Chapter 8
Records Management
Records Management
Records Management
Managing Paper Records
Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
Understanding Electronic File
Organization
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Records Management
(continued)
Retention and Transfer
Electronic Records Retention
Ethical Issues in Records Management
International Standards for Records
Management
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Records Management—
Overview
Information system details how organization
plans, develops, and organizes its
information
Organized and secured information essential
so information -- useful and immediately
available at right time
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Records Management—Its Importance
Records, also called information
assets, are maintained to maximize
profit, control costs, and ensure vitality
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Records Management—Responsibility
Everyone plays important role in
Protecting organization’s records and
information by following established
policies and executing its procedures
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Records Management--What Are Records?
(continued)
Evidence of what organization does
Represents its business activities and
decisions or transactions
Appears in many formats—paper,
electronic mail, and databases
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Records Management--Categories of
Records
Vital—records essential to operation
Important—customer/personnel records
Useful—correspondence and reports;
kept on-site to conduct daily business
Nonessential—not needed beyond
current use, such as requests,
acknowledgements, notices of meetings,
duplicate copies
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Burton and Shelton
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Records Management—Files Management
Applies principles to both paper/electronic records
created and used
Ensures records can be retrieved efficiently when
needed
Identifies documents that should not be maintained
Documents, such as duplicates of completed forms, extra
copies of reports, and bulletins, announcements of meetings,
requests for information or responses to requests
Learn to distinguish between records and documents; follow
established procedures for preserving records and discarding
documents
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Developing Filing
System
Consider
How will records be requested?
How will records be retrieved?
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records (continued)
Major classifications or systems are:
Alphabetic
Numeric
Geographic
Subject
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Location
(continued)
Answer following
Who needs to have access?
What types of records are stored?
How frequently will records need to be
accessed?
What procedures are needed to protect
records from loss, damage, theft, and
unauthorized use?
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Location
Centralized:
(continued)
One location convenient to many
Files are checked out, so location is always
known
Decentralized:
Files maintained at individual workstations
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Ordering
Supplies Online
Advantages
Up-to-date catalog descriptions, prices
Clear, simple indexes
Great variety in products
Fast delivery
Costs may be less than in stores
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Basic Folder
Design
Folders, also referred to as manila folders
Come with tabs or extensions at top
Tab cuts include straight, one-half, one-third, and one-fifth
Hanging folders
Guides act as dividers
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Placement of
Guides and Folders
Primary Guides
Individual Name Folders
Miscellaneous Folders
Special Guides
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Placement of
Guides and Folders (continued)
Primary guide
Divides file into alphabetic sections
Placed at beginning of each section
Correspondence filed in individual or miscellaneous
folders placed behind guides
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Placement of
Guides and Folders (continued)
Individual name folder
Use when at least five papers are accumulated
for one correspondent
File folders in order immediately following
primary guide
File correspondence
In chronological order
Most recent date placed at front
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Placement of
Guides and Folders (continued)
Miscellaneous folder
Filed behind individual folders
Contains papers to and from all correspondents
for whom you do not have individual name folders
Within folder, arrange papers in alphabetical order
by name
If two or more papers for one correspondent, place most
recent in front
Staple related papers together
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—Placement of
Guides and Folders (continued)
Special guide
Directs eye to individual folders that are
used frequently
Use for subdivisions of alphabet
Use to mark section of file containing
individual folders for several
correspondents with same surname
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records—File Labels
(continued)
Identifies folder and its contents
Comes in variety of sizes, shapes, and
colors
Consider three levels of identification:
drawer or shelf, file guide, and file folder
Be consistent in labeling
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Burton and Shelton
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Managing Paper Records--Equipment
(continued)
Consider
Volume of records requiring storage
Types of records being stored
Space limitations
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Managing Paper Records--Equipment
(continued)
Vertical drawer cabinets
Lateral cabinets
Open shelves
Mobile aisle systems
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
Association of Information Management
Professionals
Records Managers and Administrators
(ARMA International or ARMA)
Recognized need for standardization and
published first rules of alphabetic filing
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules—Order of
Filing Units
Unit—each part of name
Indexing—unit in order for filing; always
precedes alphabetizing
B. R. Grove—three units
Grove (1st), B. (2nd) R. (3rd)
Alphabetic filing—organized in alpha
sequence
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Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules—
Principles (continued)
Alphabetize by comparing names unit by
unit and letter by letter
Nothing comes before something
Ignore all punctuation marks, special
characters and diacritical marks when
indexing
All Arabic numbers precede roman
numerals
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules (continued)
Personal names
Surname—first unit, followed by first name or
initial, and then middle name or initial
Prefixes in names
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
(continued)
Personal names
Titles and suffixes
Hyphens in names
Pseudonyms, royal, or religious titles
Non-English names
Nicknames
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
When two or more
names are identical:
Use geographical
address to determine
filing order
Consider order shown
at right
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
29
(continued)
Country
State
City/municipality
Street name
Compass point
(N, S, E, W)
Building number
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
(continued)
Business and organization names
As written
Central (1st) Trust (2nd) Company (3rd)
Geographic names
Compass terms
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules (continued)
Business and organization names
Numeric names
Only 1st number is considered
Ignore number following hyphen – (7-11 Store)
Digit contains a suffix (st, d, th)
Ignore suffix, index only number
Number is spelled out
Ignore hyphen and two numbers become one unit
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
(continued)
Business and organization names
Symbols in names
Index way they are pronounced.
