Building a Practical File-Management System

Welcome

• From Chaos to Clarity: Building a Practical File-Management System

  • Speaker Notes: I built this workshop because I know when spaces get messy, it can be kind of overwhelming. You might not even know where to start. That's what we're really hoping to do today: give you a sense of how to approach your files, which of course has personal benefits for you, but it also has some wider institutional impact.

Agenda

• About Us & Why File Management Matters

• Understanding Records at Dartmouth

• Inventory → Analyze → Organize

• Naming Conventions

• Next Steps & Q&A

About Us & Why File Management Matters

What We Do

• Ann Evans | Records Analyst

• Vi Welker | Assistant Archivist for Records

• Julia Logan | Archivist and Records Manager

• Dartmouth College Libraries | Records Management

  • Speaker Notes: Records Management is housed within Dartmouth Libraries, but we work with departments across Dartmouth to support records management best practices and ensure College records are maintained in compliance with institutional policies and retention schedules.

Why Does This Matter

• Reduced stress

• Better collaboration

• Legal compliance

• Institutional memory

• Cost/ROT data table (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox with potential annual cost reductions)

  • Speaker Notes: This matters for both you and the organization. There’s reduced stress (less time searching) and better collaboration (with a shared understanding of where things live). It’s good for legal compliance (meeting retention requirements and reducing legal discovery risks), and lastly, it’s great for institutional memory: preserving what matters for Dartmouth's history.

Potential Annual Cost Reduction

Speaker Notes: I got these numbers from ITC in December; they’re not precise accounting figures, but intended to illustrate the financial impact of data growth. They don’t include things like backup costs or data protection services.

Understanding Records at Dartmouth

What is a Record?

• A record is any recorded information, regardless of format, generated in the course of conducting business and which is maintained to meet the fiscal, legal, historical, or administrative needs of Dartmouth.

  • Speaker Notes: A record isn’t duplicates, it's not copies, and it’s not drafts. A record is something that's generated and maintained.

Types of Records

• Official Record - The official copy retained in accordance with the approved retention schedule for legal, administrative, fiscal, and/or historical purposes

• Administrative Copy - An unofficial copy maintained near the user for ease of access and reference

• Office of Record - The office designated as responsible for the maintenance, preservation, and disposition of official records

  • Speaker Notes: There are two types of records: official records and administrative copies. And then there's the office of record. The office of record is the office responsible for keeping the record. For example, with many financial records (like budgets, vendor contracts, etc.), Finance is the office of record: Finance will keep the official copy, and your office (if you are not Finance) is really holding onto an administrative copy.

The Records Lifecycle

Speaker Notes: Records have a finite lifespan, with the exception of a small but important percentage that we acquire for the archives.

The records lifecycle starts with creation (or maybe you receive something). Then you use it, distribute it, and maintain it. Eventually, you get rid of it; it's destroyed or transferred to the archives. For archival items, we make sure they are preserved, and we offer appropriate access.

A good file management system is definitely going to help with the use and maintain phases, but it will also help with disposition. It'll make it easier to know what you can get rid of. This cuts down on risk, reduces cost, and helps improve institutional memory when things go to the archives.

Inventory → Analyze → Organize

Conduct an Inventory

• Start by listing the types of records you work with regularly:

  • Annual reports

  • Budgets

  • Meeting minutes

  • Performance reviews

  • Project files

  • Vendor contracts

    • Speaker Notes: You want to build an awareness of what you're dealing with, and I have a worksheet to help guide you through this process. You can access the digital version at dartgo.org/bpfm. This Google Doc is view only: be sure to save a copy that you can edit.
      The first section of the worksheet is for brainstorming. Go ahead and use that box to write down as many types of records as you can think of that you deal with. You might have meeting minutes, annual reports, performance reviews, or something familiar only to your specific department. Just get a good list down.

Analyze

Ask yourself:

• Why do I have this?

• Do I or my coworkers use it?

• Is it stored in another location?

• Does it need to be kept?

  • The next thing you want to do is analyze. Pick three records from your brainstorming, maybe your messiest, most challenging ones, if you're up for it. Use part two of the worksheet to consider questions like, “Why do I have this record? Do we use it? Is it stored in another location? Does it need to be kept?”
    If you're stuck, feel free to consult the general retention schedule at http://dartgo.org/rmgrs. It might help resolve some of your questions.

