How many times has this happened to you: You are running late for a meeting, and have to take time to find the files you need, only to end up being late for the meeting, and never did find those files? Things like this have happened to pretty much everyone who has ever been in business. It seems as though everyone has their own different way of paper filing, and most of the time, none of the methods used actually work all that well, and can even end up being quite complicated.
For the last ten years, many business owners have relied on the paper filing system offered by Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management. Now in its fourth generation, this is an easy-to-use filing system that allows you to keep all of your original paperwork, while it is also indexed, so you can find anything you need with a few keystrokes on your computer. It is an incredibly easy system to learn how to use, and also very easy to teach to members of your staff.
When it comes to time management, it can often seem like there is just way too much to do, and things can become quite overwhelming, especially when it comes to the mountain of paper files we often end up having to sift through just to find one little thing. Having the Paper Tiger Filing System Software can eliminate these problems, leaving you with more time to take care of many other little details involving your business, and your life.
Another option you have is hiring a new staff member just to take care of the paperwork that keeps on building up every single day, no matter how hard you try to get it all organized. This can be a really costly option and an unnecessary one. All you need is to have a great paper filing system like the Paper Tiger Filing System Software to take care remembering where your files are so that you can find them when you need them, and you can spend your time on more worthwhile things.
You may have also tried other methods of looking after your files, only to find that they did not work as well as you would have liked. One of course is the traditional method of alphabetizing everything. Unfortunately, we all start out with the best of intentions, but after a while, things do not get filed properly, and sometimes, not at all. Since the alphabetical system is limited to what fits on the file folder tab, you put off filing because you’re afraid you won’t remember what you filed things under and won’t be able to find them again so you would rather keep your paper files in stacks.
When you are trying to run a business, the last thing you need to worry about is dealing with paper filing. Let Paper Tiger take care of your files by indexing them, so you can find everything you need, any time, quickly and easily. You will be able to access everything you need, without having to spend hours fumbling through stacks of papers, and you will be wondering why you didn’t implement a paper management system like this ages ago. See how Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management works by watching the videos on our Why Paper Tiger page.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paper is by far the #1 reason people contact us. The paperless office that was promised back int the late 70s / early 80s never happened. My friends at The Monticello Corporation created a new video that does a great job of talking about how to gain control of paper. Take a watch and tell me what you think! (click here to see the video)
I’ve been using and consulting with this tool, Paper Tiger Filing System and Document Management Software, for a number of years now. It is one of the tools that we introduce you to when you claim your Office Miracle(tm).
Sound interesting? Contact us today for a no cost / no obligation telephone consultation to see if this is the right tool for your situation. Want to buy it right now? Check out Paper Tiger Filing System and Document Management Software for more information on the tool.
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whether your business is a small one-person operation or a large company, you are bound to have all kinds of paperwork. Often, you have so much paperwork surrounding you that you don’t have a clue as to what is where, or which file is which. Even the smallest of businesses have this type of problem, and it can often be quite a task to come up with a filing system that actually works. No matter how hard we try, or how much we dream, it is hard to go paperless and we are never going to be able to get rid of all of the paper flow that just keeps coming. So why not find a way to keep it organized so that you can find anything that you want in just a few seconds?
When you use the Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management, you will be able to organize all of your paper files. Now this does not mean that you will be getting rid of your paperwork and just using your computer. Quite the contrary. Actually, with Paper Tiger Filing System Software, you will keep all of your paper files, so that you always have the original hard copy available, but index these records in the software database, so you can find anything you want at a moment’s notice. Some people just feel scanning is still not the solution. Often in attempts to go paperless, more copies are printed that have been stored electronically than ever would have needed to be printed had the one paper copy been kept. This can be used as your very own professional organizer and will really help when it comes to time management.
