Optimizing Your Physical Records

Make it easier to organize, access, store and share them | Part One

Your physical records are still

the biggest and most

important part of your records

collection.

Why?

Physical file collections have

remarkable potential to add value

to your organization!

When used efficiently and managed

cost effectively, physical records

provide informational support for

daily business activities and

potential legal evidence to defend

those activities.

Let’s look at three

steps you can take to

make it easier to

organize, access, store

and share your files:

1. Classificaton

2. Centralizatio

n of

Collection

3. File Tracking

Software

Let’s look at three

steps you can take to

make it easier to

organize, access, store

and share your files:

The Right Classification System

Functional Classification is

important because implementing

any kind of comprehensive records

and information management

program needs a common way of

naming things.

The classification system that

provides the basis for:

•compliance

•risk management

•retention periods

•security safeguards

But more importantly, when it comes to your physical files,

this system is going to drastically reduce retrieval and

filing times because everything is organized in a clear,

logical way that makes your information easy to find and

difficult to lose.

Here is how it works at a high

level. First, look at your

business activities and the

records that support them.

Then, talk to the people who

use the records. Based on this,

you can develop a classification

scheme to better organize your

organization’s information.

This system is then applied to

every piece of information you

create across the organization

so every records is classified

according to one framework.

The example on the right

shows the typical structure of a

classification scheme based on

business activities.

Centralizing File Collections

Bringing small pockets of

files together into one large

collection optimizes your

physical records by

improving:

• user efficiency

• space utilization

• security

• legislative compliance

If you have all of your physical files in one location, it is

easier to manage and control them, and that has obvious

benefits when it comes to optimizing your physical

records.

However, centralization can be a

tough sell in some organizations.

Looking at some of the more popular

arguments against it is a great way

to highlight the arguments for.

Typically you’ll hear employees who

are used to keeping their own files in

their office or close by, arguing that

they don’t have time to go down the

hall every time they need a file.

They also don’t want to share files

because they worry about people

making changes to it, making the

information unreliable when it comes

down to making business decisions.

Any employee opposed to walking down the hall should consider

how much time he or she has spent over the past year phoning,

emailing or visiting colleagues to track down documents needed to

complement their own file content. Additional time may be spent

photocopying and compiling documents for inclusion in their own

desk files.

Yes, it will take several minutes to walk down the hall and sign out

a file from central storage. But over time, that small time

investment may be returned tenfold.

But the truth is, real world application has

shown that central filing can improve both

efficiency and reliability.

It is also true that centralized

filing can make file content

more reliable. At the

document level, any one

record can take on a

very different context when

combined with other records.

By consolidating all records

related to a given activity,

transaction or process into

one central file, every user of

that file is provided with a

complete picture on which to

base business decisions and

perform their

own transactions.

File Tracking Systems

For many of us, managing physical records is becoming an

increasing challenge. Staffing changes, storage issues,

accountability practices or simply an increased volume of

records are making it more difficult to keep the information you

need at your fingertips.

File tracking software

is the quickest, simplest

and most efficient way to

improve your access to

information and shorten

retrieval times.

When selecting a software solution,

you should be looking for

something that offers automated

tracking for environments that need

to track physical records (files).

Standard functionality should

include:

• bar code tracking

• intuitive query & filter functions

• scripting for workflow, audit,

requesting

• signature pad integration

• code labeling

The benefits to getting the right

tracking solution are huge,

including:

• Instantly locating and

determine the status of folders,

groups of folders and storage

boxes

• Automatically managing user

requests by letting them know

if a file is currently in use, or

has been requested by another

user

• Elimination of lost files

Lost files no more!

In Part 2 of Optimizing

Your Physical Files, we

will cover:

• Standardizing

supplies

• Space optimization

• Getting ready to

convert to digital

For more tips on optimizing your physical file collection,

take a look at our Efficient Paper Filing Toolkit:

http://www.tab.com/Resource/Toolkits/Paper-

Filing/

Thank you!