OFFICE SIMPLIFICATION PROGRAMME 1 · TASK 1
Records Storage
Is your paper in the right place?
Some paper needs to be kept. But that doesn't mean it needs to be in a filing cabinet beside someone's desk — or sitting indefinitely in an off-site warehouse.
The smarter question is:
How often do we need it, how quickly do we need it, and does it still need to be paper?
Answer those three questions and the right storage decision often becomes much clearer.
Start with how often you use it!
When was the last time somebody actually needed these records?
If records are...... Think about ......
Used regularly & Original needed Keep them on-site
Rarely Used & Original needed Moving them off-site
Regularly used & Original not needed Digitising them
Almost never used Check why you still have them
No longer required Secure Destruction
Nobody knows why we have them Investigate
Keep it on-site when...
The physical document is actively used, rapid access matters and keeping it close to employees has genuine operational value. But challenge filing cabinets containing documents that haven't been touched for years. Convenient storage can easily become permanent storage.
Move it off-site when...
The original must be retained but access is infrequent. Specialist storage can release workplace space while keeping records available when they're genuinely required.
But remember:
Moving an unmanaged archive off-site doesn't make it managed. It just changes its address. Before moving it, know what it is, why you're keeping it and when it should next be reviewed.
Should the records be on or off-site?
The six questions every archive should answer
You don't need a complicated records-management system to start improving control. Pick a cabinet, archive room or group of boxes and ask:
1. WHAT is in it?
2. WHERE is it?
3. WHO owns it?
4. WHY are we keeping it?
5. WHEN can it be reviewed?
6. HOW OFTEN is it actually used?
Before you store another box...
Ask four questions.
Does it need to be kept?
There should be a reason for retaining information — not simply an absence of a reason to destroy it.
Does it need to be here?
Records accessed once every few years probably don't need prime office space.
Does it need to be paper?
If people regularly need the information but not the original document, digitisation may make more sense.
Does it need to exist at all?
Once the legitimate retention requirement has ended, continued storage may achieve nothing except keeping the archive growing.
That gives you the four Archive Reduction decisions:
KEEP · MOVE · DIGITISE · DESTROY