[cljteach]

Hello - I'm a new member and my office needs to implement a new records management (paper) filing system. The old system is a mess. I would like to go paperless; however, the majority of my co-workers feel they need to hang on to the paper. Files have no retention schedule and projects have not been closed out or archived for five years. They just recently started to scan and save documents to the network which has saved a tremendous amount of time and effort. Any ideas would be welcomed. Thanks.

[shaubold]

Our office has a Standard Operating Procedures Manual which includes the records retention policy. You should be able to contact your CPA and ask them for a copy of the generally accepted retention schedules for your state, and business type. There are certain things that can NEVER be discarded and you should absolutely have a written policy on that. It will be a good list to review and then you can separate documents by type and start your system from there. Good luck.

[anniee]

I work in an office where correspondence and certain other documentation have to be kept forever (mandated by state law). We have records back to over 100 years. I have poured over in my mind a more effective way to store these documents but the bottom line is; nothing beats paper. Electronic storage eventually become outdated. If documents only need to be kept a few years, transferring them to electronic works fine. I set up a database that records the details of the document and assigns a file number to it. There is software that you can purchase that does the same thing. Our actual retention policy is a simple spread sheet. Good luck.

[Forestdweller]

Our office maintains both detailed electronic and signed legal paper documents. We are also one of the local Computer Technology and Office Procedures Training Academies and busy writing curriculum for these and other related careers.

[ljmorgan]

Originally Posted by anniee

I work in an office where correspondence and certain other documentation have to be kept forever (mandated by state law). We have records back to over 100 years. I have poured over in my mind a more effective way to store these documents but the bottom line is; nothing beats paper. Electronic storage eventually become outdated. If documents only need to be kept a few years, transferring them to electronic works fine. I set up a database that records the details of the document and assigns a file number to it. There is software that you can purchase that does the same thing. Our actual retention policy is a simple spread sheet. Good luck.

That must be fun to look through on some of the "slower" days.