Did you know that a lot of business owners spend more than 150 hours each year just searching for lost files? When you use the Paper Tiger Filing System Software, you will be able to put these hours to much better use. So, you are probably wondering how Paper Tiger can help you, and what it is all about. Well, Paper Tiger is not a system that involves document scanning. Instead, Paper Tiger uses an indexing method. This means that you keep all of your physical paper files, and index them by inputting an item name and relating keywords for each file, so you can conduct a google-like search in the database and be able to find whenever you need them, instead of having to sift through a stack of paper files or trying to remember that one or two-word title you input on the hanging folder tab, which can really take up a lot of time that could be used in better ways. This indexing method enables a more flexible filing system, and you don’t have to worry about trying to remember where you’ve filed something.
Some of the advantages to using Paper Tiger Filing System Software include:
Indexing is the lowest priced form of document management. Having been in the market for more than 14 years, Paper Tiger has a proven track record of document management and helping people get organized and be more productive. Implement Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management today and you’ll be on your way to saving time and money.
Many people think that all that teachers do is teach our kids the things they need to know in order to be able to graduate and go on to college, or get jobs. They do not realize all of the little things that teachers do in order to be able to teach their classes. After all, lesson plans don’t just appear out of thin air, and tests don’t make themselves up. Teachers have to create their own lesson plans, create tests and exams, grade tests and other assignments and keep track of those grades, and so much more. Often, you will find quite a few filing cabinets in a typical classroom, and these are filled to capacity with all of the things that teachers have to deal with every single day. This is a really good reason why teachers should switch to a much easier form of paper management, such as that offered by Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management.
If you are a teacher, you know all too well how much paperwork accumulates on your desk in the course of a day, and at the end of a week, you may even be buried under all of the paper files that you know needs to be filed away, but how to file for easy retrieval is mind-boggling. You may think that a file management system such as indexing software for filing is something that is just for businesses, but it is something that can really make your job a whole lot easier and free up a lot of your time. You can eliminate a lot of the clutter from your classroom, and your mind, so you are free to do what you really want to do: teach.
Some of the things that you can use this system for include:
Paper Tiger Filing System Software is an excellent tool for teachers and professors who want to free up their time and space. Because this is an indexing system and not a scanning system, you will still be able to keep all of your original paper files. You can keep what you need, and toss what you don’t. This filing system software is designed to save you time and effort when you are ready to either file or retrieve your paper files. You simply indicate where that item is stored and assign it a series of relevant keywords. Then you never need worry about misplacing a file again. When you need to find something in a hurry, you won’t have stacks of paper files to go through or have to remember what name you put on the hanging file folder tab, because you can find it with just a few keystrokes on your computer.
The next time you are trying to find something in a pile of papers, perhaps a test that you want to hand out to your students the next day, and are ready to give up and make a new one because you have so much to go through that it is overwhelming, consider implementing a different sort of paper filing system that will save you a lot of time. If you’re filing the old-fashioned, alphabetic way without Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management, you’re working too hard!
Learn what Paper Tiger can do for you, and how it can make your life a whole lot easier.
Document Management – How Long Do I Have To Keep My Paper Files?
by Ramona Creel
At work, at home, no matter who you are or what you do — we are all bombarded with paper. Some days, as I help clients sort through their mail, I’m amazed that we have any trees left on this planet at all! Junk mail, bills, magazines, newspapers, memos, reports — it’s an endless source of stress. Things have gotten so bad that we’re developing a new fear in our society — “paperphobia,” the fear of having to deal with that stack that’s been sitting there for a week. But a good document management system is the key to overcoming your paper-induced worries!
Thinning The Herd
Remember the first rule of clutter — “the less you have, the easier it is to organize.” The paperless office is still a long way off — I can’t guarantee that you will ever be able to eliminate paper from your life completely, but you can certainly reduce the size of the piles. Let’s start by going through your old files and doing some cleaning out. I believe strongly that if you don’t have a good reason for keeping it, get rid of it — but a lot of folks are afraid to ever throw a document away because they might need it again “someday.” How do you define “someday?” I suggest that my clients ask themselves some basic questions about why they are keeping their paper:
That last question leads us to the subject of purging financial and legal records. This is a sensitive (and somewhat scary) issue, because there could be some harsh consequences if you throw something out too soon. I agree that it’s better to be safe than sorry, but fear is a poor organizing guide. If you simply take the time to educate yourself about how long you are legally required to retain each document, you’ll never go wrong. Effective document management is all about having the right information and acting on that knowledge.
