ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE HARMONISING INFORMATION FLOWS WITHIN YOUR ORGANISATION?
DONT WORRY – JUNE 9TH IS INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES DAY!
Created in 2008, International Archives Day highlights the importance of archives as a source of information and cultural heritage for our society. The importance of archiving, the classification of different types of documents, the management of retention periods and therefore the governance of information are highlighted during this day.
This day is also an opportunity to thank all the people who are committed to facilitating our research and information exchange such as Mister Archive and Miss Digital.
WHAT DOES THE TERM ARCHIVE MEAN?
Archives represent documents of different types, periods and media produced by an organisation and which result from its activity. They are a real asset for organisations because they explain and justify their past and future actions through good management, thus contributing to their proper functioning.
By archiving and filing, organisations have clear and accessible information. As a testimony to the past, archiving is also a means of guaranteeing and proving the rights of organisations in the event of litigation. Therefore, proper retention is necessary.
It is also important to remember that archiving concerns both paper and digital documents.
WHY ARCHIVE?
Archiving paper or electronic records within an organisation has several advantages.
First of all, archiving allows organisations to make it easier for employees to find documents. A properly filed document can be found more easily than a file that is archived without any filing rules.
In addition, archiving helps to avoid duplication and therefore to reduce the amount of archiving space, as archiving rules prevent the same document from being archived several times by different people.
Finally, archiving also increases the availability of employees to focus on their main tasks and we will see what the reasons are.
ARCHIVE FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY?
Archiving allows organisations to harmonise the way their employees work and also to standardise the way files are constructed. Indeed, when all employees apply the same archiving method, this allows for uniformity and harmonisation of work methods. Thus, employees know exactly how files are created and filed and how they are stored within the organisation.
In addition, good document and archive management simplifies their use. Indeed, the flow of information that circulates every day in organisations must be organised in order to allow employees to find the documents they need in a much simpler, faster and more efficient way.
Finally, the use of archiving plays an important role in the productivity rate. If all the employees of an organisation harmonise their way of working, in particular by archiving the files in the same way, an increase in the productivity of each one is noted. Proper archiving makes it possible to know the ins and outs of what everyone is doing, and this leads to a significant reduction in the time spent searching for information. Employees will be able to focus more on their work rather than on searching for documents needed for their activity or sorting through old documents stored in the archives.
To do this, the use of a sorting table and archiving procedures is always beneficial for organisations. These tools allow the employees of an organisation to avoid having to sort and process old archives in a tedious way in a hurry when it is necessary to free up space for future archives.
HOW TO PROPERLY ARCHIVE YOUR DOCUMENTS?
The profusion of documents produced every day by private and public organisations makes it difficult to find some of them. It is therefore essential to put in place adequate records and archives management policies and procedures in order to manage and regulate the flow of documents efficiently.
Good archiving allows organisations to:
- facilitate the management of records retention periods,
- manage and process their historical archives,
- By ensuring the payments to the National Archives, in particular for all the ministries and administrations of the State,
- but also to simplify the processing and sorting of documents to be destroyed to meet legal requirements.
To achieve this, Labgroup can assist you with the expertise of one of our archivists, who will develop an inventory of records for you and identify the flow of information within your organisation.
The archivist then creates a filing plan that allows you to implement more efficient filing rules and to know how your employees work. Indeed, this filing plan, allows, for your current and intermediate archives, to organise and classify your documents in the best way to find them and manage them in an efficient way. As for the final archives, the filing plan allows to ensure their preservation and thus avoid any loss or deterioration.
The archivist at your disposal will also work on the elaboration of a sorting table, in order to identify the value of your information and to attribute a shelf life to them, as well as on the implementation of archiving policies and procedures. Awareness and training will then be set up so that everyone can understand the archiving method in place.
Stay Zen, with Labgroup’s help, your organisation will benefit from efficient and simple information governace!
