Spring Clean Part 2: WHERE DO I FIND THE #*@?!! DOCUMENT / FILE?

October 3, 2011 by fiona Blog / No Comments

Most businesses start out with one or two people who save their documents and name their files in a way that makes sense to them and then new people start and they do the same and so on and so on.

In the ideal world a business would start out with a set of files and instructions on how to name documents and files and where to store them. One person would be responsible for managing templates and releasing them to staff. As time goes on a more people join or leave the business the filing systems on a server get bigger, messier and more complex. Each person brings their own habits from past jobs along to add to the expanding file ciaos. Imagine those folders and documents had to live on your desk – they would soon get in your way, get knocked over and take over your office. The fact that documents are hidden in your server means most people just ignore it. Storing all those documents can start to cost you $ when have to increase your server size and when you are paying for offsite storage.

Finding the current template or document is a problem I have seen for lots of clients over the years

If you have the budget and need to store a large amount of documents then a document management software maybe worthwhile.

The first place to start though is to do a spring clean and get rid of what you don’t need

How to fix it :

1. Get all staff together to decide what needs to be accessed the most often
2. Confirm the names of the folders and what is to go in them
3. Confirm the naming conventions of the documents
4. Write down the instructions for 2 & 3
5. Decide on what needs to be kept for tax and legal purposes
6. Pick a time to clean ( delete) that will least effect people
7. Sort by date order to see which are the oldest files
8. Delete, archive old files if they are needed