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Filing
Top tips for updating your filing systems
When choosing a filing system you need to start with the end, so to speak, and ask some questions about what the filing system will do for your company/section, who will maintain it, who will have access to it, whether some areas will be restricted to certain people.
Filing may seem like a way of just keeping paper tidy, but the main point of files is to let you retrieve information efficiently when required. One department in my company uses an alphabetical system; our membership section files by membership number. It all depends on what will work for you. My filing system is quite simple. It is based on subject blocks, with related files in each subject block. Each block has a number and files within each block are numbered. I have a list of files, which I update as I make new files or refresh the system. I also have a written archiving policy. The list is kept in the very first file, so that anyone can access it, and Bossie has her own copy for ease of reference.
Raindance (from The Hub)
I work as part of a customer project so the only kind of filing we have are purchase orders, and any agreements between suppliers and third parties. We keep most of our technical documents on our intranet site and have a document register so anyone can look up or find a referenced document or procedure.
Previously using a paper system, I have just done this alphabetically although you can colour code to make it a bit more accessible i.e. green for customers, red for suppliers. Always remember to have a document register so you know what files you have created and a brief description of what they contain. For example, if you were off on holiday and a temp was in, that temp might create a file that you had already made. The doc register would help he or she see if that customer or supplier already existed and would save any duplication.
Gee4 (from The Hub)
With my invoices, I keep copies in numerical order in a lever arch file but also keep a copy in our Supplier file so that if people are looking for certain invoices for certain suppliers, they should technically be able to find them! However, I am currently working on a MS Access Database to make this 'go paperless'. It's definitely the way I want to go with most things. I have two filing cabinets. Both filed alphabetically, but one contains folders for our 'travel' suppliers (tour operators) and the other contains things like electricity, telephone suppliers etc.
sobriquetnic (from The Hub) |
