I have been working with a number of people lately who have asked me for guidance on setting up a filing system that will more easily allow them to find files easily on their computer. The next series of posts are designed to give you some ideas on how to organize your filing system using techniques I have learned from helping clients over the years.
If you are designing a filing system for only yourself, then you may use whatever logic is familiar and comfortable to you. But, if you are designing a filing system that must provide document access to multiple users, then you need to use logic that will enable all users, no matter what their personal filing preference, to easily find documents when needed. The following techniques can be applied equally to single or multiple users.
To begin, if your organization uses a network you should always use the network drives as your single source of storage. It guarantees that the files will be backed up as part of the systematic server backup, so you should never lose any documents you have created. And if you screw one up, it gives you the ability to restore a previous version without the need to recreate it from scratch. I have seen too many times where users store documents on their C: drive or on their desktop. Once they are lost or corrupted, the only chance of restoration is directly related to the discipline of you manually backing up your files to an external hard or flash drive or CD. And let’s have a show of hands to see how many of you have backed up your C: drive in the last month?
The other reason to store your documents on the network is what I call “single source storage”. If you have documents such as employee handbooks or instruction manuals, it is imperative for a host of reasons that everyone always has access to the current copy of those documents. Reprimand an employee for a policy breach and you may end up in court. If you each hold up a different copy of the handbook and reference the policy definition that supports your rationale, the court can easily find judgment for the employee if it decides that the employee truly thought that their version was the current version. You lost the case because your process for ensuring that employees always have access to the most recent version was flawed. For the same reasons, NEVER suggest that hardcopies of documents be used for reference. Point everyone to a single source of electronic copies, in a location they can find, to ensure that everyone will always open the most current version, even if it was just updated 3 hours ago.
In my next post, I will share techniques for Defining a Folder Structure.