Hi Joe,

There are a lot of variables that will guide the decision of how granular to go on file locations.  Those variables include (but are certainly not limited to):

Centralized vs. decentralized program
Size of collection
Number of records staff
Customer need/expectation
If you generally pull the entire matter or individual sub-folders within a matter

While going to a granular level such as "shelf" will likely enable you to put your hands on it very quickly, it will be more difficult to manage overall.  For example, if you are decentralized, you have no control over someone moving it to another shelf and not telling you or not scanning it properly to its new location.  If you are centralized, you may still find it frustrating to have to update a lot of records every time you have to shift the shelves to make space for new files.

If you have a small collection, being overly granular is likely overkill.

When I ran a central records center, we scanned to the room only (about 50-60,000 lfi of files).  The files were arranged in c/m number order so pulling them was pretty quick.

When I ran a decentralized program, we assigned location by practice group/floor.  I did not have enough staff to do regular inventories, which is required when non-records staff have free physical access to the files and can move them on a whim.  When we needed to put our hands on a file, we used the latest time entries to help us track down individual files (assuming the most recent person/people to bill time to the file probably have it).

In both cases, I felt the compromise was good.  We were generally able to meet all of our customer needs/expectations within a reasonable time frame without needing an army of records staff nor being slaves to the database.

One last comment - while there are lots of great legal-RMs here, there is also a Yahoo! Group specifically for legal-RMs that may provide additional help.  If you would like to join that group, just go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Legal_Records

Once you get there, click the Join This Group button (you will need to have a Yahoo ID).  The group is private, so your request will have to be approved by a moderator (me or Jeff Lewis).  Please include a comment in your join request telling us who you are and why you're interested in legal records management.

If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to get in touch offline.

Julie


Julie J. Colgan
Director of Records Management
Nexsen Pruet, LLC
1441 Main Street, Suite 1500
PO Drawer 2426 (29202)
Columbia, SC 29201
T: 803.253.8270; Toll Free: 800.825.6757
F: 803.727.1425
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www.nexsenpruet.com

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