Records Retention Guidelines
In recent years, an entirely new field of study called “records management” has arisen — dedicated to helping people understand how long they must keep certain documents. Based on the information gathered by this industry, I have compiled standard schedule for purging your files. But please understand that this is a complicated issue (especially in today’s litigious society), and each situation is unique. Many professions set their own legal guidelines for records retention, and you may have some unusual or extenuating circumstance in your life — so check with your accountant or attorney before pitching out any important legal, business, or financial paperwork.
You must keep the following documents forever (yes, forever!):
Businesses are held accountable to a much stricter set of rules than individuals. In addition, specific industries set their own legal standards, including but not limited to healthcare, insurance, law, etc. In addition to the items listed above, all companies should create permanent files for the following, but be sure to ask your professional association for any additional policies for record management and retention.
Hold onto the following paperwork for six years. The IRS may go back 6 years to audit your tax returns for errors or incorrectly claimed deductions, so it’s important to keep all tax-related documents.
Keep these records for three years:
You should retain these records according to the following guidelines:
Safely Disposing Of Paper
Just because you cleaned it out, does not mean that it goes in the trash! Did you realize that once you put something in a garbage can at the curb, it becomes public property? And reports of identity theft are increasing every day. When someone else gains access to your personal records (social security number, tax id, drivers license number, address, bank account information) and pretends to be you, the results can be disastrous. Using your identifying information, this person can take out loans, run up credit card bills, and run up a tremendous amount of debt — all in your name. And most times, you never know until you get the collection letter. It can take years to clear up the legal and financial problems this causes you, and it can temporarily ruin your credit. Proper document management is synonymous with safety.
So to protect yourself from this threat, be sure to dispose of your important records properly. Any piece of paper that contains account numbers, your social security number, or any other sensitive information should be shredded. If you only have a small amount of paper to destroy, consider visiting your local office supply store to pick up a personal shredder — they run as little at $20 or $30. If you generate a large quantity of “shredable” paper, or just don’t want to sit there feeding in one page at a time, think about using a mobile shredding service. These companies will come to your home or office and shred your documents on-site for a fee. Just be sure that you choose a reputable company that provides you with a certificate or letter guaranteeing that your paper has been shredded unrecognizable.
Welcome To The Digital Age
In order for your filing system to be truly effective, it should really have two components — a paper side combined with electronic document management software. Software such as Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management is designed to save you time and effort when you are ready to either file or retrieve your paper files. You simply indicate where that item is stored and assign it a series of relevant keywords. Then you never need worry about misplacing a file again. Simply search by the name of the document or one of the keywords and voila! If you’re filing the old-fashioned way without document management software, you’re working too hard!
About the Author
Ramona Creel is Professional Organizer, NAPO Golden Circle Member, and the original founder of OnlineOrganizing. A former Social Worker, she has always enjoyed helping people find the resources and solutions they need to improve their lives. Ramona now travels the country as a full-time RVer, sharing her story of simplicity with everyone she meets. She leads by example — having worked for more than 10 years as a Professional Organizer, and having radically downsized and simplified her own life as a full-time RVer. Ramona now considers herself a “Renaissance Woman” — bringing all of her passions together into one satisfying career. As a “Virtual Organizer”, she can create a customized organizing plan for your home or office. As a “Simplicity and Accountability Coach “, Ramona provides a proven program for making every area of your life a little bit easier — perfect for those who want to make the time and space to focus on their true priorities. As a Professional Photographer, Ramona captures powerful images of places and people as she travels. And as a freelance writer and blogger, she shares organizing techniques, travel tips, and social commentary with others. You can see all these sides of Ramona — read her articles, browse through her photographs, and even hire her to help get your life in order — at www.RamonaCreel.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, check out her Facebook profile, and subscribe to her blog feeds.
The Paper Tiger Online multi-user plans have been designed to help your team increase its efficiency and agility around document management. It offers a unified online environment for you to have more than 1 user in your Paper Tiger account, and will provide your team better collaboration and access to document information without the risks associated with sharing a single account. I’m sure you’ll see the benefits as you think about how more efficient your staff can be with the document management and paper flow in your office.
