Introduction
Records are pieces of evidence that are kept for use or reference and in every organization, storage of records is inevitable and it is also very important as well. This is why they have to keep very good management records. You might ask yourself, how do they do this? Is it possible for me to be good at this? The answer is yes, and we have some basic steps that you could follow to keep good management records.
Step 1
Step 1. Look for a way to store your management records
Good management records would require a proper way to store records. This is to keep things organized and for you to be able to know where to keep looking for faster retrieval. You would also need to know where to store those records for record keeping. Records are always confidential so you would need to make sure that all of them are kept somewhere that is restricted to the public. You should also make sure to think of a way to store your records in a safe place.
Before computers and the internet became popular, people kept their records through filing cabinets, or shelves. These days, management records are made easy because of computers and internet access. Records are now kept in computers or other hardware for safe keeping and there are also some software that were already developed to improve this.
You can always decide which to choose, whether you go for high technology or just stick to file cabinets and papers. Both have their advantages and disadvantages so it’s up to you to weigh things on your own.
Step 2
Step 2. Categorize all the records
Good management records would require proper organization of records. This is why categorizing is very important. Imagine having to look for a paper about topic in chemistry when it’s placed together with other papers which have topics in trigonometry, biology, physics, geometry and geology. Surely, it would take you hours to look for that paper. Categorizing records would make sure that you have easy access to your files and it would also make sure that you know where to put them.
If you categorize your records, you should be able to identify what categories you will put your records in. You have to look at all your records and separate them accordingly. You should be able to think of specific categories and as much as possible, add sub categories to make your records even more organized.
Step 3
Step 3. Label all categories
It would be really useless to categorize your records without putting a label on them. You wouldn’t always remember what categories the files were put in to so it would be better to label all categories. Don’t get too creative in labelling your categories, just make sure that it is specific and just make sure that the labels can be easily identified. Always remember that labelling is also important in having good management records.
Step 4
Step 4. Identify and dispose unnecessary records
To have good management records, you should make sure that you keep your records clean. There may be some of the files that were kept but is completely useless after all. These records would just take up much space from your file keeping. You would be able to identify them when you realized that you couldn’t really put them in a certain category. Make sure to verify if the file is completely useless or not before deciding to dispose them.
Step 5
Step 5. File them properly
You have to make things to neat to have good management records so make sure to file your records properly. This would also help you in making storage and retrieval of records much easier.