The General Retention Schedule (GRS) - An excerpt from the GRS, which has many sections that address records generally found across all campus offices and departments

Analyze

Ask yourself:

• Why do I have this?

• Do I or my coworkers use it?

• Is it stored in another location?

• Does it need to be kept?

  • Speaker Notes: Let me expand on a few examples as we continue to look at part two for a few more minutes. For meeting minutes, you might say you have those to document decisions and action items. You might note your team references meeting minutes occasionally when questions arise about past decisions. To answer the question, “Is it stored in another location?” you might note that budget reports are stored in OnBase.

Functional Organization

• A system for organizing materials on the basis of the function, activity or task performed by an office or department

• Choose Your Suborganization Method

  • Speaker Notes: First, I would like to share this records management term, functional organization, with everyone. We define it as "A system for organizing materials on the basis of the function, activity, or task performed by an office or department.” Administrative records and financial records are examples of functional divisions: within these, you see annual reports, meeting minutes, and strategic planning documents. In financial records, you might have budgets and vendor contracts.
    You could also have functional divisions like personnel records or program/event records. I'm betting a lot of you see some functional organization applied in your file spaces. I think the term helps establish a shared framework for record organization, and an opportunity to reflect on what your top-level organization might be or what you might like it to look like.
    For now, use part three of your worksheet to capture observations (or hopes) of what your department's functional organization looks like.

Choose Your Suborganization Method

• Speaker Notes: Moving on to suborganization, please look at part four of your worksheet. I've outlined some approaches to organizing your files after the functional level. On the worksheet, I’ve outlined the strengths and weaknesses of each method, as well as solutions to work around some of the weaknesses. I want you to challenge yourselves here. Think about your messiest, most complicated record types. If you flagged anything tricky in part two, try to do some problem-solving here.

File Organization Examples

• Speaker Notes: As you see in part four of the worksheet, you can organize by name, date, or project. Here's a real example from Tuck, in the lower right portion of this slide. You can see how Tuck has organized their budget files primarily by function (Finance Office) and then by time period (Fiscal Years 21-24).

  If you’re struggling with the suggestion for projects in part four of the worksheet (make sure related projects have consistent naming), consider the following example: an office could be working on a communications campaign and an event, both related to Martin Luther King Day. By naming one folder MLK Day 2024 Communications Campaign and the other folder MLK Day 2024 Event Planning, the consistent naming helps keep these projects connected yet separate.

  Go ahead and use part five of your worksheet to sketch out your folder structure using one of the suborganization approaches you've chosen.

  Top-level folders can also be an opportunity to make indications related to retention. For example, the Google Drive featured in the upper-right portion of this slide uses the acronym UANS in a top-level folder. This indicates that all items must only be retained Until Administrative Need is Satisfied. No one needs to worry about making sure these records are given to another office (like finance or human resources).

File Naming Systems

• Avoid vague names like "Document1 final FINAL v2"

• Use consistent elements

• Separate with underscores or use camelCase (e.g., 2022_Smith_Contract01.doc)

• Use version tags at the end of filenames (REV01, REV02, etc.) (REV = Revision)

• Avoid labeling a document "final" until all parties have approved the draft or revision

  • Speaker Notes: Use consistent elements such as date or year, document type, employee or project name.

Next Steps & Q&A

Reach Out!

Partner with Us:

• dartmouth.records.management@dartmouth.edu

• Check out our Spark space! http://dartgo.org/rmhub

Records Management Site

• http://dartgo.org/rmhub

• dartgo.org/libevents

  • Speaker Notes: Spark is our Confluence space, a collaborative workspace where we have an opportunity to share guidance about records management best practices. Currently, we have a best practices section and a workshop section. Soon, I will have this workshop listed with a link to the slides and a text outline of the workshop.

    I originally intended to have more on creating documentation in this presentation, but I think we'll be developing that as a separate workshop. Keep an eye out for our workshops by monitoring the Dartmouth Libraries calendar at dartgo.org/libevents. Once you're there, filter by category, choosing the Records Management category.

Q & A

Thank You!

• dartmouth.records.management@dartmouth.edu