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Filing Best Practices
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the largest numbers of records (and thus the ones that take up the most stor-
age space) are deleted first, such as daily inventory transaction files.
• Only purge obsolete records. An approach that is even more selective than
purging specific files is to purge only specific records. For example, manage-
ment may decide to eliminate the records of all customers with which the
company has not done business for at least two years, while retaining the
records of all current customers for five years. It is usually a simple matter to
extract data from the database that clearly shows which customers can be
deleted, along with all associated information. This method is more labor-
intensive than doing a blanket purge with a single keystroke, but it retains the
information that is most likely to be called into use.
• Use slower access storage media. Large corporations that can afford the expense
may transfer older computer files to slower and less expensive tape back-up
systems still linked to the primary computer storage system. By using this
approach, they can allow fairly rapid access to data, even if it is several years
old, by any employee with access to the computer system. However, since the
slower storage devices are still much more expensive than simply purging
data and leaving paper documents in a warehouse, this is typically an option
that is only explored by companies with large computer system budgets.

Any of these alternatives will give the accounting staff better access to old
records, which allows them to avoid the onerous task of manually picking through
old files for needed records. When selecting one alternative over another, it is
necessary to determine the need for various kinds of records, and to retain only
those for which there is a reasonable expectation that some data retrieval will
be needed.

Cost: Installation time:

10–7 EXTEND USE OF EXISTING COMPUTER DATABASE
Whenever the person responsible for filing makes the recommendation to have
everyone access data directly through the computer system, rather than through
documents, the response is usually that not everyone has access to the system.
That is, some employees cannot access the correct files they need, they do not
know how to access the information, or they do not have access to the computer
network in order to do so. In most cases, this is not an idle complaint; these peo-
ple really will not be able to function unless significant changes are made to the
computer system.
This best practice is a mandatory one if on-line access to data is to take the
place of paper documents. It involves several steps, which are needed to open up