Use Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System to Help You Move!
Moving to a new home is categorized as one of the top five stressors in life. There’s no magic blueprint to follow because everyone is different. Organize as you pack and avoid the risk of overwhelming stress.
I recently moved to a new house and used Paper Tiger Online to help me get everything packed in a methodical way. As I packed each box, I listed the items in the Paper Tiger database.
• I first created a Location name in the Paper Tiger database for each room in the new house. (kitchen, dining room, living room, den, laundry room, basement, etc.)
• Printed several labels for each room to be placed on the boxes. (labels for kitchen, dining room, living room, den, laundry room, basement, etc.)
• When I filled a box, I would list each item in the Keywords section in the ‘location’ where it would go in the new house, placed the label onto the box and wrote the corresponding Item number on the label to match the Item number in Paper Tiger.
• After all boxes were packed and everything listed in Paper Tiger, I printed out a complete Item List Report, and then an Item List Report for each room. (Location)
I used the packing time as the perfect opportunity to do some spring cleaning and get rid of things we no longer needed.
• Shredded old files that needed to be tossed.
• Bagged clothing and other items no longer needed and dropped off to Goodwill.
You’re probably thinking this was quite a hassle while packing up, but actually it didn’t take that much more time. Unpacking was so much easier than any other move I’ve made, because everyone knew where the boxes should be placed. And with the Item List Report in each room, we didn’t have to search through every box to find something before it was unpacked. We just searched Paper Tiger!
Note (things to remember):
If you have help when packing, (whether it be professional movers or family members):
• Set up your Locations (room names) into Paper Tiger Online with a capacity of 20 in each Location,
• Give each member of the family a notepad and pen with instructions to write down everything as they pack and label each box correctly. You decide how the labeling will work so everyone understands and uses the same method. If this doesn’t happen, your system will fail miserably.
• Once everyone is finished, you can enter all of the information into your filing system so that you have a complete list of everything that’s being moved.
• One of the last things to do before packing up your computer and printer is to print off copies of your list for each Location (room name). This will be especially helpful if you don’t have Internet access on moving day.
I was so glad I used Paper Tiger Online! When we needed something that wasn’t unpacked yet, I just searched Paper Tiger and knew exactly what room and box number to find it. I avoided the chaos of having a mountain of boxes and no idea where anything was.
Moving offices is a huge undertaking. The larger your organization is, the more complicated it will be to move. It could take you months of planning and involve a lot of people in order to make a smooth transition. Something that you really need is a resource management system or indexing system, like Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System to help you move your office.
By implementing such a system at this point, you’ll save a lot of time and effort by getting rid of unnecessary files and streamlining systems, so your operations will run more smoothly when you complete the big move. This is also a perfect time to reevaluate all of your files and determine one of three actions for every file.
Your choices will be action, archive, or discard. This is a vital component of the move, because the new filing system will be able to tell everyone where files are located as nothing will be the same as it is in the current office. Better to have one upheaval than two.
This document management system will greatly reduce the amount of files needing to be moved. This will be cost effective and give you more space to utilize in other ways. It will also mean less time wasted on filing and retrieval of documents because it will be much more user friendly. In addition, it’s vital that files are packed and transported securely so you don’t breach privacy or confidentiality.
If you’ve been using an archaic filing system up until this point, it’s the ideal chance to upgrade to a more practical document management system. Instead of the old alphabetical or numerical system, use a personalized system for naming files. This will cut out all duplication due to different people using different titles for the same type files. And because everyone has access to the same files, it’s easier to organize.
Note Where Each Box Or Item Should Be Placed In The New Location
Implementing this indexing system prior to your move will not only allow you to index your paper files, but books, training manuals, CDs, DVDs, etc. Another broad category you can list in this indexing system is all office furniture including: desks, chairs, filing cabinets, bookcases and tables. Then you have all the electrical equipment such as: computers (and their accessories), printers, photocopiers, fax machines, shredders, microwaves, refrigerators, etc. There’s also the copious quantity of stationery and office supplies to pack as well.
Don’t forget to index all the moving boxes ensuring all contents in each box are input into the keywords section. You should also note where each box or item should be placed in the new location.
You Need a Detailed Plan
It’s important to create a very detailed plan so that every aspect of the move is carefully coordinated in an efficient manner. You also need to ensure that as little downtime as possible occurs in order to maintain your high standard of customer service. It’s a wise idea to appoint one or more people to act as moving coordinators so there’s less disruption to the regular work.
One major component to consider is transportation. Generally, you hire a moving company that specializes in this sort of work. However, their job is simply loading, moving and unloading trucks. It’s your responsibility to ensure everything is planned perfectly so the move is seamless and everything gets placed in the new location as it should.
