Filing Solutions

Whether you are at the office, school, or home, you will need to file documents, statements, accounts and other items at some point in your life. Often this skill will come into play several times a day. As such, it really cannot be stressed how important finding workable filing solutions can really be. In fact, it is always a good idea to be able to come up with several different filing solutions to any given problem. This way you have the flexibility that is often needed to grow and expand in the workplace, as well as finding extra room around the home. If you find yourself new to filing systems here is a list of the most common types, as well as a brief description of how they are used.

• Alphabetic. The same system used for telephone directories. If you have a large filing database, you will need to allow the program to do the sorting as it can become tedious if it need to be organised on different criteria such as name, birthday, occupation, etc.
• Numeric filing. Speeds up finding a file. Beware though, if you don't have the correct file number, it can take more time to find the file stored on a second criteria. On the bright side, it ensures a degree of confidentiality as you can only see the record owner's name once the file is opened.
• Geographic. Sorts your files according to country, city, postal code, etc. This is ideal for travel agencies.
• Subject. It depends on how many subjects and sub-subjects you have. Too many subjects may take longer to locate if you are not fully clued-up with the different departments and sub-departments of the business. This is a difficult system to create as well as maintaining it as the subjects must be descriptive if you want to find a file quickly.
• Chronological. Is sorted by date and is ideal for statements, checking on orders and deliveries etc. Not recommended for client files.
• Color Coding. Is popular to identify groups of files immediately Red for high priority, green for regular customers, blue for pending files, etc. Be sure that you use the right printer if you are using this particular filing solution. The reason for this is rather simple in that color printing is often fairly expensive. By using only a few colors wisely, you can save money and printer ink. Keep in mind that while ink jet printers are cheaper, they are heavier on ink (and therefore more expensive in the long run). Laser printers are conversely more expensive upfront, but require less ink and will thus make what you use last longer.