Running a business is hard enough, don’t make it harder by having an unorganized electronic filing system. If you’ve still got file names like doc1 or Angela Contract, it’s time for a change.
Creating a standardized naming and filing system will help you to streamline your business operations. When you know exactly where something will be filed and how you will search for it, you can accomplish tasks more easily. You don’t spend precious time scanning through files that could be spent on getting your next customer or developing your new product line.
When developing your electronic filing system, make sure you develop the following:
Folder Structure
When you’re developing your folder structure, consider your departments, your divisions, or maybe your locations to create your high-level organization. After you have a good foundation for your structure, determine how you want to organize the rest of your files. Will you create a folder for each customer? Or, will you create folders for each year and include the customer transactions for that year within?
Take your time to think about where you would search for specific documents and create your folder structure to align with that.
EXAMPLE FILING STRUCTURE:
Naming Conventions
Having a standard folder structure is the first step to an organized electronic filing system, but you’ll really optimize your systems once you have standardized naming conventions for your files. When you know how to search for a customer contract, you’ll be able to pull it quickly to answer your customer’s questions. When your files can be sorted by type, you’ll be able to find the receipts your CPA is looking for at tax time.
EXAMPLE NAMING CONVENTIONS:
- SIGNEDAGREEMENT – MM.DD.YY – Customer Name
- VENDORUPDATE – MM.DD.YY – Vendor Name (Additional Info)
- DEPOSIT – MM.DD.YY – Bank Account Name
- PMTCC – MM.DD.YY – Vendor Name (cc x1234)
- MONTHLYP&L – MM.YYYY – Company Name
Once you have a good system setup, make sure you’re consistent. Train your team, train yourself, and you’ll never waste time searching for files. Instead, you can spend your time providing great service, signing on new clients, and developing your team. Organization is an effective, yet inexpensive way to grow your business.
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