Box Level Indexing or File Level Indexing For Records Management?
August 1, 2016
What is the best way for me to index my documents and records: file level, or box level?
The most important part of offsite records management is the convenience and capability we offer to managing your records. In other words, you want to know what you are storing in the event you want to retrieve something.
The answer to this question depends on how you want to retrieve records. And how you store records in your boxes. If you will usually retrieve individual files, and not the whole box, then file level indexing is best.
For example, a medical clinic box may hold dozens of patient files, but a retrieval usually only constitutes one of the patients. So it becomes very efficient for an office manager to index at file level. By doing so, you can easily search the database by patient name and retrieved. Instead of some less exact process like a range of dates or a range of last names.
On the other hand, if a box in storage contains documents that most likely will be retrieved all at once, as is often the case in legal matters for example, then box level indexing is appropriate.
Of course, we can do both forms of indexing. Or, if you want to do the indexing yourself before sending the boxes to storage, that works as well. We can even take your electronic spreadsheet and import it into our software, so all your records are consistent and tied to your barcode numbers.