Some of the old filing rules from typing and business class apply to modern document repositories. But with the electronic files and their search capabilities, we need to think beyond sticking everything in a file folder.

Just like agreeing to which style guide we're going to use, we had to define a naming convention for our electronic filing system, our document repository.

In order to keep our electronic files manageable, we had to decide how we were going to name our files and in which order. We also had to decide on formatting.

We decided to save all documents by the application or system name that they describe. We added fields to collect metadata about what type of document it was (user guide, test plan, quick reference guide, etc.).

We decided to use plain English with long titles because a variety of people were searching for our documents. We decided against using underscores between words.

We appointed someone each quarter to "audit" our files to ensure that we're following the guidelines. We also set up an archiving process to retire outdated material.

The document repository has really helped us organize and retrieve our entire library of documents. It also instantly made our catalog available to all of our users.