Naming your document collection guidelines
Once you have gathered the relevant documents to a single location, or have created an index so everyone knows where they are, spend some time reviewing the naming conventions in use.
Over many years of setting up new process centric document collections, our best practices for naming include:
- Be consistent. Use the same naming conventions for different but related document types. e.g. Sales Management Process Standard Operating Procedures; Sales Management Process Workflow (or TaskMap)
- Use logical names. Using a logical name that describes the content of the document will make it easier to find and be friendly to new users. e.g. How to fulfill a request for a new computer for your department.
- Use logical abbreviations for task numbering and labeling. When creating process maps, use a logical abbreviation for the Task labeling and numbering scheme. e.g Sales Management Process might have an abbreviation of SMP-01.
- Create unique names, numbers and labels wherever possible. For important processes it is worth creating the names and numbering scheme you want to use in advance. This will eliminate the potential duplication of files which will only cause confusion, reduce the quality of work and increase potential risk to your organization’s output.