To be efficient, you need to create a master plan and be able to have paper and computer based copies, because during the downtime, you’ll still need access to it.
The coordinator(s) can update the moving plans as new things are added. They should be thoroughly familiar with the new premises and design a floor plan of where everyone will sit and where all furniture will be placed so moving day runs like a well-oiled machine. It’s generally recommended to choose either Thursday or Friday for the move so you have the whole weekend as well.
The coordinator(s) can design documents relating to check lists, FAQs about the move and people’s availability to assist with the move itself. It’s important to have enough manpower or the move will take much longer than necessary. The coordinator(s), I.T. people, the PABX supplier and other phone people will be required to ensure phones, cabling, computers and the Internet are all working as quickly as possible.
Obviously not everyone will be set up at workstations and fully functioning at the same time. The coordinator will have to liaise with management to ensure that the minimum number of people are needed to maintain customer service are there and set up, complete with all workstations, and able to work until everything else is settled.
Implement Paper Tiger Today and Save Money!
Unless you want absolute chaos, you really need Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System to help you move your office. You’ll have instant access to where every document and office inventory are located, because you were wise enough to implement the system to prepare for the move. It’s estimated that people waste 150 hours per year just looking for lost information, so you’ll save money too!
This testimony from Donna T. is just another great way to use Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System.
Paper Tiger, especially the online version, can be very useful to anyone with disability issues or for caretakers. It’s much easier to get a call from a caretaker asking where Mom’s (whatever) is, and being able to say, bottom drawer in the hall cabinet in the blue box, (than to tell the hired aide or relative who is helping, try the cabinet in the hall on the first and second floor, or her bottom drawer in the bedroom or…. ) Instantly (and now even from work), with your < Paper Tiger > system, someone can just pull up Mom’s database and type in “Whatsamadoodle” and the location comes up – at least if you have a system that keeps things where they “go”. Works for Mom’s files too – accountant comes over (if you know one well enough) and asks-Where’s mom’s receipts for last April – and you can tell him “number 25 in the black file cabinet.” (which she named Keep)- he would have thought “receipts” and never found it with her old system.)
Do you hate filing? Now you can Find Anything in Your Office in 5 Seconds or Less…Guaranteed! The number one paper management software product is now “in the cloud” – Paper Tiger Online is now available & customers can sign up for a FREE FOREVER account in 60 seconds!
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) July 20, 2010 – Paper Tiger Document Management Software & Filing System has set the standard for helping companies and individuals get control of something they hate…filing the paper on their desk & in their office. First launched in 1998 as a desktop software product, Paper Tiger software is now “in the cloud” and available worldwide on the Internet (SaaS – software as a service).
Now anyone can start solving their problems with the paper in their office in under 60 seconds for FREE. If a messy desk is your problem, if your alphabetic filing system breaks down each time you have staff turnover, if members of your team want to be able to quickly and easily share information in the office or if you are wasting too much time each week looking for lost information, then Paper Tiger Online could be just what is needed. The new filing system product is designed for anyone who wants to get a better handle on the paper-based information in the office. Currently tens-of-thousands of organizations worldwide use the existing desktop (client) version of Paper Tiger software.
Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System is a very powerful, yet simple indexing system for paper office files. It works like a search engine for paper files to help companies and individuals stay organized! People using the software can save over 150 hours per year by eliminating the time-consuming task of looking for lost information. Paper Tiger Document Management and Filing System software uses the power of the computer to index the hanging file folders in office file cabinets. This method works much better than old-fashioned alphabetic methods and is a great alternative to costly and time consuming scanning and imaging solutions.
Using Paper Tiger Online, customers will be able to access their information from anywhere with an Internet connection. They will no longer have to worry about what computer they are using (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) or if they have backed up their data. They can even see their Paper Tiger information on the Apple iPad, Apple iPod Touch, Apple iPhone, Android phones and most other web-enabled devices. The new software works with almost any Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.) Adding an additional member of their team to Paper Tiger Online is so easy, it just takes a minute and there are no networking/technical hassles!
“Finally, everyone including our Mac customers, can use Paper Tiger software. With our FREE FOREVER account, anyone can start using the software in under 60 seconds by going to our website!”, says James D. Grady, President & CEO of The Monticello Corporation, the makers of Paper Tiger Document Management and Filing System software. “Our total focus with Paper Tiger Online was to make filing & managing paper much easier to do. People want to stay organized & clear the piles of paper off their desk, but not spend their life doing it.”, Grady continues.
