[MrsHovey]

I work for a fairly new company and am in charge of creating a filing system for the company. To date, this has been fairly straight forward, but as the company grows, so does the filing! I would like feedback on how others have created or maintained their paper files (e.g. do you file credit card statements in a special card folder or with other paid invoices?)

[Chrissy Scivicque]

Big, BIG question you've got here! Let me start first by saying that I think you're taking the right approach by creating a "plan of attack". Creating a haphazard filing approach is easy so that's what most people do - but it quickly gets out of control and then you can't find anything (and you end up with 3 files for the same thing!).

I don't have any hard or fast rules to impart, but here are my basic suggestions:

Simplify - make the system as easy and brainless as possible. A complicated system will only waste time and energy.

I would start by considering the kinds of situations in which you would need to access filed materials. What information will you be working with? For example, with the credit card slip you mentioned above, is it common that you would need to find the date a particular purchase was made/paid for on that particular card? Or would it be more likely that you'd need to see all the purchases and payments (including those made with the credit card) that were made in a given month? You might need to create a system within a system, where you file first by month, then in alpha order by invoice. Just create a system that matches what you think your needs will be. Don't file based on information you won't readily have in the future.

And be flexible. In my last job, I was responsible for organizing and maintaining all of our marketing materials. So, at first I filed them in the order that they were most often used (totally stupid, but true). That didn't really work since no one else knew what the most common items were and even I got lost in the jumble. Then, I filed them by type (reference lists, brochures, articles) but even that caused great confusion as people didn't know the difference between the types. Finally, I stuck to plain and simple alpha order with a Sample Binder that showed what each one looked like and the title it was filed under.

So my point is this: don't be afraid to switch the whole thing if it doesn't work. And be sure to map it all out on paper first before you start making a billion files.

Good luck!!

[LisaOlsen]

One tip I might give is to keep a simple document (I used a Word table) that shows labels and dates you make a new folder. For my boss I found this to be very helpful for our filing system. Anytime I made a new folder, I quickly went to the document, entered the name, short description of contents, the date I made the folder and then if I purged or deleted the folder, I would note that also. I sorted it by alpha (the same "simple" system I used for the hard files). That way, when my boss asked for a file from 6 months ago but he could not quite remember the name, I could magically produce it in seconds because of my secret back up system!! He was always impressed!

Also there are some pretty slick software systems now that allow you to produce color coded labels and maintain an on-line directory and cross referencing system. We used this for our vendor and third party contracts. But, for day to day filing, as Chrissy mentioned, nothing beats a simple, non-complicated filing system.

[Jodith]

More than anything, you need your filing system to be usable. How you set it up will depend on the type of filing you are trying to do. It might be that you need multiple systems, with different criteria for different systems.

Example: If you are the sole clerical person in a small business in charge of all of the filing, you might have the following systems:
1. Vendor files, filed by Vendor name
2. Purchase Order files, filed either by vendor name or purchase order number, depending on your needs.
3. Client files, filed by client name or possibly by job name, if you cost things by job. Or by client name and then by job name/number.

The important thing is that the filing system meet *your* needs.

Lisa had a good point of having a listing of files made and their disposition. This is especially important when you start purging old files. You're going to want to have a historic account of what files were purged when, in case they are ever needed for legal purposes, you can show that you aren't withholding files, that they have already been destroyed.

If you have a university or community college in your area, you might look and see if they have any classes on archiving. It's an important topic, and it is taught in many places. I recommend it for every good admin.

[AmandaR]

I need to implement a filing system that is usable, a place to store permanent records. This task is very overwhelming and I'm not sure how to start. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Currently, everything is filed together, working files with permanent files etc.

Lisa: Is there any chance you would share your document or a page in pdf format ?

[Rachel E]

I have started my own buisness and would like to know how to write an invoice to another company for work done. Basically how to bill them for my work I have done for them!

[NicoleMiller]

Hi Rachel,

We have 2 templates for invoices - a Word version and an Excel version. These should give you a great start.

Congrats on starting your business and best of luck to you!