Folders and Files

Why Create a folder structure?

Imagine walking into a department store. Now imagine that there are no sections, no aisles, and no organization. That’s what your computer files are like with no organization.

At the Michener Institute, we are working to create a SharePoint-based file system that is robust enough to handle the conventions of all the departments, while also allowing you the freedom to name and organize your files effectively. SharePoint’s robust search features will allow us to search for files through their tags, file names, associated folders etc.

What is the best way to organize my files?

There is no magical formula for the perfect folder structure. Due to the way the Michener Institute is structured, we foresee that focusing on departments will be the easiest way to structure folder names.

Keep in mind that a good file structure should work for everyone, not just you. Other people may not search for a file the way you do, and you don’t want to frustrate your colleagues. To avoid this, try to focus on organizing your folders around shared work or projects and save your files in areas where you think other people would be able to find them.

The following are some best practices to think about when organizing your folders:

Group by Category

One of the most effective ways to organize your files is by category. Again, think of the department store. Home Depot is organized into sections like hardware, lumber, pre-fabricated furniture, etc.

At Michener, we have observed that the general organizing bodies are ‘departments’ where most of our work is organized and we are recommending that most files be saved within your department folder.

Within those departments, there are ‘projects’ or ‘operations’. Projects are work that are goal-oriented and typically have an end date with specific deliverables. Operations are long-term and persistent administrative tasks like human resources or departmental finances.

You can visualize the folder structure like this:

Michener SharePoint

LIR (master site)

• Level 1: Department (e.g. CLI)
  • Level 2: Operations/Admin (Persistent Tasks)
    • Level 3: Human Resources
      • Individual Files
    • Level 3: Finance
      • Individual Files (e.g. CLI-quarterly-spending- spreadsheet)
  • Level 2: Projects
    • Level 3: Syllabi
      • Individual Files (e.g. 2019 Q1 Dept ClassCode Syllabus)

This means that when you are working on a project, proposal or budget, you can reliably track down where those things are. This is also only a template, feel free to organize your files in a way that makes sense to your workflow, but remember that too many folders ARE NOT GOOD. We recommend you do not go any lower than level 3 unless necessary to avoid developing ‘folder burrows’.

Organizing Project Files: How to Prioritize Goals Over User-Specific Folders

If you want to keep some information private, your instinct may be to create separate folders for each user. However, we don’t recommend this, as it isn’t the best top-level category, because it can lead to "tribal knowledge".

Imagine if five people are working on a project together, and you must dig through all five of their folders to find details on the project. Instead, Focus on the Goal of the project or operation and name the folder/file after that.

Implement Clear and Consistent File Naming Conventions

How frustrating is it when you’re slogging through a mess of files with vague names like “presentation” or “notes”? Use clear, descriptive file names that make it easy to identify what’s in the file, no matter where it is. Here are a few best practices:

• Be concise; some software doesn’t work well with long file names
• Use descriptive information
• For dates, use a YYYYMMDD, so dates stay in chronological order
• Avoid special characters (like ~ ! @ # $ %, etc)

Specifically for the Michener Institute, you should be naming your files using a convention that is as similar as possible to this example:

• YYYY DEPT Brief Descriptive Title.doc

You should then be saving these files within your department folder and under the appropriate project or operation folder.

Store Documents in a Shared Location Instead of Personal Computers

It’s tempting to just save everything to “My Documents,” OR “My Desktop” but that creates two big problems. First, other people in your company won’t be able to access those documents. You need to make sure you’re saving files on a server, network drive or other shared location.

At the Michener Institute, you’re going to be saving your files onto our institutional SharePoint. You must find your department folder within SharePoint and save your work under the appropriate folder. You can access this through your web browser OR the Teams application.

Keep Business and Personal Files Separate

Keep your business folders for business. Don’t save personal information or non-work-related materials to the SharePoint. You probably don’t need everyone in the company to see photos from your family vacation.

Instead, several places are accessible through the cloud where you can keep your personal files that allow you to access them at work, if necessary. Some examples include:

• OneDrive
• Dropbox
• Google Drive
• Apple iCloud

These services allow you to store your data online and then access them remotely.

For example, I may have my list of personal contacts stored as an Excel file saved onto my OneDrive. I could access them through work by simply logging onto the website through my web browser.

Below is a link explaining how to create/access your OneDrive account:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-sign-in-or-create-an-account-for-onedrive-personal-6c63b4e3-c92f-4f52-80e2-237c798cec1e

Guidelines for Naming Files

Conventions

Excluding master templates and administrative files, all documents should be saved within file folders.

The folder structure should be three-tiered, such that each individual file is archived within a sub-folder, and each sub-folder archived within the primary folder.

In accordance with the recommended multi-site SharePoint structure, where each portfolio has its own master site, the primary folders will be named after individual departments within that portfolio.

Always keep the date ahead of the file name to allow the files to organize from most -> least recent. The year should always precede the month and date.

Whether your documents library consists of fewer, general sub-folders or multiple, specific sub-folders, consider naming your files with enough detail to make it easier to determine what the contents include. At the very least, a file name might answer:

1. To whom is this document is relevant? (i.e., a department or committee) 
2. What is it? (i.e. minutes; project plan; budget; etc.)
3. When was it created/intended to be used?

Depending on the document, the file name might also answer: what project/initiative does it belong to?

General Recommendations

Following are a few additional recommendations for naming your folders/files:

1. Be consistent: related files should contain closely related file names, differentiated by date.
2. You can use abbreviations and acronyms in the file titles. so long as they are conventional and used consistently; consider creating an abbreviations legend, or spell out abbreviated words entirely in the primary file folder name. Users can refer to the legend or primary file folder to determine what the abbreviations and acronyms are.
3. Do not create sub-folders for your sub-folders without a good reason and be sure to document your process.

Variances

Meeting minutes and agendas can be archived in a general “Meetings” sub-folder, or within multiple project/subject sub-folders. All meeting-related documents (i.e. supporting presentations and reports) should be archived accordingly.

The same applies to the following categories:

• Budgets and budget reports

If you choose to keep minutes in a general sub-folder, name each file beginning with the specific team conducting the meeting, or the project the meeting centers on.

If you choose to keep meeting minutes and agendas in a subject/project-specific folder, you can name each file beginning with the date. Although this option results in the use of multiple sub-folders, it is appropriate for departments engaged in distinct committees who meet regularly, or within primary folders dedicated to a single project/event.

Recommendation for best practice:

Adopt these rules when saving items to your personal drive or desktop; for example, on Outlook, you can use these conventions when naming your folders. You can also implement them in your physical office space if you keep hard copies of documents in a file cabinet.