Tens-of-thousands of companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations around the world use Paper Tiger Document Management and Filing System software to get organized and manage their office filing tasks much more productively. What most people do not know is that there are only 5 things you can do with a piece of paper – (1) Toss It (2) Stack It (3) File It Alphabetically (4) Scan It or (5) Index It using a product like Paper Tiger Document Management and Filing System software. The paperless office never quite made it to reality, alphabetic methods quickly break down and become out-of-date, and scanning solutions are costly and very difficult to implement. Also, many documents (signed contracts, presentations, etc.) must be kept in their original paper form. Some people are uncomfortable with scanning documents due to the possibility that they could lose everything in the event of a technical malfunction. For a complete list of these options and the pros and cons of each, see our Document Management Decision Guide.
About The Monticello Corporation, makers of Paper Tiger Document Management and Filing System software.
Founded in 1995, The Monticello Corporation’s mission is to enhance its customers’ businesses and personal effectiveness by providing the training, tools and motivation to help them solve their problems with filing and document management. The company’s main product, Paper Tiger Document Management and Filing System software, was created as a type of inventory management system (like a chart of accounts) for physical hanging files (you know, the green, yellow, blue and red ones in your file cabinet!)
Monticello got its name from the legendary home of Thomas Jefferson, U.S. president from 1801-1809. An avid collector of books and music, Jefferson transferred his personal library of more than 6,000 volumes to the Library of Congress in 1815, doubling its size and permanently expanding the scope of its collections.
Time Management at work and play!
by Denise Russos, Progressive Organizing Solutions and Paper Tiger Expert
This article gives us a great plan to better manage our time so that we can get things done! Please note in #5 where Denise coaches us to keep your work place, desk and filing needs simple and streamlined. The Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System (Paper Tiger Online or Paper Tiger desktop version) will help you accomplish this very efficiently and be able to later find what you’ve filed!
Too many times we work in places that we never feel like we get our work accomplished. There are days that we constantly seem to be interrupted over and over again, so much so that by the time we leave work, we realize that nothing that was supposed to get done, actually got done!
Here are some statistics about how typical office workers feel about their days at work.
“Research shows that this is how office workers spend their typical work day:
- 28%: Unnecessary interruptions (with recovery time)
- 25%: Creating content (productive work)
- 20%: Meetings (may or may not be conclusive with action plan)
- 15%: Searching for information (half the time, search does not yield results)
- 12%: Thinking and reflecting (productive, creative work)
So what do you do?
1. Have a clear objective of what you want to achieve for the day or the next 2 hours and let nothing distract you. If you need to focus and concentrate, then turn off the chats (digital or not) and the email alerts.
2. Get a draft copy of your work out in the designated time – even if it is not perfect. Start with a framework and fill in the content as you go along. Keep the momentum going, it is progress against perfection.
3. Do not allow yourself to be interrupted unnecessarily – turn off the emails alerts, online chats and let the answering machine do its work if you are doing creative or productive work. Manage your emails with filters and rules.
4. Take breaks in between chunks of concentrated work time – enjoy your brief coffee break. Do a little stretching, take a deep breath, relax your neck and your shoulders and then come back to more focus work.
5. Keep it simple and clean – your work place, desk and filing needs to be simple and streamlined. Make good use of the trash bin. This un-cluttering will clear your mind for more creative and productive work.
6. Set yourself up for efficient work before hand – get your documents, files, and references organized each time before you wrap up work so you do not waste time looking for files and tools the next time you start work.
7. Enjoy your work – that will fuel you to be productive at work. (Retrieved from The Desk Demon Network)
Wow! Can you imagine feeling that if you work every day for four hours a day that you really only get one hour of work done every day? That’s such a tremendous waste of time!
So let’s say you use the formula above to be more efficient at work. Do you think this is feasible?
There are two of the items above that I want you to focus on.
The first is #1. Have a clear objective. Write it down and pretend it’s written in Gold and decide you will achieve that goal!
The second is #3. Stop letting interruptions rule your day.
Recently I’ve had a co-worker interrupt me 11 times in one day. Her interruptions hit the high time today when knowing that I was on the phone, she walked into my office, talking to me very loudly, so loudly I couldn’t hear the person on the phone.
You may be that person who is interrupting your co-workers and not getting your work done because of it.
If you are, then work on understanding why. Are you a person who needs to be around other people more than working alone? Whatever the reason, work on focusing on your work in shorter stretches of time and then taking a break.
There are many ways to increase your productivity at work, and time management is just one of them.
