Why and how you should manage your documents

You are on the phone with a client and you are asked to find a document. How long does it take you to find that document and other documents related to that topic or document, either electronic or paper copy? Do you have several revisions of this copy? Have you kept a copy of the last revision? Did you keep all of the revisions? Is it necessary to keep all of the drafts? Should you keep only the final approved copy and designate it as the official record kept and secured with access privileges?

Where are the documents needed for you to address a question from any outside partners, a client, a colleague, administration or the government?

Did it take you more that 15 seconds? The more time it takes, the more frustrated the situation can become and the consequences can even be serious.

What message are you sending out! Disorganization and mismanagement of documents can send the wrong impression about your business and attention may be given to the lack of good business practices.

Businesses, small and large, are responsible for their business activities and must protect their documents.
If you are organized and your documents, in any format, are easy to retrieve, the benefits are many. You avoid embarrassment, you look good in front of your clients, and your work day is less stressful. Clients value your sense of good business practices and you infuse confidence in your business relations.
If any government body is requesting any document, especially for e-discovery in case of litigation, you can feel confident about the retrieval of all documents and avoid possible fines and penalties.

How do you resolve this dilemma? A classification system will assist you and ensure that you are following a prescribed form of access and retrieval of documents. The arrangement of your documents can be organized to suit your industry and needs for access and retrieval. The retention schedules will be the blueprint to all of your documents and will be incorporated into the classification system.

There are studies in existence, which prove that companies still own paper documents. Some documents are considered legal in paper format only. Some businesses keep only paper documents while others prefer to scan or create documents electronically. If you have electronic records, you may even print off copies from those files. A manual system or a combination of a manual and automated system is available and can tie both the paper and electronic documents to a particular business topic or function. Therefore, all documents can be found with ease.

Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Toll Free: 1-888-763-3988