Important aspects of records management is file naming and document storage. Proper filing and naming increase efficiency in retrieval and use. Misnaming or misfiling documents costs you and the university time and money.
- First, choose a filing structure that makes sense for your department. (EX) fiscal year or academic year.
- Create a naming convention that works best for your area, but whatever you name your files, BE CONSISTENT. Consistency will make finding your files much easier.
- File reference materials, notes, drafts, and project files in separate folders from final versions. (Or name files as drafts or final versions.)
- File regularly.
- Start the filename with the date (YYYYMMDD or YYMMDD).
- Use underscores, dashes, and camel case instead of spaces.
- Don’t make filenames too long, use spaces or use special characters such as: ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ` ; < > ? , [ ] { } ' "|