Hope this helps,
http://twitter.com/DeniseRussos
In 1998, we revolutionized the way the world files and manages paper by introducing Paper Tiger Desktop. The first product was based on a simple concept…enlist the computer to create an easy-to-use index of the paper in your life (or your organization) so that you can Find Anything in Your Office in 5 Seconds or Less…Guaranteed!
The first product allowed people to:
* Clear their desk.
* Stop trying to remember where they filed things.
* Easily share information with others in the office.
* Make it possible for the office manager to actually take a vacation knowing that everyone will use Paper Tiger to find what they need.
Paper Tiger customers could move beyond the piles everywhere or a broken, non-functional alphabetic method to using a computer to better manage their ever-increasing flow of paper. All of this without the cost, hassles (very time consuming), and risks associated with using a scanner to digitize their paper files.
Forget About Backups, Operating Systems, and Your IT Department!
So, now in 2010, as the world of technology has evolved, we are very happy to announce Paper Tiger Online! This product is amazing. Using Paper Tiger Online, you will be able to access your information from anywhere with an Internet connection. You will no longer have to worry about what computer you are using (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) or if you have backed up your data (we automatically do it for you!) You can even see your Paper Tiger information on the Apple iPad, Apple iPod Touch, Apple iPhone, Android phones and most other web-enabled devices. The new software works with almost any Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.) To add an additional member of your team to Paper Tiger Online is so easy, it just takes a minute and there are no networking/technical hassles!
If you are currently a Paper Tiger Desktop customer, your database can be imported to the new Paper Tiger Online. The entire process should take you about 10 minutes. If you have any issues, we will prepare your database for you to import!
The Paper Tiger Online application and your data are hosted at the industry-leading, IT hosting provider Rackspace. Rackspace is a publicly traded company that has over 80,000 cloud hosting clients such as Paper Tiger Online. We have taken every step possible to guarantee 100% application uptime and maximum security of your data.
Looking Ahead with Paper Tiger Online
The future of computing belongs to the Internet. We have grand plans for Paper Tiger Online. As people in business struggle to manage both their paper and digital worlds, there is a need for a 21st century filing system that is adept at both paper and digital, and this information needs to be available on any device. You can let your imagination run with what we are building! As a Paper Tiger Online customer, you will be able to take advantage of the new features, as they become available.
Best of all, the cost to use Paper Tiger Online is very modest and will fit almost any budget. There is a wide range of PLANS/PRICING available – there is even a limited FREE FOREVER account for the modest user that allows up to 100 Items (hanging file folders).
Special Pricing for Our Loyal Customers
As a current Paper Tiger customer, by ordering now and paying for a Paper Tiger Pro yearly plan, you will receive a 30% discount over the regular monthly price. The great news is that by subscribing to Paper Tiger Online during the launch period, you are locking in this price permanently. That’s right, for as long as you have your Paper Tiger Online account, your cost will remain at the discounted price that you paid when you signed up. If you are a current Paper Tiger desktop user, contact sales@thepapertiger.com and ask how to get the special price. This offer ends at midnight Tuesday, September 7, 2010.
Order with confidence, there is no contract and you can cancel whenever you wish. You can even export your data at any time for safekeeping or if you decide to cancel.
We hope you will join us by subscribing to Paper Tiger Online. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
Sincerely,
The Paper Tiger Team
Record keeping is a vital part of any business. Whether you’re involved with law, accountancy, human resources or taxation, thousands of records are created and need to be maintained for many years. Legal record keeping doesn’t have to be complicated.
A document management system isn’t a money making part of the business. However, accountants, consultants, lawyers, real estate agents, government, schools – no matter your type of business or organization — rely heavily on accurate records being kept. An efficient document management system, like Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System gives everyone access to records when needed.
If six lawyers are all working on one major case, they’ll all need access to the same files. Instead of the old, clumsy way of having to go through filing cabinets to find them each time, each person merely has to use their keyboard to quickly locate the file and retrieve it. Once the file has been dealt with on that particular occasion, information in the system is updated and the file can be returned to its original storage place.
In professional occupations such as lawyers, doctors and accountants, regulations are changing all the time. They must also deal with an ever changing volume of local, state and federal laws and ensure they comply with them all. If they implement a smart document management system, every time a new law is passed and information is received, it can be added to the relevant files so everyone has the updated information.
The old problem of files sitting on people’s desks eternally waiting for certain documents to arrive before they can be actioned is gone. This will reduce the amount of time spent on filing and retrieval of files.
Human resources and payroll departments of large organizations rely heavily on the correct filing and retention of personnel files on a permanent basis. This is a legal necessity and is vital for the company to be able to access the records when dealing with salaries and any other personnel problems that may arise.
