How to Cut Office Filing Space
File Reorganization Maximizes Use of Commercial Real Estate
Jul 16, 2008
When vacancies in office buildings are low and rents are rising, as they have been in many cities for decades, a reduction in filing space can increase the use of existing space without an increase in rent. It can even delay or obviate a move to bigger premises.
The key is a retention schedule: a plan or a set of rules for how long a document should be kept and what should happen to it when it is no longer needed.
Organization of records according to a schedule saves space and saves time in retrieving records. It can make sure that documents are destroyed when they are outdated, and prevent documents being thrown out too early.
Many people expected the computer would usher in the ‘paperless office.’ The opposite has been true. The use of computers has resulted in people printing out more copies of documents.
This has created problems more than the need to store more paper. There is a risk that people will work with outdated versions of documents if there is no central means of controlling what versions of documents people have. It also means that documents that should be destroyed for legal reasons, such as drafts of letters containing libelous comments, can remain in existence, to turn up in court.
Remove Unwanted Paper
The first step to reducing storage space is a ‘merge and purge’:
- All files must be examined to find duplicate copies of documents, superseded versions of documents and outdated documents. These can be removed -- ‘purged';
- Different files containing largely the same documents can be combined -- ‘merged’ -- and the duplicates removed.
- The documents removed should be shredded.
The use of a computer to record an index of documents can assist this process, especially where a document is relevant to different people or files. Copies do not need to be kept in different files. A person can search the index to find a document.
Merging and purging saves, on average, one third of filing space.
The ‘expiry’ date of a document or the length of time it must be kept must be assigned to the document when it is created. These dates and times can be loaded into the index so the computer can automatically flag documents for removal, either for shredding or transfer to archives.
Send Documents Off Site
It is also useful to identify which documents are ‘active’ -- used continuously -- and which need to be retained for archival or legal purposes or are used infrequently. These can be removed from the office and transferred to off-site storage.
This can save, on average, a further third of storage space: in other words, one third of the two thirds that remain after the merge and purge. The outcome can be, on average for all organizations, a reduction of floor space occupied by filing of 55.4 percent.
This is just a rule of thumb; the actual reduction can vary from one organization to another.
Keep Files Safe
Transfer of files to off-site storage has a further benefit. It takes files to a safe place where they are protected against loss in the event of a disaster. An event does not have to be as dramatic as 9/11 to cause catastrophic loss of documents. Something as commonplace as sprinklers being set off accidentally and soaking documents and computers can ruin vital records.
Several companies provide services to store records off-site in secure premises, guarded against theft, intrusion, fire and other hazards. Many of these provide consulting services to help organizations set up retention schedules. They can store active files as well as archival, or back-up copies of active files. Files can be retrieved and delivered to an office in turn-around times that depend on the office location, but in most cities can be 24 hours or less.
These firms also shred documents at the client’s office.
A next step is to transfer files to open lateral shelves.
By discarding duplicate documents, merging similar files, transferring seldom-used documents to off-site storage, and destroying unwanted paper, an organization can reduce the space required for filing by more than 50 percent. That creates space for more employees and results in more efficient management of information.
Sources: Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA); Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).
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