Organizing the Office Filing System – Case Study
After spending time out of their offices due to the COVID lockdown, companies that relied heavily on their paper filing systems recognized that it was time to go digital. However, before some could, they needed to first spend time organizing the office filing system. This was the case for my client who is a jewelry designer. Her company’s paperwork from the past 2 years needed to be organized and the filing system overhauled so that it would be easier to file and retrieve documents.
BEFORE: My client’s bookkeeper had been responsible for both the bookkeeping and filing. However, when she left the company almost 2 years ago, her filing responsibilities were not taken on by the remaining staff. When I was hired to organize the office filing system, I had to gather all the documents for 2019, some were filed and others not, plus those for 2020 which were in piles in the current bookkeeper’s office. In addition, the filing system itself needed to be streamlined as there were so many tabs sticking out of the hanging folders it was very difficult to quickly identify the contents of the folders.
AFTER: All the paperwork from 2019 and 2020 had to be sorted by category and then filed accordingly. In addition to the Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable documents, there was paperwork for consignment inventory. I used the prior year’s filing system as a guide and then simplified it. All file folders with left tabs were used for all jewelry industry vendors while file folders with right tabs were used for general business vendors. In addition, a specific color file folder label was designated for each type of vendor. To make it easier to locate documents, the tabs with the alpha designation for each of the hanging folders were positioned in the center of the folders.
MY CLIENT’S THOUGHTS…. My client is “thrilled” as the new filing system is much more user friendly! The piles of folders and paperwork from 2019-2020 are all filed and can now be quickly found when needed. In addition, the staff can now quickly file all new documents.
Organizing the office filing system is time well spent. You can find documents when needed but also have the framework for setting up a digital filing system. Reach out to your NYC Professional Office Organizer today to discuss the challenges you’re having with your filing system.