Filing System Approaches
Determining the best filing approach for the client is the most important
first step in designing a color-coded filing system. There are advantages
and disadvantages for each system and some are better suited for certain
industries and the client's mode of operation.
The following section describes the most commonly used filing system
designs and describes the pros and cons, and details about its operation.
ALPHABETIC
An alphabetic filing system is the arrangement of records and documents
according to the name of a person, name, products, company or some
other entity used to identify a record. Making retrieval easy through
consistency in filing is the alphabetic filing rule.
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Typically the first two or three letters of the primary name, like the last
name of a person, are color-coded. Hence, the last name Jones would
have two color bars starting with "J", then directly below an "O". Each
letter A through Z is represented by a unique color or an unique color
with stripes through it, so that a someone looking for the record in a filing
system simply looks for the colors associated with the appropriate two or
three letters.
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ADVANTAGES
- Allows direct access to information; a cross-reference is not required.
- Is easy to teach, easy to learn because almost everyone recognizes and understands
the alphabet.
- Is the most commonly used system because people are comfortable thinking about
information by name.
- Allows easy, direct locating.
DISADVANTAGES
- Involves infinite combinations of the 26 letters which make the system complex and
cause frequent misfiles.
- Contains many common names in large volume systems, making filing tasks more tedious
and time-consuming.
- Relies on following consistent filing rules, which often vary from organization
to organization and frequently are not taught to personnel.
- Misfiles are prevalent, due to all of the problems of phonics, names sounding
differently than they are spelled, and the fundamental problem that people may have
with spelling.
- Doesn't take into account name changes.
- Alpha systems grow unevenly around dominant last names like "Smith" and this causes
these sections of the system to run out of space for adding new folders and
documents and possibly filing/retrieval congestion.
- Alpha systems have a high incidence of file shifting to accommodate continued
growth.
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APPLICATIONS
- Small filing application.
- Non-automated filing systems.
CHARACTERISTICS
- Uneven distribution of records by letter of alphabet.
- Somewhat easy access, can cause some aisle congestion.
- Purging will be throughout the file area and require a lot of back shifting.
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THINGS TO CONSIDER
- Alphabetize by arranging files in unit-by-unit order and letter-by-letter within
each unit.
- Each filing unit in a filing segment is to be considered. This includes preposition,
conjunctions and articles. The only exception is when the word the is the first unit in
a filing segment. In this case, the is the last filing unit. Spell out all symbols, e.g., &,
$, #, and file alphabetically.
- File "nothing before something." File single unit filing segments before multiple unit
filing segments.
- Ignore all punctuation when alphabetizing. This includes periods, commas, dashes,
hyphens, apostrophes, etc. Hyphenated words are considered one unit.
- Arabic and Roman numbers are filed sequentially before alphabetic characters.
All Arabic numerals precede all Roman numerals.
- Acronyms, abbreviations and radio and television station call letters are filed
as one unit.
- File under the most commonly used name or title. Cross reference under other names
or titles which might be used in an information request.
STRAIGHT NUMERIC
Numeric filing is the arrangement of records and documents according
to a number or combination of numbers. Numeric filing is usually effective
when the records are more easily numbered than named, when a natural
permanent sequence of the record suggests a number, and when the
records themselves bear an identifying number.
Sequential systems are those that are filed in straight numeric order: 1, 2,
3, 4,...500, 501 etc. This is the traditional and most commonly used
way of arranging numeric files. It works ideally for pre-numbered records
such as checks, invoices, licenses, etc.
Straight numeric filing systems are color-coded according to the sequential
number assigned to each successive record originated. Each digit, 0
through 9, has a unique color, so blocks of color build, primarily by the 100's, 1,000's and 10,000's. For example, if you are looking
for a number 20,137, you would start by looking for the top color
bar color representing the "2". Then you would look for the color bar
below representing "0", then the "1" the "3" and the "7" in that
order. In straight numeric filing, each successive folder is labeled with
its number and then filed to the right of the folder with the previous
number. For example, 20,137 would be immediately to the right
of 20,136 and immediately to the left of 20,138.
