Effective Project Management

Section F Filing and Archiving

This may be a boring subject, but keeping the paper under control is crucial. Ideally a company will have a filing system that is consistent on all projects so that full-time or part-time personnel are familiar with the system regardless of the project. It doesn't matter whether the system is electronic or physical; a system such as this is still required.

1 The Filing System

1.1

The filing system should be designed so as to reduce multiple filing of documents and ensure a complete set of predetermined master files for archiving.

1.2

The system should be based on origin and destination for all correspondence and by subject for all other documents.

1.3

In order to keep the system simple, limit it to three levels, using a decimal numbering system: major categories (1.0.0), minor categories (1.1.0), and specific subjects (1.1.1).

1.4

The major categories should primarily be organized around functional or departmental groups:

1.0.0	Project management
2.0.0	Correspondence/minutes of meetings
3.0.0	Legal and insurance
4.0.0	Finance and accounts
5.0.0	Administration
6.0.0	Project controls/project office
7.0.0	Design/engineering
8.0.0	Procurement
9.0.0	Installation/construction
10.0.0	Commissioning/start-up

1.5

In order to minimise the number of files, it is suggested that subject-specific files are only created as they become necessary. That is, the filing list can be edited down to suit the ...