Businesses may operate in different states and countries where laws differ. These laws must not only be recorded and stored correctly, but be easily retrieved when necessary. Once the new software has been implemented, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours will be saved. This time and money can be devoted to the more lucrative parts of the business.
Legal record keeping doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s in everyone’s best interest to use the most user-friendly document management system available. Your business will become far more profitable if you do so, because money and time can be focused on the important aspects of your job. The mundane filing and retrieval processes will be faster and more efficient.
You can use Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System to help your company in meeting ISO 9001 QMS standards. You can ensure all documents and files are named and stored in the same standardized way throughout the company, no matter how many offices or branches you have in whatever countries they’re in.
That’s how much the Internet and this system will help you. Companies that stick to using outdated methods of filing will end up becoming so bogged down with years worth of manual records that they will simply not be able to cope and will collapse under the costly burden of maintaining such a system.
In this article, Sherry Borsheim of Simply Productive and a Paper Tiger Expert, provides some instruction for what to do with the paper that comes into your life.
There are only FOUR things you can do with paper: File, Act, Schedule or Toss. I use the acronym F.A.S.T. As you open your mail over the wastepaper basket, keep the F.A.S.T. principle in mind as you sort it accordingly.
FILE
ACT
SCHEDULE
Items to schedule in your dayplanner (paper planner or electronic planner).
TOSS
Items which do not enhance your life can be immediately tossed! (NOTE: “Toss” means “get it out of here.” One form of tossing is to give it to someone else who would find it useful.)
Ask yourself these questions to determine whether or not to toss something:
About the Author
Sherry Borsheim, owner of Simply Productive, has been helping people to work smarter, not harder for years. She specializes in resolving paper, time and information management issues. To learn more about eliminating the paper pile-up and in vastly improving your productivity, contact Simply Productive at 604-233-7076.
You can visit Sherry, access her free article archive and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.simplyproductive.com. Sherry lives in Vancouver, BC Canada with her husband (her high-school sweetheart).
Also check out Sherry’s Calm Your Choas special that will give you a JUMP-START on ORGANIZING your office, home and life. She will give you her trade secrets and steps to setting up your organizing systems, including recommending Paper Tiger filing system software for document management, to be organized and manage the paper files that you need to keep in hard copy format and other physical stuff in your life.
Published with permission.
Organizations face many tough choices in today’s business world. The struggle to keep up with new advances in technology and reduce carbon emissions is difficult. There is always pressure to cut costs and increase productivity. The positive news is that your document management system can be environmentally friendly whilst still being cost effective.
Whether you believe that global warming is an issue for the planet or not, it’s everyone’s responsibility to do all they can to minimize the impact their business has on the environment. Typical offices waste a lot of paper and power needlessly. This can easily be rectified by making some smart business decisions.
The First Step – Standardization
The first change should be to implement an intelligent document management software system, like The Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System, that can eliminate the need for waste, save money, reduce power usage and increase productivity. If such a system is put in place, your current method of filing would change completely. Standardize the way that all files are labeled and that will avoid unnecessary duplication. Once individual documents are finished with, they can be added to the appropriate file.
Reduce Paper Usage
Because millions of documents are in different formats, they can be actioned without first converting them to paper. This immediately reduces the need for such vast quantities of paper to be used. A recent study calculated the additional costs associated with a single sheet of office paper, discovered that you have to multiply it by a factor of 30. This means that a $5 ream of paper would cost around $150. The average office worker uses around 10,000 sheets a year. One company calculated that if each of their workers saved one sheet of paper a week, they would save $700,000 per year.
If people start becoming smarter about their paper usage, the savings would be incalculable just for the paper alone. This means such signs as “think before you print” and “recycle that waste paper” should start appearing all over the office.
Documents can be edited electronically and saved on a CD or DVD for filing instead of printing because the files now have the ability to contain all formats. Paper won’t ever disappear completely, but a heavy reduction is vital.
Save Money and Boost Productivity
All staff will have access to the same filing system software and can instantly locate relevant files and documents at any time. This reduces filing and retrieval times and so decreases your overall costs while increasing productivity.
To decreases your power bill and carbon footprint at the same time, all staff should get into the habit of turning off all printing equipment when not being used. Of course, this is even more important at the end of the work day.
Once your document management system is in place and working smoothly, you won’t need as much room for file storage because everything will have been categorized in one of three ways; action, archive, or destroy. You won’t have desks overflowing with documents and files that haven’t been actioned or are just put in the “too hard” basket. And how to archive is simple with Paper Tiger. You would have a Location named ‘Archives’ in Paper Tiger, then simply conduct a Transfer Move of the file or files being moved to the Archive Location within your database. Paper Tiger will assign a file number in your Archives file to move the file to in the physical location. Files being destroyed or recycled can simply be Tossed in the Paper Tiger database, opening the item slot for another file to be inserted.
