Aaaarh, it takes me back it does. Warms the old heart cockles, whatever
they be. White original in the mail, white copy to the main file, yellow
circulated to management, green in the diary folder by expected reply
date, buff copy in the chrono file . . . etc etc. You could only get 7
copies max, and that only with new carbon paper and a heavy hand on the
typewriter. Anyone who doesn't know what 'typewriter' means, let alone
'carbon paper', is younger than me.

I've been saved a couple of times in the last 20 years by a chrono file,
and I've often been amazed at the ability of some people to remember when
they wrote something, at least within the last three years at most ("I
forget who the person was, and I can't remember which file it was on, but
it was a couple of weeks after Easter year before last").

But every chrono file I've ever seen has been a working copy, maintained
outside the formal files / document management system, purged regularly,
and used primarily as an index to the main files system. No retention
applies in this situation in my view, and with 98% of corro generated
electronically these days, I think the chrono file is a dodo, like folio
numbering, corro registers, date stamping, typewriters and carbon paper.
If there is no business need for a chrono file, or there is an
alternative, better or cheaper way of achieving the same objective, kill
it off (and make sure you claim the credit for freeing the business from
this onerous and costly task).

I'm not an archivist, but I've had a bit to do with them, and once apon a
time I did do a fair bit of historical research. I've always been told to
'preserve the sequence', ie keep archived files and documents in the
original classification or whatever made sense to the business unit - all
part of 'context' I suppose. From that point of view, and as a former
researcher, I can't imagine preferring a chrono file over subject or
customer files or whatever made sense to the organisation at the time.

Cheers

Glenn

Glenn Sanders
Information Services Manager
x 32831, 0407 187 333

Hunting for important documents adds excitement to a boring schedule


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