Monday, July 7, 2008

Document Management Systems

There are many ways to keep files and other important papers together and in the right place. However, when you have a lot of them, you do have to think about document an systems. This is something that works both in offices and on the computer. Many have paper files that they keep and that must be kept in order, but there are more and more that also have computer files that are important, and it is essential that they are stored in a way that is easy to use and that makes the documents easy to find and pull up.

Filing systems are often very simple in the way they work. If you have a doctors office and you have to keep track of your client’s files, you normally would use document management systems that keep files in alphabetical order. That is probably the best way to keep them all in an order that is easy to sort through, and that will make files easier to find. However, over the years, this type of document management system is going to have to be broken down by years, especially when patients come and go.

For other companies, the best type of document management systems are the ones that go by date. If you don’t care about the name, but rather the date of the project, this is the way to go. This means that you can break the system down by the year, month, and the day for easy access. If you have been in business for quite a long time, this can even be broken down by decade. This is also a great way to keep track of whatever it is that you have saved in your home. Taxes, bills, and personal documents can be stored by name, and then by date in this case.

For document management systems on your home computer, you are again better off going by date. Make as many subfolders as you need to keep things straight. If you label a folder by year, you can have a sub folder for each month, and then date the inside files so they appear in order when you open that folder. If you are not very good at organizing, you can find document management systems that come in the form of software that you can use at home, in the office, or on your computer. These are meant to help you keep organized and to leave the guesswork out of finding the best system for your needs.

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