Organizing and
Managing Your Files
Records Management Program
Suffolk University Archives
617.305.6255
617.305.6275 (fax)
mdelloiacono@suffolk.edu
•Introduce basic principles of
classification and arrangement
•Discuss electronic and manual filing
systems
•Tips for implementing new strategies
•Questions?
Arrangement
Organization
Features
•Alphabetical
By Name, Subject
Good for small volume
•Numerical
By number, code
Accurate, but may require
index
•Chronological
•Hierarchical
•Classified
By date
Good for small volume
By system of headings Fast retrieval, changeable
By subject
Complex, requires index
•In order to efficiently and quickly locate
records (either manually or electronically), you
should reduce the amount of records you have to
search through
•By subdividing your records into successively
smaller groups of related files, you will have
fewer groups of records to search when you are
trying to find a particular file.
•One way is to organize your records by function
and activity, and then by the type or date of file
•Organizing your files and folders hierarchically will
reduce the area of search. Rather than searching
through one big pile of records to find a file you need,
you could break the pile down into categories
(headings) based on function.
•You could then take the category and separate it
further based on activity (secondary heading), and
separate each of those by transaction (tertiary heading),
and so on as needed…
That way, identifying a needed record will be
much more efficient
For Example:
•Human Resources is one function defined by the
Records Retention Schedule. Within that function are
several activities:
oPersonnel
oAffirmative Action
oSearch and Appointment
•Within the Personnel activity, there are several types
of files:
oEmployee Personnel Records
oFaculty Personnel Records
oMedical and Personal Records
oFamily and Medical Leave
Human Resources
Affirmative Action
Employee Personnel
Records
Personnel
Medical and Personal
Records
Search and Appointment
Family and Medical
Leave
Faculty Personnel
Records
Applied to a manual filing system, it would look
like this:
Human Resources
Personnel
Family and Med.. Leave
Med./ Personnel Records
Employee Med. Records
Faculty Personnel Records
Affirmative Action
Search and Appointment
•Establish headings and subheadings as
needed—don’t over classify (perhaps 10
records or more would establish a new
heading, otherwise move to a higher level)
•Make sure your paper and electronic
structures are the same
•Color coding can enhance the retrieval
process
•Apply additional arrangements within the
general hierarchy. For example…
Using our earlier
arrangement:
•Human Resources
Personnel –
hierarchy by status
(current or former),
then alphabetically
Search and
Appointment Chronologically
Organizing for Disposition
•This simply means arranging in order to easily apply
retention periods according to the General Records
Schedule
•For example, let’s look at
1420 Special Events Records
Description: Documents events sponsored or co-sponsored by the university or individual departments and
offices. This may include commencements, convocations, lectures, dinners, ceremonies, visits, tours, retreats,
and other social events.
Examples: Records may include planning and arrangement records, announcements, program flyers and
brochures, participant registration and attendee lists, agendas, presentation materials, photographs or videos,
evaluations, minutes and notes, and any substantive correspondence.
Retention Period:
a) Planning and arrangement records, registration and attendee lists, and transitory correspondence: Retain
until administrative use ceases, and then destroy.
b) All other records: Retain for 5 years after event, and then transfer to Archives. (
So, in order to create a steady flow of records OUT of the
office that (hopefully) matches the steady flow of records
IN to the office, your files might be arranged:
•Separate series: arrangement and planning
records – don’t mix with facilities, for example
•Separate folders w/in series: payment records,
catering arrangements - maybe also for meeting
minutes, programs and fliers, presentations
•Same folder: phone messages, any other very
short term records
•Retire files when a project is over; at end of
fiscal year, stop filing in that folder and start
new
☼ Everyone’s office is a bit different they create different types of records,
and use them in a variety of ways
☼Try to arrange the files the way you
will look for them - if you normally
search by name, don’t arrange by
subject…
“What information will the user know as
they approach the file?”
Name of sender
Name of location
Name of recipient
Title
Date
Name of program
Project Name
Subject
Account Number
Report Number
1. File on a regular basis
2. Color code your files
3. Retire your files at the end of each year
and start new folders
4. Write the disposition date and action on
the file folder
5. Eliminate extra copies
•The specific arrangement of files is not as
important as consistency and documentation-especially when it comes to electronic
documents
•When organizing electronic files and folders,
it is critical to base names on some type of
controlled vocabulary
Being consistent in naming files and folders has many advantages:
Assists in maintenance and disposition
Assists in easily and quickly locating files
Assists in determining ownership
Eliminates use of synonyms resulting in duplication
Restricts use of personal file names
Electronic files relate to organization's paper records
indexes
•Naming your electronic files with
the date first can assist in
disposition.
•For example, a file about billing
records that were paid on February
8, 2005 could be named
20050208_FIN_PD
•Note that the date format is
year_month_day and the month and
day are written with 2 digits…this
format will achieve chronological
order when sorting electronically
●Nothing comes before something (New York
comes before Newbury), so avoid spaces.
●Underscores work well to space necessary
elements of a file name
For example, a draft of a files
management workshop could be
saved as:
DFT_files_management_April_2007
●Humans can be taught to ignore “the” at the
beginning of a term but computers generally
can’t be, so avoid using articles (a, an, the)
●Numbers will come before letters--docket and
case numbers make naming easier
All words and symbols are
considered--keep in mind how
the names will sort
Establish consistent patterns
Sample Abbreviations
Document Type
Draft # 3
Final Copy
Name
DFT003
FNL
Prefixes and suffixes
Memorandum
Abbreviations
Contract
CTR
Acronyms
Schedule
SCD
Controlled vocabulary-avoid
synonyms
*Document/index your choices*
Month
Year
MEMO
Jan or 01
2007 or 07
Once again, the specific scheme is not as
important as consistency and documentation
Create a plan and stick to it: different people
will come up with different names, so
conventions need to be laid out and followed
Try to match your electronic names as closely
as possible to the paper file names
Chronological filing can be accomplished
through naming conventions, thus assisting in
disposition
• Ease into a new system
slowly…set up major (primary)
categories, one file series at a time
• Weed unnecessary files according
to the relevant records schedule
entries
• Choose a natural starting point
• End of fiscal year
• End of an audit
• End of the school year (more
time, less interruptions)
Contacting Records Management
•Interpreting the records schedule
•Transferring permanent records to the archives
•In-office records consultations
•Customized training and instruction
•Office moves and cleanups
•Large-scale scanning or digitization projects
Michael Dello Iacono, University Records Manager
Suffolk University Archives
617.305.6255
617.305.6275 (fax)
mdelloiacono@suffolk.edu