When it's time for a document to leave daily use and go into document archiving do you have a moment of uncertainty? I'm referring to the tiniest prick of fear that you don't know exactly where it's going and, even more important, you're not sure how or if you'll be able to retrieve it from document archiving should the need arise.

Do you even archive your documents, or do they just sit out there in "etherland" on somebody's hard drive where nobody knows where it is at?

Probably so . . .

Of course, if you've ever sent a file to document archiving and lost it in the black hole of cyberspace, your fears are understandable. I pause for a moment of silent empathy.

All kidding aside, document archiving is one of the most serious challenges a company faces. If you can't be confident documents from the past can be pulled back and re-examined, and occasionally updated, you've built your organization on sand: it can't possibly stand.

The truth is, organizations are creating digitized data at an alarming rate each year. A lot of companies that started out small with just a few people using desktop pc's are now 3 or 4 years down the road and looking at 30 people merrily using desktop storage with no real electronic organizational plan.

Imagine document archiving and retrieval when ...

Mary names her files for her favorite flowers: The Franklin documents are under "wimp" because the client is kind of a "pansy".

Jon's astute mind came up with a system based on car parts: Important contracts all go into the "engine" file because they keep the company going.

Karl, a Ham radio operator, uses the most complete ISO 8601time-based format for naming files, his files look like 2008-07-16T19:20:30.45+01:00.

And, so it goes. With such a system there can be no real document archiving beyond just backing up everyone's entire system every night and hoping for the best. If you have to retrieve something, (god forbid), you might as well have a séance to figure out what the sought after document is called and where it is.

Document archiving requires organization, planning and agreeing on (and using) document naming conventions. Only by having everyone follow the agreed upon rules will you be able to confidently send a file to your system for document archiving and know, in your heart, you have not just deep-sixed it.

Of course, the best time to set up your naming conventions and plan for document archiving is when your company is just getting started. Too late for that? Maybe you then, appoint a hapless group of courageous volunteers to establish your naming conventions and then require staff to spend a couple hours each day revising their old files and resaving them to fit within the document archiving naming conventions - no? Or, start with one department in your company; clean stuff up and then move on - no? Using today's ASP based document management tools can help you forgo these time-sucking steps by utilizing meta data already built into each document. I'd suggest going this route - it's much more cost effective. I always try to remember that the fully loaded cost of a $40,000/yr resource will cost me about $25 to $30 an hour - some of the better systems out there only cost a $120/mo. It doesn't take too many hours of manual intervention to make that up every month.

Eventually, one way or another, you'll get them all done. A word of caution: be sure everything is backed up before you start overhauling your crazy naming system and pitching stuff that can be tossed. That way, you won't inadvertently toss out something irreplaceable.

Of course, every file going forward will need to be created to fit smoothly within the new document archiving naming conventions. This can be prompted for using some of the better ASP document management solutions. Only when a solid plan is in force can you have a prayer of continuity in document archiving within your organization: i.e. when one employee leaves the organization, the new hire can immediately pick up and have the right document in his or her hands every time. What a concept!

Once you think you have it together, strap it on and you're ready to store and retrieve. Avoid the common solution of storing your backup on tape. This is the digital age. You need to store electronically, have a ASP partner provide your document archiving via the Internet. But, whatever you decide, at least you'll have the confidence that comes from knowing that when the boss asks for the Holmes Contract from 1988, you won't have to remember that you filed it under the name of your ex-wife's mother.

Copyright (c) 2008 Bill Thomas