Staff will become more productive and office morale will be higher because they are able to work on more productive tasks. Proven statistics say that 20% of the work produces 80% of the revenue and 80% of the work only produces 20% of the revenue. Clumsy filing systems are time and money eaters. Now you can improve the percentages. Because of this increased efficiency and the smarter use of paper and all office equipment, your power bills should decrease as well.
The Impact on the Environment
If you stop to consider the ramifications of utilizing a more efficient document management system on other associated industries, it makes no sense to stick to the old methods. The paper industry uses vast amounts of pulp, energy and water and pump out tons of greenhouse gases. If the need for paper decreases dramatically, thousands of trees can be saved, more water can be conserved and less energy will be needed. If the number of trees being cut down is reduced, the result will be cleaner air and a healthier environment.
The Big Picture
It’s also vital to think of the bigger picture in terms of the next generation. You may not live to see the long-term effects of these necessary changes, but your children will. Should they have to live on a sick planet because their parents and grandparents badly damaged the environment through carelessness?
It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business owner or the CEO of the largest corporation. If you have filing to do, remember that your document management system can be environmentally friendly while being cost effective.
When thinking about Document Management Systems and whether to upgrade your existing one to improve business, some factors are always considered, but many people underestimate the true value of smart document management systems.
Productivity and the Bottom Line
It’s only natural that productivity and the bottom line are the first considerations. Countless hours and thousands of dollars are wasted on filing and retrieving documents because of archaic filing systems that have been in place for years. Because most filing systems start small and grow as the need arises, they become unwieldy. People file documents using differing criteria and so duplicate files are often created.
Today’s business world is so different to 20 years ago, because you now have so many different methods of creating documents and files. Numerous paper based items are still very common. However, you also have emails and attachments, photos, CDs, DVDs, PowerPoint presentations and more. Somehow all these “documents” need to be stored in the same filing system for later retrieval or archival purposes.
If you implement a smart document management software to logically index every document and file in the same standardized way throughout every area of your business, the benefits will be enormous. There won’t be any more cases of file duplication. Everything will be easier to find. This will save lots of hours and increase productivity enormously, which results in increased bottom line.
Stress Reduction of Staff
Stress is an often unseen concern of management and staff. If your people are over stressed, they won’t function well and filing is the last thing they will want to do. They are likely to take sick days rather than deal with the immensely tedious and stressful task of facing their desks full of files and documents every single day. Instead of feeling motivated to do a good job, their morale decreases and this also affects productivity in a negative manner.
Improving your filing system will have an enormous impact on your office and will reduce stress because your staff will be able to find the files they need. Your office will be more organized and your staff will be able to contribute more to company success. By demonstrating you care what they think and feel, you gain more loyal employees and this makes for a more stable company.
Future Expansion
Once you implement proper filing system software and start to reap the benefits, plans can be made for faster expansion of your business. You’ll have much tighter control of costs and productivity. You’ll have more confidence that the staff is happy doing more important work and contributing to the company’s overall success instead of facing the tedium of stacks of files they previously had to contend with. You can guide the company in the right direction and time can be better focused on achieving these vital goals.
Compliance
Once your filing management system is in place, your company will be in a stronger position to be fully compliant with all pertinent regulations relating to the management of all data, media and information. As the number of laws and the severity of punishment that governs document management increases, the need to maintain accurate records becomes even more vital to all companies.
Logical Conclusion
Once you understand the true value of a smart document management system, like The Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System and the many ways it impacts your company, there’s only one real decision to make. It’s not a question of IF you implement such a system, but WHEN. Bring your company into the 21st century and set it up for major success now and in the future.
By Meggin McIntosh, “The Ph.D. of Productivity”™ and Paper Tiger Expert
Do you use folders in your email system? If you do, then you’ll want to read this article to find out how to use them more effectively. If you don’t, then you’ll want to read this article to find out ways of setting up folders – and why you would want to do so.
It’s surprising to me the number of people who have never set up folders in their email. When they open up their email, they see the Inbox, the Outbox, and Sent, Deleted, and Junk. These are the ubiquitous folders that common programs like Outlook, GroupWise, or Eudora give you. They are fairly standard and many professionals never explore the power of having anything beyond those five folders.
Before we get into how to structure your folders, here’s how to create a folder (in essentially all the typical email programs):
1. Right-click on the Inbox folder. One of the choices that pops up says, “New Folder.”
2. Type in the name of the folder (more about that later in the article).
3. If you should decide you want to have subfolders, then you just right click on whatever the ‘parent’ folder would be and go through the same process.
