 Having trouble finding a document because you can't recall what you named it? If so, this training is for you. Throughout this module, you will learn about the importance of standardized document naming conventions. What is a naming convention? A naming convention is a consistent method for creating file names for your electronic records. Its purpose is to determine, one, the document subject. Two, its status. Three, is it a record, such as a final document? Wow, that is a lot of information. A standard naming convention is worth the effort. Look at this example file name. It reveals little of the content. We can assume it's about a contract, but which contract is anyone's guess? To determine the content, we have to open the file. Who has time for that? Next, what is the revision status? Is it a first draft, second draft, or final? Document 1's file name has complex versioning, but the addition of final, final draft makes it unclear. Is it a final document, or the last draft before the final? People, keep it simple. We need an efficient method to separate drafts from final documents. Lastly, has anyone ever sent this document out of the office, say, back to the contractor? Is it evidence that something happened or a decision was made? Based on this file name, we can't tell. The form of the file name should be predictable. To achieve predictability, we separate the name into unique elements, which can include contract number, account number, or a project number, but will always include a subject, and most of the time, a date. There could be plenty of email, reports, budgets, and other documents relating to this contract. The best way to keep all of the information together is to use a contract code that we will call, for example, XYZ as the first element of the file name. Bosses are fond of saying things like, give me everything on contract XYZ. If the file name includes the contract code, finding the documents will be pretty simple. But do people really want everything? Usually, folks want a specific document. Contract negotiations is the subject of the document, so it should be added to the file name. Finally, since there are lots of back and forth on these negotiations, adding a date to the file name can also be useful. The file name consists of contract code, subject, and date. Simple, effective, and specific. I need only to glance at the file name to know what the document is about and which is the most recent. Don't worry if you don't have a contract code. Just start with the subject and the date and be as specific as you can. You will also notice that the file name elements are separated by underscores. Underscores eliminate the use of spaces within the title. On a shared drive where there is a highly nested folder hierarchy, it doesn't take long to reach the maximum character length. Did you know that maximum character length includes the whole drive path, including your file title? If you reach the maximum, you will not be able to save the document at all. Don't use special characters either. They can be mistaken for computer commands. If you are using the date as an element, use the ISO standard of year, month, day. This standard is best because it uses a general to specific principle and the date will sort chronologically. At the beginning of this training, we talked about document status. Is it draft or final? Revision control is a method of adding information to the file name to keep track of revisions. Not all documents require revision control. Sometimes the date is enough. Let's look closer at revision control. When a revisable document such as presentations, reports, and meeting minutes, working on or sending out an earlier draft of a document is embarrassing, confusing, and a waste of time. When a revisable document is being drafted, use letters A, B, C, etc. to indicate the document is in drafting stage. Let's take out our previous file name and add revision control. First, we add an underscore to separate the elements. Then we add rev A. Now it is ready for review and discussion. The document creator always controls the revisions. If Lars sends a draft set of minutes to his boss, John, and John has comments, he would add his initials after the revision letter. Once Lars and John are happy with the minutes, they are finalized. But Lars never labels the document final. Why? What happens if John finds a typo? If Lars puts final in the file name, he would have to either say final one or maybe even worse, final final. No, my friends, this creates further confusion. Instead, the document is finalized by removing the revision letter and replacing it with a number starting with zero. When the document is ready for distribution, save it as a PDF to give the distribution copy fixity. Other formats like Word or Excel can be easily changed. To summarize, a standardized naming convention should tell us, one, what the document is about, two, its drafting status, three, whether the document is in use. Compare this file title with this one. Based on the file name, we know that this record pertains to a specific contract concerning negotiations taking place on January 4th, 2017. It is a final revision and it is in use since it is a PDF. That is a lot of information to get from a file name and format. Proper naming of documents doesn't need to be difficult, but it does need to be applied consistently, documented, and shared with your unit. Does your unit, department, or faculty need a document naming convention? The Records Management Department at UBC and UBCO can help you adapt the UBC Document Naming Standard to fit the needs of your unit. Call us and refer to the resources section of this training. Now let's see what you have learned.