 Welcome to this learning activity on records management and the ARMA filing rules. Records management is a critical business function, especially in today's fast-paced business environment. According to Dr. Mark Ling-Gemho, author of the book Winning Strategies for Successful Records Management Programs, the goal of every organization is to provide the right record to the right person at the right time and at the lowest possible cost. Every organization establishes rules and guidelines for organizing paper and electronic records. Records are the memory of an organization and have to be preserved. Records management is the process of controlling a record over its life cycle, from creation to destruction. There are many different kinds of business records, including the following types of documents, historical, legal, personnel, financial, and company policies and procedures. Businesses work with four major types of records, vital, important, useful, and non-essential. Examples of each type. Vital records are those records that are necessary for the continued operation of the business. These records cannot be replaced and should never be destroyed. Examples include contracts and deeds. Important records are those records that are necessary for the operation of the business, but that could be replaced with considerable cost and effort. These records can be transferred to inactive storage, but should not be destroyed. Examples include financial records, operating reports, and board meeting minutes. Useful records are records that assist in keeping the business operations running smoothly on a day-to-day basis. These records are replaceable, but add an inconvenience to the company. They can be moved to inactive storage and or destroyed after a period of time. Examples include letters and reports. Non-essential records are those records that do not provide future value to the company. They may be destroyed after they have served their purpose. Examples include memos, notices, and newsletters. Can you identify the type of record? Let's move each green document to the correct yellow folder. Records management involves records, non-records, and filing. A record is recorded information, regardless of the media used to create it, that is created or received and used in the operation of an organization. A non-record is a document that is more expensive to keep than to discard and is not needed as an official record. For example, a draft copy of a report. Filing is the physical process of arranging, organizing, and storing records. The filing rules used most frequently in business have been developed by the Association of Records Managers and Administrators. Each company adapts the ARMA filing rules to meet its specific needs. Rule number one, indexing order of units. Personal names are indexed first by surname, second by first name or initial, and third by middle name or initial. Business names are indexed as they are written in a letterhead or trademark. Each word is a separate unit. Rule number two, minor words and symbols in business names. Articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and symbols are considered separate indexing units. If the word the is the first word of a business name, it becomes the last indexing unit. Rule number three, punctuation and possessives. Disregard all punctuation when indexing business and personal names. Rule number four, single letters and abbreviations. Initials and personal names are considered separate indexing units. Abbreviations of personal names and brief personal names are indexed as written. In business names, single letters are indexed as written. If single letters are separated by a space, index each letter as a separate unit. Index acronyms such as KFC and ARMA and television and radio call letters as one unit. Abbreviated words such as corp and ink and names like KFC and A&E are indexed as one unit regardless of punctuation or spacing. Rule number five, titles and suffixes. A title before a personal name such as Mr, Ms, or Doctor, a senior suffix like junior, senior, the first, the second, and the third, or a professional suffix like PhD or MD after the name is the last indexing unit. Numeric suffixes are filed before alphabetic suffixes. If a name contains both a title and a suffix, the title is considered the last unit. Royal and religious titles, followed only by either a given name or a surname, are indexed as written. Titles in business names are indexed as written. Rule number six, prefixes, articles and particles. An article or particle in a personal or business name is combined with the part of the name following it to form a single unit. Any spaces or punctuation between the prefix and the name should be ignored. Numbers that are spelled out are filed alphabetically as written. Numbers in digit form are considered one unit. Names that include numbers as the first unit in digit form are filed in ascending order before alphabetic names. Rule number eight, organizations and institutions. The name of an organization or institution is filed according to how it appears on the group's letterhead. If the word the is used as a first word in these names, it is considered the last indexing unit. Rule number nine, identical names. If entire names are identical, the order is determined by address. Addresses are considered in this order. City names, state or province, and street names, including avenue, boulevard, etc. When the first unit of a street name is written in digits, the names are filed in ascending numeric order before the alphabetic street names. Street names with compass directions, such as north and south, are indexed as written. If the city name and street numbers are identical, house numbers are used. Zip codes are not used in indexing order. Here are examples of how to file names that are identical. Rule number ten, government names. Government names are first indexed by the name of the governmental unit following this order, country, state, county or city. The second unit identifies the distinctive name of the department, office or board. Words such as office of and department of are separate indexing units when they are part of the official name. If the word of is not part of the official name as written, it should not be added. The first three indexing units of a federal agency are United, states and government. The first three indexing units are the names of the state, province, county, parish, city, town, township or village. The next indexing unit is the most distinctive name of the department, board, office or government division. The words state of or county of are only added if necessary for clarity or if they are part of the official office name. When filing the name of a foreign government, the English name is the first indexing unit. The remainder of the formal name is indexed next if it is needed and if it is part of the official name. The names of departments and divisions follow in order. Finally, the names of states, cities and other divisions follow and are filed by their official names as spelled in English. Why is filing important? Easy access to critical documents and to communications saves time. It's also cost effective. Misplaced documents cost money. Filing is necessary to meet legal requirements and finally filing is essential for future planning. Let's try putting some files into the main folder in alphabetical order. Choose the drawer in which you would file these folders. Now choose the correct folder for these files. File these in the correct order. Pause the video to think it over. Congratulations! You have completed this records management activity and are now ready to go to work.