I would like to add to this excellent suggestion.....
You will find that most organizations file material in the easiest and
fastest way because they hate filing. They are filing to get the
material off their desk. This is the wrong attitude. They should be
filing so that they can find the information faster.
Spending a few more minutes filing will allow them to find the
information faster. Remember the old commercial "you can pay me now, or
you can pay me later"? Very few organizations need a file the way it is
normally set up. For instance, lets take a personnel file....... Most
HR departments will place everything about that employee in one folder
and file it either alphabetically or by employee number, or some such.
This is what clogs up the retention and disposal process. The documents
in a personnel folder have different retention requirements forcing a
labor-intensive process of weeding.
If the documents are separated into subject groups in the first place,
then it would be much easier to dispose of records that have reached
their destruction date.
When the HR person needs a personnel file, they need it for a specific
reason..... Like "to check vacation days for the employee"...... They
don't need the entire file. If they get the entire file, they have to
thumb through information that is irrelevant to the search.
So.... You will be able to get the information they need much faster if
you only have to pull the file containing vacation data. Maybe it is
called the "Time Sheets and Work Schedules" file that would include all
records of time scheduled and worked. Also includes records of sick
time taken and records of vacations and leave. Notice that the material
in this file has similar retention periods.
Anyway, all the best in your task.
GT
Graham Kitchen
Corporate Records Manager
Unified Western Grocers
5200 Sheila Street
Commerce, California 90040
Telephone: (323)264-5200 Extension 4560
Cell: (323)243-1865
email: [log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Records Management Program
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Colgan, Julie J.
> Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 7:04 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: filing for retention
>
> <http://mm1.lettermark.net/agg/lhead/Standard.map>
>
>
> A quick comment ... I suggest you spend some time with the
> group finding
> out the "why" behind their current active filing system. You will
> either find out that it is very necessary for day-to-day business
> reasons (and therefore probably a losing battle to try to make them
> change in order to facilitate application of retention), or
> you'll find
> out that the system isn't meeting all of their needs either
> and you can
> construct the solution with both your and their needs in mind.
>
> I would imagine there are some good resources at arma.org in the
> bookstore, or you can try ALA (Amer Library Assn) or SLA (Special
> Libraries Assn) but unfortunately don't have time to look any
> up for you
> ...
>
> And just to be an upstart ... perhaps looking at it from the
> other side
> is pertinent ... What about changing the retention schedule to better
> align with how your business units use their records?
>
> Best of luck!
> Julie
>
>
>
> <http://mm1.lettermark.net/agg/card/HTBM.map>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Records Management Program [[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of
> Warren Harris
> Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 9:41 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [RM] filing for retention
>
>
> Can anyone direct me to good sources, i.e. internet, articles, etc.
> regarding filing systems and records retention and disposition?
> Specifically, I'm trying to learn more about how to incorporate
> retention requirements into an active filing system. For
> example, I see
> time and time again here at my organization (Univ. of West FL) filing
> setup in "alpha order by subject." And, each subject file ends up
> covering several "record series" with perhaps different retention
> periods. This makes purging those files for disposition very
> difficult
> and time consuming. I want to learn more about filing
> systems so I can
> advise our employees about better ways to set them up....so that they
> work for active records retrieval as well as purging for
> disposition.
>
>
>
> Thank you in advance for any references, comments, etc.
>
>
>
> Gus Harris
>
> Records Manager
>
> The Univ. of West Florida
>
> Pensacola, FL....now the home of the world's largest artificial reef
>
>
>
> Note:
> This message and any attachments from the law firm Arnall
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>
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>
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