Some benefits to your organization include:
Paper Tiger Online multi-user plans allow you to set up an infinite number of users who can access your Paper Tiger filing system information. Each user will have unique user credentials associated with their profiles. This capability will allow you to track the changes made by each user in your team.
Because some information in your Paper Tiger account may be classified, a Paper Tiger Online multi-user plan lets you set permissions on the users you invite. This allows you to control what databases or locations each user can view or edit.
To maintain the integrity and consistency of your document management information, Paper Tiger Online multi-user plans come with built in error detection controls which prevents more than one user from editing the same file at the same time.
The Paper Tiger Online multi-user plan is a great solution for team environments with large volumes of physical documents and items that they need to track and collaborate around. The return on investment you receive will be evident in the productivity and effectiveness of your team.
Below is a peek into some of the Paper Tiger Online multi-user features.
The user management page above displays all the users who currently have access to your account and the number of user space available for your account. From here you can invite new users, cancel current users and edit each user’s individual profile and permissions. See more information in our Knowledge Base article ‘Inviting a User to Your Multi-User Account.’
The permissions page allows you to set permissions for what each user can view and edit. Permissions management can be done at the database and location level, you can select what each user can and cannot view or edit.
Please see our Knowledge Base articles Paper Tiger Multi-User Concepts, How to Set User Permissions and How Do Permissions Work?, and Collision Detection for more information regarding Paper Tiger Online multi-user plans and how they work.
Read this article by Stephanie Calahan of Calahan Solutions and a Paper Tiger Expert for statistics regarding how much misfiled and lost paper files cost you. Stephanie also recommends Paper Tiger Filing System and Document Management Software in her Office Miracle to be able to find your files when you need them!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The other day I was doing my file clean-out, (yes you really should go through and see what is still relevant!), and I came across some statistics that I thought you might be interested in. Implications could make or break your business!
Companies typically misfile 2 – 20 % of their records. (Source: ARMA International)
Large organizations lose a document every 12 seconds. On average 7.5 of the documents are lost forever! (source: ARMA International)
90% of all workplace docs are still on paper; 30% of the average workday is spent searching for that info! (source: Assoc for Info & Image Mgt)
The average office spends $20 on labor for filing each document & $120 searching for every misfiled document! (source: Coopers & Lybrand study in Inc Mag)
The average office loses 1 out of 20 office documents & spends $250 on document re-creation! (source: Coopers & Lybrand study in Inc Mag)
Wow! Do you have processes in your business to make sure that these statistics are not representing you too?
Also see this article “Did You Know Paper and Other Things in Your Office Hold Emotion?” by Stephanie that you should find helpful when deciding what to file or not.
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you have trouble keeping things organized, especially all of the paper files for your small business? Is this problem flowing over into your everyday life because you just can’t seem to get organized at all, and it is starting to affect your life and your business?
Well, maybe you should look into getting professional help. No, we are not talking about psychological help, but help getting all of your business paperwork organized so you can find anything you need whenever you need it, quickly and easily. This is a great way to declutter your office, and in a way, your life as well. Because, if your work life is cluttered, you will probably bring this clutter home with you (at least in your mind, because you are worried about finding things), so your life may end up becoming quite cluttered, also.
A lot of business owners rely on using the traditional method of alphabetical filing for all of their paper files. This is okay, to a degree, but it does require quite a bit of maintenance, and it is not a job that you can always find people to do willingly. After all, filing it is pretty boring. Also, people tend to think differently about files from one day to the next, so it is common to have to look in different places in your filing cabinet to find the right title in which you filed it previously. So, instead of drudging through files all the time, or making one of your employees suffer through the task, why not consider going to a different method of document management, such as indexing using Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management. This software is easy to learn how to use, so you should have no problem learning everything you need to know in half an hour or less.
Another bonus to using the Paper Tiger is for archiving old files. For instance, if you do like to clean out your hanging file folders every so often and get rid of old things you do not need or send them to a storage facility for those you have to keep for a certain length of time, how to archive using this paper management system is simple, and you’ll be able to track where they are in the event you ever need them again. You can even set an Action Date to remind you when to toss them or take additional action on them.
