Page 47 - Information Management 3rd Edition

3.4.1 The manual document management system
As discussed in the following sections, manual document management is often referred to as filing, which consists of the distinguishable elements.
• The classification of documents
The key to effective document management is the classification of documents in order of importance to the business. There are four classification categories:
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–
–
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Essential documents – These documents are the documents that are so important to the business that the business cannot function without them, for example, legal documents, tax documents and financial documents. These documents are irreplaceable and the business should see to it that
Pthey are gurarded aegainst the-ft andpfire. Whereuas the papber copies of these documents should be filed securely, many companies also keep scanned copies.
Important documents – These documents are the documents necessary for the functioning of the business, for example, personnel documents. The documents are replaceable, although it would be difficult, time- consuming and costly to do so.
Useful documents – These documents are necessary for the smooth
f all the
reports and catalogues. These documents are also replaceable, but their loss would be very inconvenient.
Dispensable documents – These documents contain useful information, but do not have a particular advantage to the business, for example, notices of meetings and agendas.
running o
activities
of the
business, fo
copy
• Centralised versus decentralised filing
When documents are stored in a central place in the business, this is referred to
as centralised filing. Only one person or a small team of people receive training
in the filing procedures. This option facilitates a high level of maintenance as well as tight control of the security of the documents. Another way of storing documents is to decentralise the documents. This means all the specialised departments store the documents that are applicable to their own functions.
The business must decide whether to centralise or decentralise the documents. It might be the case that a single decision to centralise or decentralise does not satisfy the document management needs of the business. In this case, both the centralised as well as the decentralised systems will be used.
• Filing systems
There are several systems that can be used to store documents. The most widely used systems are:
– The alphabetical system – Documents are arranged strictly according to
the alphabet. The system facilitates the filing of documents according to clients’ surnames, geographical areas where business is done or according to subjects.
In the case where clients’ surnames are used and two clients have the same surname, the initials of the clients will indicate the position of the client’s file in the system. The system is widely used and direct access to
Chapter 3 – Managing Information
r example,
copies of orders,
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