In terms of structuring your folders, let’s get a visual image first. Imagine your file cabinet. When you open it up, you might see 10 folders in there. That’s all fine, but if you started stuffing each individual folder with several folders and then stuffing those particular folders with even more folders, before long, you would have quite a bit of trouble finding anything you were looking for.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what some people do with their email folders. They create too many folders and then they embed several “levels” of folders within those folders. You are far better off to create some rather broad categories of folders and then to create one and NO MORE THAN TWO levels beneath that ‘parent folder.’ Here are some general suggestions for folders to have:
Using the folder option is a smart way to categorize your emails. Use the suggestions in this article to get started and/or to refine the way you use folders.
And, if you’d like to access many more ideas that will let you keep moving forward on your goals for more peaceful productivity, then join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (and see what is available for download at no cost at the following websites):
**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)
**Keys to Keeping Chaos at Bay (http://www.KeepingChaosatBay.com)
(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meggin_McIntosh
They hide in the shadows of the shelves and lurk inside big grey tombs. They linger on desks and chairs and creep along the floors. You’ll find them reproducing at an alarming rate in every in-tray.
It’s time to tame the paper filing monsters and boost your productivity once and for all.
Nobody likes monsters, but the office world is full of them. Your inefficient filing system is a family of huge hungry monsters with ravenous appetites. They eat up hours like seconds and dollars like cents. They turn the hardest of workers into slaves and scare off the most valiant of secretaries, clerks and administrators.
However, there’s a new breed of soldier entering the arena and he’s ready to do battle with these horrendous monsters. This knight’s name is Sir Document Management System — Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System, that is. He has plenty of weapons in his arsenal to help you defeat your enemies. Wherever he goes, monsters flee in terror because his reputation precedes him.
Imagine Clean Desks and Tidy In-Trays
Imagine a world, not unlike your own. A world where there are no shadows or empty, messy tombs. Imagine clean desks and tidy in-trays. Fantasize about your budget being in surplus due to an increase in productivity, the likes of which you have never seen before. Dream about staff not taking sick days because they enjoy their work.
Only the most astute of kings will have the wisdom to see past the endless years of havoc and visualize the possibilities of a new and better world free of such monsters. A world where all your people file documents of all types in exactly the same way. Retrieval of archived files becomes very easy because the information is at your fingertips. A few clicks of your mouse and you can instantly access the location of the document a secretary who left the company two years ago had archived.
This user-friendly document management software is to monsters what kryptonite is to Superman; Lethal! Staff will be more productive because they’re not wasting countless hours looking for lost files and documents for important meetings. There won’t be problems with file duplication because of the Find First feature in this filing system. No matter how the person is thinking the day they file or the day they are looking for a file, they will be able to find it within a few seconds based on the keywords input when filed.
If you implement one little concept at the same time as you initialize this system, you’ll reduce the amount of wasted dollars and man hours even further. The tip is simple. As much as possible, manage each document only once. Receive it and make one of only three choices: archive it, action it as soon as practical or discard it.
Don’t Just Shuffle Documents From One Place to Another
Don’t play the game of moving a document from a tray to a pile for further sorting and then sort that pile into more piles because that’s what you’ve probably already been doing. Why do you think the monsters came out in the first place?
Paperwork won’t ever be eradicated. Well, at least not this century, but it can be controlled more efficiently and give you back precious time to concentrate on more important tasks.
Of course, you can also control access to certain materials. By using smart document management software you’re streamlining lots of different processes and that means efficiency and productivity will rise enormously.
Another benefit to using Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System is that it reduces the amount of physical storage needed. More files can be archived and stored elsewhere if that’s more convenient. The system helps you locate archived files quicker than the old fashioned way of hunting through piles and shelves and filing cabinets.
Filing will always be a major component of any office, but handling it in the smartest way possible will save time and money and help you achieve your goals faster.
So in the end, it basically comes down to a simple question. Will you remain in the cobwebbed castle with the constant shrieks and howls or will you rise up and decide to tame the paper filing monsters and boost your productivity? Sir Document Management System is only a mouse click away!
by Stephanie Calahan of Calahan Solutions and a Paper Tiger Expert
We have heard it since the early 1970s – the Internet will make us paperless! Well, I don’t know about you, but my office is not close to being paper-free. One of the reasons for the plethora of paper is that it is just too darn easy to share information today.
Let me give you an example.
When I first started working in an office environment, the Internet and email was not really used to share information. If I had something that others needed to know, it got typed up and I had to walk to the copier and copy it on colored paper. (Different colors stood for different types of information.)
