Common Drive Clean-Up Proposal

Common Drive Clean-up Proposal

Tip: In a collective environment, clutter happens

Duke Rohe

Overview: How do you clean up a collective environment in a computer world? Everyone has access to save files not to mention their own filing schemes. Without common rules and the visual control aspect of ‘red tagging’, the server will clutter up. Navigating through a clutter of files is a waste. This is a proposal I made for my own department.

Goal –

1.  Speed file access

2.  Reduce brain-strain looking and sorting through the drive

3.  Keep the mess less

Participants: Manager and assigned staff to conduct the clean-up.

Procedure:

1. Everyone agree upon a common set of rules when creating and foldering items out on the Common Drive.

a.  Duke to initiate this proposal , receive comments, reconstitute, gain management approval, then send out to the department as the guide to follow when storing an item on the Common Drive.

b.  What is inside your folder is yours to organize as you see fit. What is common to others will fall under these guidelines.

2. Every 6 months, October and April, a Red Tagging process will take place.

a.  All items not following the guidelines will be placed in either the appropriate Archive, Misc/Single file Folder or placed in the Red Tag Folder to be considered for re-foldering or deleting.

b.  A 2-week advanced warning will be given for reviewing red tagged items. Also a rationale will be needed to make files an exception to the foldering guidelines.

c.  Place the Red Tagged items in the Red Tag folder on the appointed day

d.  Each year, unclaimed items in the Red Tag Folder will be placed in the To-Be-Deleted Folder, kept for a year, then emptied at the end of the year.

3. Guidelines to remain simple, evolutionary.

a.  If you don’t access the folder at least monthly, consider placing it in the Archive Folder in Projects

b.  A folder should have 3 items in it to be on the Common drive. One folder with one item is a no-no.

c.  Consider Renaming files to 15 characters to minimize scrolling when view files.

d.  All ‘loose’ files not foldered will be placed in the Misc/Single Folder.

e.  Use category/sub category in foldering hierarchy. Example - place ‘Old Annual Reports’ folder in the ‘Annual Reports’ folder.