One $ Store
One (1st) Dollar (2nd) Store (3rd)
Single letters in names
File as written, spell out only when company
spells out
ARK Transport--ARK (1st) Transport (2nd)
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Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
Federal Government
United States Government = units 1-3
Followed by most distinctive name
(continued)
United (1st) States (2nd) Government (3rd) Social
(4th) Security (5th) Administration (6th)
State and Local Government
Index by distinctive name
Monroe (1st) County (2nd) Public (3rd) Works (4th)
Department of (5th)
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules
(continued)
Non-U.S. Governments
Rule applies to non-U.S. government names
filed in U.S.-based filing systems
Distinctive English name—first filing unit
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules—
Variations in Alphabetic Filing (continued)
Individual names
Businesses, institutions, and other group
names
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Burton and Shelton
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Indexing and Alphabetizing Rules—
Variations (continued)
Hyphenated business name may be made up
of two surnames, might be indexed and not
treated as one unit
Geographic names or words involving compass
point might be treated as two words
Names beginning with numbers expressed as
figures, might be filed in regular alphabetical
order, rather than number sequence
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
36
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Preparing Paper Records for Filing—Steps
Examine
Index
Code
Cross-reference
Sort
File
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps (continued)
Examine includes
Should papers stapled together be filed together?
Staple together related papers where one document
refers to another
Remove all paper clips and extra staples
Remove unnecessary small slips of paper
Keep routing slip with appropriate documents
Are documents duplicates – can they be
deleted/destroyed, or filed?
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
38
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps
(continued)
Index includes
Determine key word—name, subject,
geographic location
Incoming letters—use organization name on
letterhead
Outgoing letters—use organization name in
inside address
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Burton and Shelton
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps
(continued)
Code includes
Mark indexing caption
Underline name
Highlight key words
Identify number of indexing units according to
highlight words
Mr. Benjamin (2nd) Ross (1st) = 2 indexing units
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps
(continued)
Cross-reference includes
Use when document is apt to be called for by
two different names at different times
Make two copies of cross-reference sheet:
One copy is filed in cross-reference folder; should
be only piece of paper in folder; purpose is to
send you to correct file
Second copy filed with actual folder
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps
(continued)
Cross-reference
Avoid preparing unnecessary cross-references
Some examples of when to use:
When filed by subject instead of individual’s name (Temporary
Employees)
When difficult to determine individual’s surname (Kent Ross)
When organizations are referred to by acronym—IAAP
(International Association of Administrative Professionals)
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Burton and Shelton
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps
(continued)
Sort includes
Prearrange documents in same order they
will be filed
First, divide documents into manageable
groups--A-C, D-F, G-J, K-P, Q-T, and U-Z
Next, arrange papers in each group
When two pieces of correspondence share
same name, place most recent on top
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Preparing Paper Records—Steps
(continued)
File, actual placing of records in folders,
includes
When refiling existing records, name on caption in
filing system should be same as record being refiled
Records should be filed chronologically in folder with
latest one in front
New folder should agree with filing system and index
should be updated to include new file
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Tracking Paper Files
Charge-out methods
Manual charge-out guides include
Guides with printed lines for writing description of materials
removed, name of person who has removed materials and
date removed
Guides with slot or pocket to hold card with charge-out
information
Automated bar coding requires software, label
printer, and scanning device
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Burton and Shelton
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Understanding Electronic File Organization
Helps to manage
Files on local hard drive or network drive
Files shared through e-mail attachments
Files put on Web server
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Burton and Shelton
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Understanding Electronic File Organization--File
Cabinets contain folders with files, also
called documents
Any document created or received; has
file name and at least three-letter
extension
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Understanding Electronic File Organization-Folder
Contains files/documents
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Understanding Electronic File
Organization—Drive
Physical location where folders and files
are located
Drive A—floppy disk drive
Drive C—hard disk drive
Drives D through Z—designated as optional
drives, such as network, flash drive, or CD-ROM
or DVD-ROM
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Understanding Electronic File
Organization—Organizing Electronic
Files
Use My Documents folder to create structure
Organize folders as in paper filing structure
Determine sequence of folders—alpha,
numeric, and so on
Perform regular maintenance
Print list of filing system
Office Procedures for the 21st Century, 8e
Burton and Shelton
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Understanding Electronic File
Organization—Saving Files
CDs
Flash drives
External hard drives
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Retaining and Transferring Paper
Records
Factors determine how long records
must be preserved:
Nature of organization’s business
operations
State statute of limitations
Regulations of federal government
Never dispose of any record without
clear knowledge of retention regulations
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Retaining and Transferring Paper Records-Retention
If no guidelines exist, seek advice from
either consultant or ARMA’s Web site
Determining which records to keep and for
how long is critical function
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Retaining and Transferring Paper Records—
Transfer
Perpetual Transfer Method
Continually transferring files to inactive
storage, such as when project or case is
completed
Periodic Transfer Method
Transferring files to inactive storage at
predetermined intervals, such as 6 months, 1
year, or 18 months
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Electronic Records Retention
Inactive records are transferred
Move records from computer onto company’s
servers, or other electronic storage media
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Ethical Issues
Confidentiality of personal information
Security of physical equipment
Validity of information
Disposal of records
Improper use of PINs
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Burton and Shelton
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International Standards for Records
Management
Recognized worldwide, states records management
includes
Setting policies and standards
Assigning responsibilities and authorities
Establishing and sharing procedures and guidelines
Providing range of services relating to management
and use of records
Designing, implementing, and administering
specialized systems for managing records
Integrating records management into business
systems and processes
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Burton and Shelton
57
© 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
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