How To Create A Document Storage System

Business Blog

Managing documents is a major part of operating a business of all sizes. While small businesses are able to make document storage one task that an employee manages, medium to large businesses need to create an effective document management system. A well planned document management program will make use of a variety of solutions to allow businesses to store digital and paper documents. Storing digital documents has become increasingly easy, while handling physical documents remains a serious task. You don't have to invest much capital to create an effective program to handle these physical documents.

A Three Step Process for Managing Documents

Before you jump ahead and start looking at document storage solutions, spend some time creating a comprehensive program. Below is a three-step process that will enable your company to properly store physical documents.

1. Create the document management program. Begin by deciding on the rules for document creation. This helps reduce the amount of documents that need to be stored. Establish set rules for creating any type of document. Some businesses find that creating templates for regularly used documents also helps standardize them. After creating specialized rules, decide where to store your documents. It's wise to store documents with a document storage company. This saves a large amount of space in your office. You will need to establish a process for retrieving documents from storage. This will depend on the company you store your documents with as well as your own internal policies.  
2. Implement the program. Once you have created a comprehensive program that your company can follow for document storage, it's time to implement it. This step is crucial for the long term success of storing your documents. Implementing your program will depend heavily on the size of your business and the roles that will be handling documents the most. For some businesses, an email or memo might be enough to implement the new system. For other businesses, it will be worth having a meeting with everyone who regularly handles and retrieves documents to inform them of the new program.  
3. Follow through. This is the step that matters most. You may have designed a great program, you may have had a successful implementation, but it's all for nothing if your employees go back to their old ways. For the first few months, appoint an individual or team to oversee using the new program. This helps ensure its continued success.

It's very possible to create and implement a program that will enhance the efficiency of your document handling. Invest the time required to create your plan and success will be yours. Talk to a professional like Vital Records Control for assistance.

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17 March 2015