You can also use this filing system software for managing things other than your paper files. If you have books, binders, CDs, DVDs, items in storage containers or a storage facility, or any kind of collectors items or inventory, they can also be cataloged using this filing system.
When you sign up to use Paper Tiger Online Filing System Software, you will be ready to start using the software in under a minute. If you ever have any questions, there are videos, online help, frequently asked questions and the Paper Tiger Knowledge Base, so you are never without resources for learning. There is also online chat available, so you can have your questions answered within minutes.
It is estimated that people waste 150 hours per year looking for lost items. Indexing your paper files and all your other physical items will save you a lot of time and money that can be used for other areas of your business. De-clutter your business and your life when you take advantage of all that Paper Tiger Filing System Software and Document Management has to offer.
In every organization both large and small, there is a demand for optimum efficiency and a productive work-flow. The fact is, no matter how much business you conduct or how busy your personal life is, we still have to deal with actual pieces of paper. Luckily, Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management makes it almost fun to organize and track your documents.
Paper Tiger makes filing-as-you-go a breeze. Use Paper Tiger on your Ipad, Iphone, or your personal computer network. Today I’ll provide 3 excellent tips on how Paper Tiger can turn your office from a zoo to a state of the art file repository system.
One of the biggest headaches with file management is clutter control
Your goal is easy retrieval, and if you can’t find a file, you might as well not have that file at all. In Paper Tiger, the user has the option to assign reminders and action dates. Assigning toss out dates for replaceable files can become prudent to decluttering a disorganized office. If you never throw anything away, you’ll make the filing cabinet manufacturer very happy, and waste time trying to find anything. You simply don’t have to keep every scrap of paper forever. But keep in mind that some documents, for legal or financial reasons, must be kept a specified length of time. See our Retention Guidelines blog posts that you might find helpful.
Organize by Categories
Make files easier to find by creating a list of detailed categories in every database, and try to place every file you have within a specific category. For instance, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Avatar would all reside within the same category of “Science Fiction” within your “DVD” database, though they may be in entirely separate locations. Having a relational organization system will limit office redundancy by a ton. Whatever method you choose, make sure your system is obvious and consistent throughout your files to make retrieving paperwork as simple and thoughtless as possible.
Back up your files regularly
Whether you’re backing up files for an office move, or to reorganize your filing cabinets, it’s important to follow a regular back up regimen. Archiving business data is more than a matter of good housekeeping; it could be a matter of your business’s survival. There are two steps to archiving business information for successful backup. Identifying the critical data that needs to be archived, and abiding by a regular schedule. Backing up your actual files may seem like a daunting task for any secretary or file administrator, but this is another hurdle which the Paper Tiger is able to leap. With Paper Tiger, you can also print out a hard copy of your database so that you can find your files in the event your computer or the internet is down.
By Denise Landers
Key Organization Systems, Inc.
If you do not have vacation time blocked off on the company schedule now for the end of the year, do not despair. It seems everyone wants to have the holidays off, yet when we submit our annual vacation request, we may be turned down. If you are glum over the prospect of limited holiday time off, console yourself with what you will actually be facing:
Throughout the year, it is easy to be swept up by the crisis du jour. You may be responding to constant interruptions, multitasking all the time. There is often no opportunity to pause for thinking and planning. More involved projects get set aside for a “better” time when you can concentrate. Many times these delayed activities are the most “important” projects, the ones that will actually make a difference. However since they did not have a deadline or an “Urgent” tag attached to them, they were shuffled aside.
Here is your chance to catch up. Rather than joining the throngs at the airports, jostling through overcrowded stores, or fighting for a spot on the lift line, enjoy the opportunity that is presented to you in the office.
What can you do that would make you feel energized for the new year? After catching up on key projects, look around and see where organizing could help you be even more productive. Areas to examine:
Daily Systems: Do you have an effective system for handling all of your daily incoming items? A good system will allow you to easily prioritize each day and ensures that you will never overlook and opportunity or miss a deadline.
