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Using space effectively—it’s a constant challenge for organizations everywhere, and records managers are always under pressure to cut down on their storage footprint. So if you are faced with re-organize your current RM system in order to maximize your space, here are four common mistakes you should avoid.
1. Ignoring Future Needs
Is relocation in your company’s near future? Do you anticipate a flood of new hires? Is there a pending merger? Any effective records management plan should budget for these types of upcoming filing requirements. This will ensure your plan can accommodate both current and anticipated file volumes.
2. Hoarding Old Files
Avoid keeping records for longer than you need them. There is no reason to keep associated non-records (convenience copies, outdated drafts, obsolete reference sources) after the retention date has passed. The key is to identify and apply legal and operational requirements systematically and in an approved records retention schedule. Be sure to research the statutes, regulations and industry standards that apply to your company.
3. No Communication or Reporting
It’s important to keep all levels of your organization informed during the space planning process. Status updates and detailed reports should capture retention practices, problem areas and solutions. In addition, your reporting should highlight any documents that are scheduled to be destroyed.
4. Improper Records Destruction
Make sure you apply a document destruction approval process to files that have reached the end of their retention period. Use shredding and electronic data wiping to ensure the files can’t be recovered. Throwing away files in a trash can or dumpster could be costly if the information is stolen and reused.
Our Space Planning Toolkit Can Help
The good news for records managers is that by simply following best practices, you can reduce the square feet your records require. So if you need to free up space for revenue generating activities, you’ll want to download our free Space Planning Toolkit.
2. VIDEO: Six Ways to Optimize Your Physical Records
In this short video, our own Carol Hartnagle gives a great presentation on some of the things you can do to make it easier to organize, access, store and share your physical records. Carol takes a look at:
- Classification systems
- Centralized file collections
- File tracking systems
- Standardization of supplies
- Space optimization
As a supplementary resource, you may want to get our Colour Coding Whitepaper. This resource demonstrates how colour coding greatly improves your access to files by making location easier and preventing misfiles, thereby enhancing your risk management and legal compliance efforts.
3. Four Ways TAB FusionRMS Physical Recordkeeping Solution will Improve Your RM Program
Are you ready to go beyond basic file tracking software to an advanced physical records management platform? If so, you may want to move to TAB FusionRMS Physical Recordkeeping solution, an integrated paper file and physical records management system for all of your business information.
It was created to improve on the basics of tracking software with functions and features designed specifically to strengthen the core elements of any solid records management program. Here are four ways this platform can help your RM program:
Manage records volumes through retention
A proper records retention framework is an essential part of a complaint RM program and a great way to control the growth of records, optimize storage space and manage overall risk. With TAB FusionRMS Physical Recordkeeping, you simplify the retention challenge because the software automatically applies records retention schedules and final disposition based on preconfigured business rules. The system will also notify you when records reached their disposition stage.
Stay in control with an auditing trail
TAB FusionRMS Physical Recordkeeping gives detailed histories of files. It let’s you track file usage, transfers, employee activity, and movement of files from active to inactive storage. It also captures ANY changes made to the record or document along the way and makes them available through easily accessible audit trail reports.
Improve efficiency with more users
TAB FusionRMS Physical Recordkeeping allows an unlimited amount of software users, which means that more work stations across multiple departments can request, access and track records using one robust records management solution.
Prepare your system for future corporate growth
The intelligent design of TAB FusionRMS ensures true system scalability. From adding new employees and functionalities to expanding to electronic records management, it is designed to work with maturing records management programs.
If you’d like to learn more about our TAB FusionRMS Physical Recordkeeping package please visit our site or contact us.
4. TABQUIK.ca: Create Colour Coded Files in Three Easy Steps
TABQUIK.ca is a free web-based label printing software application that lets you create and print colour coded labels in three simple steps. You can access this software from any computer, any time, across multiple locations, and best of all, you don’t need a subscription and there are no connection or set-up fees!
Whether you print one label or over 1,000 labels per day, TABQUIK.ca provides an easy and economical solution to print colour-coded file labels on-demand.
TRY TABQUIK FOR FREE and we’ll give you FREE LABELS to get you started!*
*You will need to initially install ActiveX controls to run the program
5. What Your Colleagues Are Downloading
Want to know what your colleagues are reading? Here are some of our popular downloads.
An Action Plan for Metadata and RM: What You Need to Know
What exactly is metadata and how can it use it in my records management program?
It’s is a question we’re hearing a lot these days, so we created this resource to help you get some answers. We designed it to help you understand:
- What metadata is
- How it applies to records management
- How it can help you improve your program
We’ve also created an easy-to-follow action plan so you can apply use metadata to enhance records management best practices like classification and retention schedules.
You can download it here.
4 Tips: Managing Your Shared Drive
Shared drives are a fact of life for many organizations, and when organized properly they become excellent information management tools. But if you aren’t using RM best practices to manage them, they can morph into massive public folders filled with confusing and unstructured records.
We’ve created this great resource to help you ensure your shared drives aren’t an inefficient liability for your organization, and you can download it here.
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