Best practices for managing shared drives: download our white paper.

	TOP DOWNLOADS
Electronic Folder Structure Needs Assessment » Conversion Readiness Assessment Tool »

1 800 503 453

Visit Datafile.com.au
for more information on:

View Past Issues | Manage Subscription

March 2011: In This Issue

Four Tips for Managing Your Shared Drive »
Maximise RM Program Efficiencies with Functional Classification »
A Powerful New TAB FusionRMS 9.2 »
What your Colleagues are Downloading »

Dear Records Manager,

Is your shared drive properly structured for ease-of-use and efficiency? If not, your day-to-day business functions may be suffering and you could be creating compliance risks.So to help you optimise your shared drive, we’ve put together a great tips piece and white paper.

We also just launched a new version of our records management software, TAB FusionRMS 9.2. Users will enjoy a new look with enhanced search capabilities.

We value your feedback. If you have any questions, or want to discuss any of the issues raised in this newsletter, please get in touch.

Regards,

Datafile

1. Four Tips for Managing Your Shared Drive

Organise your drive for better compliance and access

Shared drives are a fact of life for many organisations, and when organised properly they become excellent information management tools. But if you aren’t using RM best practices to manage them, they can morph into massive public folders filled with confusing and unstructured records. These unstructured shared drives can lead to a variety of issues including compliance and legal risks, increased retrieval times, versioning issues and unnecessary duplication of documents.

So to help tackle these problems and get the most of your drive, we’ve put together these 4 great tips.

Tip 1: Start with a clean up
Industry estimates show that 50-70% of the material found on a shared drive consists of records that organisations aren’t legally required to retain such as out-dated data, duplicates and unnecessary versions Purging these files is critical for streamlining and organising your drive. To start, sort through existing documents to determine what you can get rid of. When reviewing these records, ask yourself questions like:

Is this document a record of the work I perform?
Am I responsible for keeping this record on behalf of my employer?
Will I need to refer to this document in the future?

Don’t spend too much time deciding if you need to keep something—place discarded records into a garbage folder to be verified later. You can always move things back to the drive from this folder before it is permanently deleted.

Tip 2: Design your framework around business functions
In order to have an efficient shared drive, it’s important to create a universal framework that is consistent across all departments. This makes it easy for users to navigate through the drive regardless of what business unit they are from. Creating the framework should be a collaborative effort which includes RM, IT and Operational requirements.

When developing the framework, it’s vital to incorporate your existing functional classification system into the design. This will ensure that it maps back to your overall records management program and addresses all your major business functions.

Tip 3: Keep access permissions and retention schedules in mind when creating the folder structure
Once you have the framework in place, you can start creating the folder structure. When doing this, it’s important to keep retention requirements and access permissions in mind. For example, don’t store records with different disposal dates together or mix company-wide policies and procedures documents with confidential employee information.

Storing records with different retention rules or disposal dates can lead to a variety of issues including:

Compliance and legal risks because sensitive and private information can be accessed by anyone
Records being disposed too early or retained longer than necessary

Grouping documents that have the same access and retention requirements can help you avoid these problems and ensure that your drive is easy to use.

Tip 4: Get the right help when migrating information to the drive
Migration is one of the most important steps when organising your shared drive and this is where getting the right help is critical. It’s imperative that things are stored correctly as staff are moving things to the newly structured drive, and a good RM project manager can help facilitate the process. They’ll make sure employees are storing records correctly and everything is being documented for future reference.

Download the full white paper
These tips came from our white paper “Managing Your Shared Drive”. If you want to read it in full, please download it here.

2. Maximise RM Program Efficiencies with Functional Classification

Functional classification—it forms the foundation of a successful records management program, but what does it actually mean?

Simply put, functional classification allows you to systematically categorise various types of records based on business functions and activities. The benefits are many—from managing risk and compliance to improving access and collaboration as well as reducing unnecessary duplication of documents.

But getting the right system in place involves developing a holistic view of your RM program with respect to your business activities and the records, both paper and electronic, that support them. This is often a huge challenge in terms of time and resources.

That’s where we come in. Datafile’s consultants have extensive experience developing functional classification systems across all industries and verticals. Here’s what a typical engagement with us looks like:

Conduct interviews with staff and review existing material to learn more about the organisation and the information employees create
Identify and name unique business activities
Group activities together based on functions
- For example: contracts are created, negotiated and signed in many departments, but all of them would be classified as “Legal-Contract Management” regardless of what business unit they are from
- The key is to keep it simple and consistent. Most companies should create anywhere from 8 to 12 functions that apply to all departments
The resulting functional classification system is applied to every piece of information that is created
- Filing, retrieving and archiving information becomes more efficient
- Staff can easily identity and classify future records

If you would like to learn more about how a functional classification system can work for your organisation, contact us today.

3. A Powerful New TAB FusionRMS 9.2

The new version of TAB FusionRMS 9.2 offers a wide variety of improved features, including seamless integration of TABQUIK label printing, enhanced keyword search capabilities and a new Microsoft Office themed look and feel that makes it more familiar and easier to use. Enhanced search capability allows users to locate files instantly using multiple keywords with “and” and “or” operators, and users can search file types using metadata, file contents or both. Plus, searched words are now highlighted in the results for added convenience.

Learn more about TAB FusionRMS on our website.

4. What Your Colleagues are Downloading

Want to know what your colleagues are reading? These are some of our most popular recent downloads:

Electronic Folder Structure Needs Assessment

Designing the right folder structure is vital for successfully managing your electronic records. And with so many rules and business requirements to keep in mind, it’s imperative that organisations use records management best practices when developing folder structures and naming conventions.

This needs assessment tool can help your organisation design and name electronic folders to comply with laws and find information faster and more reliably. It addresses:

Records Management Program Support
Structural Design
Content Identification
Maintenance and Use

Download this valuable information resource here.

Conversion Readiness Assessment Tool

Many organisations are turning to electronic imaging to decrease their records storage expenses. But simply scanning your records doesn't necessarily mean you will be able to destroy all of the original documents. And on a more general level, for conversion to truly benefit your organisation, your existing RM program has to be able to support it.

Answering the following questions will help you:

Ensure your imaged documents meet record-keeping requirements
Evaluate how your existing RM program will support an imaging and retention program
Understand which records, once scanned, can be destroyed and which must be retained

This is an invaluable resource for anyone who is thinking of enhancing their records management capabilities with an imaging program, and you can download it here.

Join our mailing list | Privacy Policy

To help ensure delivery of Datafile's newsletter to your inbox, please add our email reply address (datafile@news.tab.ca) to your Address Book or Safe Sender List. You can also send mail to Datafile Head Office, PO BOX 7503, Silverwater NSW 2128, 1 800 503 453.