Before I made copies, I took time to think through who really needed the information. I would only make the copies that I really needed. Why? Because after I made the copies, I had to hand address onto inner-office envelopes.
Contrast that to today.
We get something in our in-boxes and decide to send it on. We hit forward and if we want, we could copy our entire address book! Ultimately that means that more information is given to more people at a faster pace.
So, how does that lead to more paper?
Most of us do not like to read information on the screen if it is of any length. We print it! Then the cycle continues over again and again.
Jonathan Spira of the Basex company has this commentary to share on the paperless office.
THE MYTH OF THE PAPERLESS OFFICE
Pundits have been proclaiming the imminent arrival of the paperless office since the 1970s. So far, they’ve been wrong. If anything, we print more today than we did back then.
Yet some still believe in this; those who engage in looking for the paperless office may be engaging in a Sisyphean task.
The New York Times ran a story on February 10 by Hannah Fairfield entitled “Pushing Paper Out the Door.” It speaks of paper-reducing technologies in homes and offices, citing families who scan their bills and opt for on-line statements. To Fairfield I say, “not so fast.”
Indeed Fairfield quotes Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive: “Paper is no longer the master copy; the digital version is. Paper has been dealt a complete deathblow. When was the last time you saw a telephone book?”
To respond directly to Kahle, last week. My friend and fellow analyst Amy Wohl famously commented, around 1978, that she thought that the paperless office was “about as useful as the paperless toilet.”
But the article had a bigger problem. While it provided an excellent look on the move to digitization, it completely ignored the elephant in the room, namely a compatibility conundrum that has been with us since the first computer was turned on over 60 years ago.
Books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed hundreds of years ago are accessible without any special equipment. For that matter, the Rosetta Stone (dating from 196 B.C.E.), was also readable upon its discovery in 1799.
Contrast this with millions of files on 8″ or even 5 1/4″ floppy diskettes, various obsolete tape cartridges, and NASA’s earliest photographs of the earth – all mostly inaccessible with today’s technology.
One might presume that the technology revolution of the late twentieth century had increased our ability to preserve our history and cultural artifacts. In actuality, we have failed.
Moving all of our papers to digital form without a plan to ensure accessibility not only 5 years from now but 50 years and 100 years and beyond is not making information MORE accessible but risking that it will become LESS accessible.
Jonathan B. Spira is CEO and Chief Analyst at Basex.
What do you think? Can we go paperless? What have you done? Share your thoughts below by making a comment in the blog comment section.
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PS: Don’t forget to keep your paper files in order with Paper Tiger Filing System and Document Management Software, which Stephanie highly recommends and also includes in her in-person or remote/virtual Office Miracle.
About the Author:
Stephanie Calahan is The Business Vision Catalyst and founder of Calahan Solutions, Inc. She works with purpose-driven entrepreneurs, visionaries, coaches, consultants, health practitioners, authors, speakers and all sorts of remarkable service professionals who are experts in their field, to help them embrace their brilliance, leverage their business and get their message out with power, ease and joy; so that they can make a powerfully positive difference in the world, exponentially grow their income and enjoy a highly-successful and meaningful business… while working less. Learn how you can have more freedom in your life! http://www.StephanieCalahan.com
by Stephanie Calahan of Calahan Solutions and a Paper Tiger Expert
I was reading an interesting article on record retention in InnerBusiness Issues Magazine, in which Greg Dickerson of Iron Mountain wrote “The 10 Deadly Sins of a Corporate Retention.” Record management is a struggle for many companies because it is not a direct money making activity. It does not seem important until it’s too late – you need information and cannot find it. He notes 10 common errors which reflect companies’ struggles with information management. How many of them match your company? Take a look at his article to learn more. Do you make any of these mistakes? Tell me what you think!
To your success!
Steph
Twitter.com/StephCalahan
Facebook.com/StephCalahan
PS: Don’t forget to keep your paper files in order with Paper Tiger Filing System and Document Management Software, which Stephanie highly recommends and also includes in her in-person or remote/virtual Office Miracle.
About the Author:
Stephanie Calahan is The Business Vision Catalyst and founder of Calahan Solutions, Inc. She works with purpose-driven entrepreneurs, visionaries, coaches, consultants, health practitioners, authors, speakers and all sorts of remarkable service professionals who are experts in their field, to help them embrace their brilliance, leverage their business and get their message out with power, ease and joy; so that they can make a powerfully positive difference in the world, exponentially grow their income and enjoy a highly-successful and meaningful business… while working less. Learn how you can have more freedom in your life! http://www.StephanieCalahan.com