Desk: Only what you use on a regular basis needs to be close to you. Remove the accumulation from the past year.
Email: When was the last time you zeroed out your inbox? Set up folders both for daily action items and for reference files.
Filing: Are your file folders stuffed and drawers overflowing? Clean out unused, unneeded items. Do you hesitate to file anything because you will never find it again? A good program to help with that is the Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management.
When you find yourself at the office during those holiday lulls, enjoy the peace and look forward to another time when you really need a break. Hopefully it can be a time without peak fares, overbooked resorts, crowded slopes, and too many obligations. Meanwhile you are organized and ready for a productive new year!
Denise Landers is the author of Destination: Organization, A Week by Week Journey and the owner of Key Organization Systems, Inc. As a national speaker, trainer, consultant, and writer she provides clients and audiences with the time management training tools and techniques that improve daily work flow and increase productivity.
www.twitter.com/@timetrainer
Corporate Training: workshops and consulting to increase daily work flow and reduce stress
Individual Assistance: our onsite and virtual office organizing to bring about changes quickly
On Your Own: books and CDs to work at your own pace
By Bonnie Joy Dewkett
The Joyful Organizer®
Paper is one of the biggest problems we have as a society. Here are ten quick tips to get you organized and keep you that way!
Along with these tips, ask yourself the following questions:
Bonnie Joy Dewkett, CPO® is an organizing expert, author, and motivational speaker. Her company, The Joyful Organizer®, creates and implements organizational systems for the home or office. These changes allow her Customers to create calm from chaos at work and at home. Bonnie has achieved the prestigious designation of Certified Professional Organizer, CPO®, from The Board of Certification for Professional Organizers. She is a member of The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and has published The Joyful Organizer’s Guide to a Joyful Move which is available on her website http://www.thejoyfulorganizer.com.
Phone: 203-731-4651
Email: Bonnie@thejoyfulorganizer.com
Twitter: @thejoyfulorg
Zoos can be a terrific place to visit. Millions of people visit zoos all around the world every year. The range of creatures in captivity is enormous and caring for the animals is top priority. Zoos need a proper filing system, Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management, to help improve efficiency and enable staff to spend more time with the animals.
Zoos have always been popular with tourists as the types of animals kept in each zoo vary from country to country. It also means that the overall care and maintenance of the zoos and their animals has to be different as well.
In 1994, the Born Free Foundation (BFF) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) created what is now called “The Zoo Enquiry.” It was a significant file that recommended certain standards in terms of animal welfare and how zoos were to be involved in conservation.
World-wide legislation was created to cover every aspect of the overall health and well-being of all creatures in captivity. This covered everything including: nutrition and hygiene, condition of the animal accommodations, veterinary care and codes of practice to enable self-regulation of the industry.
There are lots of different records that need to be kept. They include: budgets, food and nutritional orders, other requisitions, rostering of staff, feeding time rosters, maintenance of individual habitats, cleaning of the public areas, veterinary visits and health checks and individual records relating to every single creature in the entire zoo.
Record-keeping is an integral part of running a zoo. Because there are so many different factors to contend with, outdated paper-based document management systems are no longer capable of coping with the amount of information needing to be kept.
Therefore, a more sophisticated system must be put in place that will reduce the amount of time wasted on filing and retrieval of documents. This means that staff will be able to spend more of their valuable time caring for the needs of the creatures in their zoo.
A zoo really needs to use document management software that can be tailor-made to the specific needs of the individual zoo. Different countries would have varying needs. A filing system can be created with titles that are relevant to their unique, yet specific, requirements. These titles would be used by all staff and will make it easier to access the location of files and documents within them at any given time.
If staff can file and retrieve documents fast and efficiently, they are free to focus on their other duties and this means that more work can be done in less time, which is a positive thing when it comes to analyzing the zoo’s budgetary requirements. It also means that if they have a fixed amount of money, more can be used for the animals themselves.
