Have you ever attempted to achieve a standard electronic file naming protocol for your firm? For example, a standard way of naming and saving certain types of letters (whether Word and/or PDF documents), or working papers (Excel files) so that no matter who saved a file, the file name makes sense to everyone else in the firm?
For example, you might want a standard phrase or acronym used consistently in file names of a certain type. In an accounting firm, an Individual Tax Return could also be referred to as an ‘i-return’, ‘I return’, ‘tax return’, ‘ITR’, and so on. Such inconsistencies in file names make it more difficult for people to find what they are looking for when they are running their eye down a list of files on screen. It is sometimes useful too, to include the client name or entity name in a file name, especially if it is later emailed as an attachment to a client who has multiple entities such as their individual needs, their companies, trusts, and so on.
Chances are, if your approach to achieving standardised file naming relied on team members having to (1) remember to apply the file naming protocol when saving documents, and/or (2) having to manually type the file naming protocol, you probably didn’t achieve your aim of having consistent file naming across your firm or business.
You had human nature working against you.
People are normally too busy in the midst of their day, meeting client deadlines, chasing productivity targets, returning calls and getting through their emails, to have the time or discipline to stick to file naming protocols. Even if you had the most disciplined team members on the planet, there would be variations (not to mention errors) due to the manual data entry.
So what’s the solution?
Automate it!
There is a principle in product design called user transparency. This refers to users receiving the benefits of a new technology, without having to change their behaviour or learn new skills. For example, as Paul Zane Pilzer points out in his book Unlimited Wealth, car drivers did not have to change the way they drove in order to benefit from electronic fuel injection technology when it came in to supersede carburettor technology.
This is what’s needed in order to achieve standardised electronic file naming protocols in an organisation.
The outcome should be achieved through automation, so that users do not have to remember to apply or manually type out the required file names.
A good Document Management System achieves this level of automation.
For example, templates stored in the Knowledge area of HowNow can be easily set up to automatically name the documents (e.g. Word or Excel files) that are created using the templates. This is done simply by entering information in the Default Record Title field in the Profile of the template. This means that whenever a person creates a document by using that template, HowNow will automatically take care of naming the file (‘record) according to the specified file naming protocol.
Your organisation achieves the end result but without the need for training, reminding and cajoling staff. Everyone wins.
A nice aspect of the Default Record Title feature in HowNow, is that you can include variables such as Client Code, Entity Name, Date and so on, which will automatically insert that data into the file name, based on the client or contact selected.
Following is a quick video to put some pictures to those words. Please note that this video is of a real-life HowNow installation within an accounting firm, not a ‘demo version’, hence the firm name and firm letterhead displayed in the video:
Please contact us if you would like more information about how to automate the file naming protocols in your organisation.
