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Transparent Records Management - User Folders Rules

Records Management
Updated January 31, 2018
asked on December 28, 2017

Hi all,

When implementing TRM, what should user folders structure look like? Do you give users the green light and let them decide 100% on the structure based on what works best for them and then write a workflow to route documents from their folders to the RM piece? Or do you usually build folder structure for users (or with users) and have very specific rules around the structure that are based on taxonomy rules (limit on the number of folder levels, naming conventions, etc.)? Or is it a combination of both? 

I am new to an organization that is starting to implement TRM and the concept is new to me, that is why I am hoping you can help me answer this question. Thank you all!

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on January 30, 2018

Since most of our documents have to do with people (employees and inmates) we route everything to a specific sub-folder under the individuals name.   We depend on metadata for routing.  Our templates are setup with dynamic field look ups so most of the metadata is auto filled by just entering one identifier, such as an inmate number.   The workflow then creates the folder structure if required and files the document.   Most of our folders are kept at 5 levels deep or less.
HR -> F -> Flintstone,  Fred 1234 -> Benefits

However you decide to structure your folders requiring some key metadata fields goes a long way.   Not only does it allow for searches but you could also set up different views within your repository.    For example if you used the 'big bucket' folder approach you could still construct (via workflow) a secondary folder structure that presented items in a user view by using shortcuts to the actual documents.   Get the best of both worlds depending on the users viewing needs.

Even if you take one route and later decide a different structure would be better, a little workflow and having good metadata can easily reorganize everything.

Consider who and how will people be interacting with the folders, will they be shared outside the repository such as Weblink.  What other automation, if any will you be applying to the docs.    

I think whatever makes the repository most intuitive for the end user makes.  Always seems to be more than one right way .... :)

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Replies

replied on December 28, 2017

Hi Olga,

While the requirements will differ in every organization I can tell you what has worked well here.   When I took over our repository it was a bit of the wild west.  No standards and everyone created their own folders and naming conventions.   We first sat down with each team and together decided on the folder structure and naming standards.      We then reorganized the folders, created incoming folders along with workflows to automatically file and name documents.  Incoming folders/workflows have proved a big time saver for not only our end users and our LF support group (both of us).    One of the best things we did was to turn off users abilities to create folders.     Our folder structure is strict but our document naming is more lax, there are just to many variables to enforce naming standards and our end users were not very open to that idea.    I would recommend working with your end users to design their structure, they will be using it every day and know the data.    Don’t forget to include some basic training, surprising how many of our users did not even know they could do simple things like search for a document.    
No right answer for everyone but that is what  worked well for us.   Hope that gives you some ideas … Have fun.  ~ Andrew

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replied on December 28, 2017

Thank you Andrew, this is very helpful! 

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replied on January 26, 2018

Andrew, can you please also share some ideas about how  your workflows work? Do they route anything that goes into the same user folder to one specific Records Management piece or do they first analyze the metadata associated with documents in a folder and then, based on pre-determined conditions, route documents from that user folder to multiple Records Management pieces? I am trying to understand if we should still try to build user folders that have records with the same lifecycle in them (ex: "2017 Publications", "2018 Publications", etc.) or we can build "big buckets" - folders with records that will have different disposition dates (ex: "Publications - any year", or  "Permanent and non-permanent contracts") and rely on workflows to properly route them? 

Thank you in advance for your help.

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SELECTED ANSWER
replied on January 30, 2018

Since most of our documents have to do with people (employees and inmates) we route everything to a specific sub-folder under the individuals name.   We depend on metadata for routing.  Our templates are setup with dynamic field look ups so most of the metadata is auto filled by just entering one identifier, such as an inmate number.   The workflow then creates the folder structure if required and files the document.   Most of our folders are kept at 5 levels deep or less.
HR -> F -> Flintstone,  Fred 1234 -> Benefits

However you decide to structure your folders requiring some key metadata fields goes a long way.   Not only does it allow for searches but you could also set up different views within your repository.    For example if you used the 'big bucket' folder approach you could still construct (via workflow) a secondary folder structure that presented items in a user view by using shortcuts to the actual documents.   Get the best of both worlds depending on the users viewing needs.

Even if you take one route and later decide a different structure would be better, a little workflow and having good metadata can easily reorganize everything.

Consider who and how will people be interacting with the folders, will they be shared outside the repository such as Weblink.  What other automation, if any will you be applying to the docs.    

I think whatever makes the repository most intuitive for the end user makes.  Always seems to be more than one right way .... :)

1 0
replied on January 31, 2018

Thank you for your reply and sharing these great ideas! 

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