While setting up and running a small electrical contracting firm, based in a home office, I tried three, separate and distinctly different filing systems. The third system was “Paper Tiger – Professional version”. That was over 2 years ago and it has only gotten better.
When combined with Barbara Hemphill’s teaching on “FAT” (File, Act, Toss), and the six questions of “Wastebasketry”, which I now have framed on the wall for easy reference, I haven’t looked back. (See Paper Tiger Filing System Tutorials)
I am now able to sort, search and track over 1000 individual locations with confidence. Not to mention how it has helped clear my desk space and helped me focus.
After some experimentation, my locations have developed to suit three requirements:
Requirement One the physical thickness of items I need to file.
Anything from that proverbial single sheet of paper through to some quite thick and bulky brochures and technical specifications.
Requirement Two control over the sensitivity of a file’s contents.
Be that due to tax, financial or customer information. These files are simply more “mission critical” than the latest plumbing magazine or scribbled notes of meetings.
Requirement Three retaining conveniently short memorable names.
Short also means larger, clearer text printed on the physical hanging file “tab” or label.
It also uses up less space on screen for the location column, which means more space for keywords.
Thus the names and types of storage have become:
ACT & REF for my “Action” and “Reference” files.
CSO is my “Customer, Supplier, Organisation” cabinet. The sensitive files and mission critical files that are conveniently located close by and under lock and key.
All three sections use standard hanging files in metal filing cabinets.
MAG = Side open plastic magazine holders on book shelves. Great for bulky catalogues.
TAB = Leaver arch folders with 20 way dividers. TAB is short for “Tabs”. These are good to collect together product data sheets from different manufacturers, while retaining a traditional “book” format. 20 also means the folders number up easily; 20,40,60 etc.
STA = Think “Stack”. Also Leaver Arch folders, but each holding around 100 individual papers, as I like many others, like to cut out and save news articles and magazine pages for reference. These are placed in thin pre-punched plastic files with the corner clearly numbered.
ARC = Archives. Traditional box files stored in the loft for those historic records.
Finally, again thanks to Barbara’s idea,
INF = Information. Not a physical storage location, but a place that exists only inside the Paper Tiger database. A great place to “retrieve” those little notes, ideas and other miscellaneous items.
A word on filing cabinets. At the outset, I chose to invest in full size office grade cabinets, albeit second hand, and foolscap hanging files rather than the slightly smaller “A4” size that are available for home use. It was a case that these work well for the rigours of a business and are readily available and are unlikely to be a passing fad.
One key tip I have is that I found 50 hanging files per filing cabinet drawer is a great number for both drawer labeling and practical daily use. It is easy to count in “50′s per drawer.”
Finally, when explaining the system to others, I have my own slant on Barbara’s example of the car insurance certificate.
I ask people to imagine the image of a “common four wheel motorised transport device, sat on the driveway outside.” I then ask what they would file the “legal” paperwork under? Usually they reply with something basic like “car insurance” or “insurance certificate”. However I then say, “No… its not a car its a go-cart” and then explain, isn’t the Paper Tiger keyword approach better because we can add search words like:
The vehicle type:
“go-cart, quad-bike, car, van (important to our trade).
The vehicle make model
Ford, Courier
The document Type
insurance, certificate, policy, schedule
Or the common terms people use.
“Dad’s Taxi”
This last one comes more into its own when people are using the special “lingo” and abbreviations of their own industry, e.g. Medical, Education, Engineering etc.
With a cluster of strongly related words, it doesn’t matter how people search, they soon find it even when their thought processes of filing can be quite different. Which is significant in this household.
I now “file” with confidence because I can “retrieve” with confidence.
Paper Tiger – I’d be lost without it.
By Nigel Lovell
Lovell Electrical Services Ltd.
England
Tags: document management software, get organized, paper filing systems, The Paper Tiger 'Finding' Filing System
