Filing Definitions Explained

If you’ve come to find yourself knee deep in records and their management with little knowledge about how to deal with them, then raise your head from your hands and quiet your sighs, for Hark! A Glossary shall alight upon your screen. We are here to dispel confusion and make known the meanings behind the ancient language of Filing.

Lateral Filing: is actual filing, like when you are actually laterally filing, not to be confused with figurative filing. Figurative filing is where you might say to someone that you had a tonne of filing to do, however you didn’t really have 1,000 kilograms of filing to take care of.

Usage example: “I got to work at 8:30 with a coffee and then spent like, the whole day laterally filing”

Kwik File Organiser: is a specialist or consultant that is contracted to speed up your filing practices. Armed with a stopwatch and an array of challenging documents, the KFO will put your records managers to the ultimate filing efficiency test. Not all RM’s will make it through the KFO boot camp, you will lose some along the way but that’s ok. The ones standing at the end are the people you want filing for you.

Usage example: “I used to file at a rate of 12 documents per minute, since we had a Kwik File Organiser on site I’ve increased my output to 35 documents per minute.”

Rotary Filing: is filing in a circular motion or orbit. Records room are often tightly sealed for security and fire retardant purposes, so much so that when the doors are shut they lose gravity and records managers have to file in weightless suspension. This requires a rotary filing approach.

Usage example: “You file this right round, file right round, like a record file right round, round round.”

Document Wrap: is when you use the page text of each document you file to freestyle a rap about what you’ve just read. It is often accompanied by an interpretive dance and is considered a very Gen Y approach to filing. It’s becoming more and more prevalent in filing rooms across the nation, and while the creativity associated with Document Wrapping has been encouraged, it must be monitored to ensure filing doesn’t take longer than necessary.

Usage example: “I was at a Records Management conference last week and I won the Document Wrap battle.”

Transfer Device: is when you use a gadget or tool in an aggressive manner to forcefully redeploy your filing workload to someone else. This behaviour is not encouraged, and you have to carefully assess all prospective records managers to ensure they have the right temperament to carry out this important work.

Usage example: as this behaviour is not endorsed by the Records Management Guild of Associates, we’d prefer not to share usage examples.

We trust these definitions will assist you in your day to day filing meanderings. And please remember, those that file are the real heroes.