File Cabinets...Why???
 

With the ability to do pretty much all things on-line, scan and store reams of data on a postage size flashdrive why do we need file cabinets?

I was watching our admin assts file stuff today and no I didn't offer to help. I am not even sure what it was they were filing or why but it seemed like stupid busy work that could be avoided through the use of a few key strokes.

Why do we still have file cabinets? What files do you use your file cabinets for?

Computers crash...hard copies don't. I keep nothing important, records wise, on the computer.

Many industries are required by law (still) to keep paper copies of certain transactions.

My employer almost single-handedly keeps Iron Mountain in business.

I keep everything important on the computer.
Redundancy is the key. Multiple drives combined with off site storage.
We print less and less everyday.
I can access almost every piece of company info from anywhere in the world.

I can look through a paper file containing 50 diffferent documents much much faster than I can flipping back and forth among 50 different .pdf files. Unless I have 3 monitors in front of me, it's hard to compare one doc to the other if you have to keep opening and closing different windows.

I came to this realization about 3 years ago. I do everything digitally, it is redundantly backed up, there is no need for a paper copy of anything.

So I stopped it, I downsized my existing cabinets from 14 to 4 and now 3. Mostly because of some older files from the 80's that we do not have scanned digitally yet.

I am really close to going entirely digital with the field crew too, I am doing this while we are slow, this way we can have all the bugs worked out by the time the economy picks back up 10 years from now. ;)

Whats odd is when someone requests a submittal package from me with 9 copies, each copy being a hundred printed pages with a fancy plastic binder, and on their email is says to be 'green' think before you print. What a-holes. The submittal packages are rarely, if ever, viewed by anyone who actually cares.

I could see this working if I had a desktop as big as the top of my desk....touchscreen... so I could manually move the images. I think we're a couple years away from that being a financially realistic piece of office furniture....and the mouse would have to cease to be the GUI of choice.

we keep a small filing cabinet for bills and recipets and things like that. I agree with you they seem pointless today. I keep everything I can on my laptop and I keep 2 data backups plus a full drive image. Typically I keep two of those off site, the Image plus a data backup

I called my lawyer out on this. He was charging me for postage, copies etc. He e-mailed me a PDF of it already, there was no need for 2 copies of it to be mailed to me again.

I told him to yield to his PC signature in his e-mails and stop sending hard copies.


pwd72s - I have my entire company backed up in 2 different places, I also have a backup server if my main one crashes, its old but it works. I have not been down for more than 1/2 a day in years. Its a matter of adapting as technology changes. As new technologies arise I look into them as viable options to help me be more efficient.

MikeSid - I run a duel monitor setup and I consider myself to be behind the times as far as that is concerned. I have toyed with either a 3 monitor setup or 1 huge one that I can have a few apps open on and spread out across, like a huge desk top.

I wonder how many times Iron Mountain has had to access the files for any reason. I would venture a guess that it is pretty rare.

I stopped keeping bills - now I pay them as they come in and shred them. The only thing I keep in a file box are user manuals and instructions of things we have bought and had to put together and the only reason I do that is because I have learned that if a component breaks, I can refer back to the company and part number and 10 times out of 10 the company will send a replacement part at no charge. Infact, Radio Flyer sent us a brand new wagon because a door hinge busted on ours - I just wanted the part and was willing to pay for it.

I don't even have a file cabinet at work any more and I write at least 20 to 50 pages a day when I'm in the office. I keep a copy on my laptop, back up the file on the U drive and normally e-mail over a copy of what ever it is and copy my admin asst.

I can tell you that we probably pull back files from offsite storage DAILY. It's the curse of being in a heavily-regulated and litigious industry.

I get a couple of packets 2-3 times a week from my money manager. Each packet has 20-50 sheets in it.

Every time someone over there farts, it generates paper.

I've been burned by lack of documentation in the past.

It's a PIA but much worse when you need it and don't have it.

I can't just wander onto my bosses computer and find some paperwork for a project like I can do with a central filing cabinet. I also can't take digital files and stick them all over my office walls, write on them, draw on them, annotate them like I can with big sheets of actual printed paper.

Now, we do archive lots of data electronically (I'm talking hundreds of terabytes), but that's all on digital tapes. We have zero faith in spinning disks here, even my office desktop is a RAID system with weekly backups to 2 different external drives that get locked away during the week...and I barely have any actual "project" stuff on my local drives, mostly just proposals, etc.

We have a ton of file cabinets. Almost all full of old aerial film. We also have almost 10 TB of RAID storage. It would be a monumental task to scan all of that film at high resolution. We can pull a negative out of the file cabinet that was shot in 1951, scan it and put it right back in the cabinet. That negative will last longer that me.

I work for a commerical general contractor. The young guys in the office can find something in our digital data filing system as fast as I can flip thru the drawings and view it.

I still need a set of drawings on my desk.

The only time I prefer paper is when reviewing a large document. Pretty much all of my files are digital, I have maybe half a file cabinet drawer with actual paper files.

I cannot convince my wife to work on the computer. She needs to work on paper. She will be working from a printed page, that she printed from a computer file, and then will proceed to re-type in the information back into the computer, when she could cut and paste. I've virtually given up.

Don't even get me started on her "notes". The convoluted "diagramic" nature of her scribbling. It is almost better to read her notes as a spirial...

When I work on a new application, I like to start by printing off the relevant portion of the data model. This usually requires using the plotter and printing out a 4' x 6 ' sheet to get the font up to a readable 6 point size. I like working from paper as I can right notes, highlight things, draw pictures--I have all my thoughts in one place and can quickly resume where I left off. Trying to do such a complex task online usually requires up to an hour to find all the relevant documents and opening them--and hoping I didn't forget any...

On open issues I find it better to have that piece of paper on my desk staring at me telling me to get this taken care of now.