Registration Links, select Archive - Quarterly Archive. The Archiving screen displays:

  2. Select Process and the Registration Links - Archive screen displays.

  3. Select a destination folder, for example, 'P:\extract\Quarterly Archive'.

  4. Archiving begins, and a progress chart displays. When finished, a message 'Quarterly Archive complete' message displays:

  5. Select OK.
  6. Navigate to the location of the PDFs, for example ‘P:\extract\Quarterly Archive’, open each file and select Print .

The Quarterly Archive Report is of all the quarter's outgoing and incoming Registration transactions sent and received up until the second day of the quarter. It must be signed by a nominated GP or Practice staff member indicating that the transmission of all transactions listed on the certificate has been undertaken with the full authority, knowledge and permission of that GP practice's staff. One signed copy should be held at the practice and the other sent to your Health Board (HB).

  • Outgoing Acceptance Transactions includes those with an Acceptance Date either prior to or equal to the second day of that quarter.
  • Outgoing Amendment or Rejection Transactions includes those with a transaction date either prior to or equal to the second day of the quarter.
  • Incoming Amendments, Deductions, Medical Records Removal and Medical Records Sent transactions include those with a transaction date either prior to or equal to the second day of the quarter.

As a result of carrying out the Quarterly Archive:

  • All Completed Transactions for the quarter are removed
  • A Quarterly Archive Certificate is printed, a copy of which should be signed and sent to your Health Board.

After the archive is complete, each quarter's Deduction transactions are stored on the computer's hard disk in the On-Line Archive, and they can be retrieved or purged from Archive, or printed from Reports.

Note - To print this topic select Print in the top right corner and follow the on-screen prompts.