Easy Tips to Summer Clean Your Business’s Records
If your business didn’t achieve its spring cleaning goals, it’s time to summer clean those records for an optimized organization. This summer cleaning takes many forms. It can mean hiring a service, giving the office a profound overhaul, or even meeting to improve internal processes. However, it can also mean examining the business’s record management, a step often overlooked.
At IRCH, we provide these tips to help you better organize and maintain your records of data:
Plan Ahead
Start by assessing the situation and making a detailed plan. Does your organization already have a document retention schedule? Does the schedule work, or does it need adjusting? And is it compliant with current laws and regulations? Make sure to include off-site records in your evaluation as well. Understand your organization’s risk, and stay ahead.
Take Inventory
Once you’ve made a plan, it’s time to take stock of what you have. Begin by reaching out to departments to determine what types of records they have stored and how long they need them. This is also a great time to once again check if your document retention schedule fits your company’s needs. With a bit of teamwork, you’ll be able to get a better handle on your records, which is the first step in a better records inventory.
Convert From Paper to Digital
If your business is still using actual paper for its records keeping and management, consider transferring some of those documents to a digital format. Reducing paper dependence by switching to digital can reduce file storage costs, improve your organization’s workflow and efficiency, and make any spring or summer cleaning in the future more manageable. Before you transition, however, note that there are federal and state regulations that require companies to have certain records on paper.
Declutter
Summer cleaning can be a labor-intensive task, so try to involve everyone. This will help bring business units together and give everyone a role while significantly cutting down the amount of time you need to create a new records management plan that can work for everyone. Decluttering can take time, so include everyone in the process.
Summer cleaning a business can be complex and tricky, but using a structured and organization-wide approach should help speed up the process. If you wish to learn more about data organization and record retention, reach out and request a consultation through our website.