If zoos have better record-keeping methods, it will be easier for them to share knowledge with other zoos pertaining to such matters as diseases, differences in behavior when an animal’s habitat has changed, mating issues, family lineage and numerous other pertinent facts that may need to be accessed quickly. It’s vital that accurate records are kept so that zoos can share this valuable information.
The inhabitants of the zoos are constantly being studied to better understand how to care for them in captivity. The actual habitat is analyzed and altered sometimes. They keep a few animals in the one area, either the same species or sometimes they mix them to see how they cope.
They change the way the animals are fed and some also promote closer animal-keeper interactions by instigating different training exercises to see how the animals react. Complete and accurate files have to be kept on everything that occurs within the zoo.
Zoos need Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management to help improve efficiency because they’re not what you would call a “typical business” and therefore their requirements have to be completely tailor-made. That’s why they need an intelligent, flexible document management software program. Then they can keep up with everything and not spend too much time away from their main job of caring for the animals.
The bottom line for me as an entrepreneur is that using the Paper Tiger Filing System Software significantly reduces the amount of stress and anxiety in my life. When I discovered Paper Tiger, I discovered what it was that prevented me from filing papers away in a timely manner. You see, I’m a perfectionist, and every time I would sit down to do some filing, I was faced with the prospect of having to come up with the “right” way to label a file folder. Let’s say I wanted to file sales literature about a CRM company called Salesforce.com. Should I file it under the name of the company? Should I file it under CRM (Customer Relationship Management), which is the category name for this product, as a subject file? Should I file it under Sales and Marketing for my company, which is what I would use the product for, as a subject file? And where was the other information I had collected about this company? Because the real goal of filing is fast retrieval, I worried that the label name I came up with would not be the label name I remembered when it came time to pull this information out of the file to review it. That made me anxious, and it made me dread filing, so I rarely did it. And I lived in the midst of stacks of paper, unable to find what I needed when I needed it. Oh, the time I wasted looking for stuff I needed at the last minute!
Now I don’t feel any pressure to come up with the perfect name for my paper files. First, I can quickly and easily find out if there is any similar information I’ve already filed by using the search bar to look for CRM, Salesforce.com, Sales, Marketing, or other related terms. If there are already files I’d like to file it with, I can quickly do so by entering the any additional keywords relating to the new document going into the file, and then placing it into the hanging folder. If not, all I have to do is create a new file–perhaps with a general term like CRM–and add all of the keywords that I think I’d use to refer to it later, and I’m done. This little software program has had a profound impact on the quality of my life.
Michele Engel
President & CEO
Insightrak
Whether you’re a small business or a huge multinational corporation, you can’t afford not to be using a smart document management system, like Paper Tiger Filing System Software and Document Management, unless you’re happy throwing away your profits. Did you know that experts estimate that people waste 150 hours per year looking for lost information?
Technology is really streamlining the way that business is being conducted. Gone are the antiquated days of dusty basements filled with shelves and wall units crammed full of paper-based files. The days of tediously trawling through mountains of files to find a single document with that vital piece of information for that urgent board meeting are also gone.
What you really need is a document management system that will save you money and time, and increase your profits while decreasing expenditure. The great news is that the solution already exists. Just decide to make the change.
Instead of the archaic filing system you currently tolerate, your new filing system will be easy to learn and implement. It will be user-friendly for everyone from the CEO right down to the staff in the data processing centers.
All files will use a standardized naming system so that duplication is virtually eliminated. Documents in all formats will be easily stored in the same file. This avoids unnecessary duplication of documents. Desks won’t be overflowing with files and papers all the time and staff will be more productive when they can find what they need when they need it.
Information can easily be shared within departments, no matter where they’re located. Documents can be filed easily and files can be retrieved as fast as necessary because your computer software will tell you the location instantly.
Your board members will be ecstatic when you tell them that your ideal system will help staff provide better service to your clientele because information is more readily accessible. A happy customer is a repeat customer and it’s easier to keep customers than to try and get new ones.
When you think about the return on investment for such a filing system software, that will save you and your staff 150 hours each every year, you can’t afford not to be using a smart document management system.
Try Paper Tiger Filing System Software and Document Management today and see how efficient and organized you and your staff can be in no time!
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