Developing Responsibility to Maintain Organization on the Shared Drive

Once you get the shared drive reorganized it is important to establish accountability and responsibility to help maintain file structure and organization. As organizations evolve and change, so do file structures and record guidelines. It is essential for a person or department be accountable for the documents, records, and knowledge of the organization to maintain good record keeping. This can be the IT department or a person can be identified in each department or area of the company or organization. This person could have a title called ‘Organization Record Manager’, ‘Department Shared Drive Manager’ or ‘Electronic Record Coordinator’.

The following is a list of possible duties that this person would be responsible for as it relates to documents and records on the Shared Drive network:

• Planning and coordinating annual review and purge of the shared drive with their respective department or area
• Updating the shared drive guidelines and/or policy
• Periodic check and review of the file structure on the shared drive to ensure it is in accordance with the guidelines
• If unknown or unauthorized files are found, investigate ownership and accountability
• Providing training for new hires, including contractors or employees, on the shared drive structure and guidelines
• Authorize user permissions for restricted files within the respective department or area

It is also important to establish end-user and staff accountability. The responsibility for managing individual files or documents should reside with the author, team, or department who created the original file. The document originator or end-user should be responsible for:

• Managing owner or authored files and documents on the shared drive
• Ensure the file and its contents are in accordance with the file structure and document naming conventions
• Removing the file and/or document contents, per the retention guidelines

Establishing this accountability will help an organization to maintain good structure and organization on the shared drive as well as create accountability for all staff to be responsible for good record and file keeping for the organization.

To learn how to organize electronic files on the shared drive, download the report How to Organize Electronic Documents on Shared Drive Networks. Or you are welcome to contact us and we can assist you.