For many years I have struggled with keeping my desk cleaned off. Not only was this a chore that never seemed to go away, but I would often feel overwhelm just by the idea of having to get out the label maker, figure out what to call the file, and then have to thumb through the alphabetical files in order to get the new file where it belonged. Because it was often too great a chore for me to engage in, I often put it off until I couldn’t handle the site of my desk or “organized piles.” Moreover, the old system worked fine for annual bills and such, but miscellaneous papers would forever be filed into a state of “organized lostness” somewhere within the confines of the file cabinets; never to be seen or heard of again.
Then I discovered Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management! It did not take me long looking over the website before I realized that this was “must have” software. I ordered the desktop version and shortly thereafter discovered that Paper Tiger Online was in Beta, and that I could sign up to test the software for free! This was exactly what I needed as I have computers in multiple locations in the home (my home office, my wife’s desk upstairs, and a laptop that floats throughout the house), and having the ability to access Paper Tiger from anywhere was a huge bonus.
We set up the database with several locations. My wife has her lateral file close to her desk that we called “Mum’s” location. Then I created an “Action” location close to where I work most. I use one location for “admin” documents in another lateral file, and I have a “reference” location that I use to archive anything and everything that comes across my desk. Although the numbering system seems awkward at first, it is actually incredibly useful and fast. Essentially Paper Tiger acts as a powerful index system that tells you what numbered file is empty and available for a document, or it will let you know if there is a match somewhere that would fit the type of document that is being filed. Since the index numbers are set up ahead of time on the hanging folders in the filing cabinets, it becomes a breeze to file papers as they come in.
For the sake of efficiency (or at least what works best for me), is that I take the document, look up the index file location (by utilizing the search feature), or I set up a new index number for item if I need to. Once I know where the document is going, I write the file number on it, and I place it in my Action drawer in a file called “to file.” If my wife has something that needs to go down stairs in one of the files in my office, she “Paper Tigers” it, and she will put a yellow sticky on the page with the file number and put it in my inbox. This too will make it into my little “to file” file. Then once a week or so (or when I’m feeling disengaged from my work), I will take out the “to file” file and in about 10 minutes or less have all the papers in that file put away where they belong!
One last use we have for Paper Tiger at the moment is that we have taken all our DVD’s and put them in a big leather binder and have thrown the cases away. Each slot in the binder that has a DVD has a number assigned to it, and we wrote the corresponding number with an indelible marker on the actual DVD. Once this was done we cataloged all the DVD’s in Paper Tiger. This has been a great tool since our kids will often get out a bunch of movies all at once and we can easily find out where they go by the number. Also, if we want to watch something, all we have to do is search for it in Paper Tiger, find out the reference number and easily turn to it in the DVD binder.
Well, we may not be “singing” Paper Tiger praises, but my wife and I are constantly commenting on how immensely useful and efficient it is. Thanks to Paper Tiger, our desks are cleaner, our work is less stressful, and things don’t get lost in file cabinet. Thank you Paper Tiger! We look forward to many happy years as customers.
Kevin McAllister
Lead Pastor of Family Worship Center (www.afamily.cc)
http://www.namelounge.com
Augusta, ME
Tags: document management software, document management system, filing software, get organized, paper filing systems, The Paper Tiger 'Finding' Filing System
