How To Organize And Secure Your (Personal, Business, Hobby, and Financial) Records

"MindMapping In Action"

How To Organize And Secure Your (Personal, Business, Hobby, and Financial) Records

Does any of the following sound familiar?

I occasionally misplace records and spend a significant amount of time looking for them..........

Boxes and filing cabinets filled with papers occupy valuable living space. How can I save the content of these papers and yet have the space available for other purposes........

While I was away from home on business travel, my spouse was unable to find important papers in my absence

Our computer crashes occasionally and files are lost.........

While travelling, I needed access to important personal and business records yet didn't want to carry lots of paper............

While reconciling checking account or credit card statements, I'd like to be able to quickly find receipts for the amount listed......

I needed a receipt to return an item weeks later. It usually takes a long time to find the receipt. One time, I found the receipt but it was too faded to be used

Until several years ago, I experiences these scenarios on a regular basis. I challenged myself to change the way I handled information (such that these experiences became a thing of the past) and to develop four basic capabilities:

Provide my family the ability to quickly locate business and personal records as needed

Make my records truly portable - quick, convenient access while at home or on the road

Reclaim paper storage space as living space

Be better prepared for disasters (computer crash, fire, flood, power outage, etc.)

The goal was to develop an economical, common sense based system that could easily be adapted by others as well. This desire to make information portable, store less paper, and quickly locate information led me to investigate becoming better organized and to do so in a paperless manner. I wanted an electronic catalog similar to the library catalog that would enable me to file and quickly locate information as needed. Unlike the library catalog, I wanted to store the information itself in electronic form so that it is portable and occupies a minimal amount of space. My challenge was developing a system for converting my business and personal records into a digital document library.

KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR CREATING A DIGITAL DOCUMENT LIBRARY

Security is a major concern. Just as I lock file cabinets which contained confidential information, I also wanted to secure these digital documents such that they were not accessible if they fell into the wrong hands. I wanted to be able to travel with my personal and business records, but wanted them to be inaccessible if they were lost or stolen.

I also want the peace of mind that comes with knowing that my records are safe and secure if a disaster occurs. Can I access my information after a computer crash, fire, or flood?

The ability to represent, view, and print any type of document was a necessity. I needed to be able to view information for reference purposes and then print it on paper as needed. For example, imagine a scenario in which I am seeking a refund for a purchase. The digital representation of the receipt must be viewable on the computer such that I can identify it and then print as an exact representation of the original. Color, handwritting, text, images, and paper size must be maintained according.

Converting paper into digital documents involves scanning paper into a particular digital format. The ideal would be to have one software tool that would both operate the scanner, save into the selected format, and facilitate content search.

Time was also a factor. Documents scanned today needed to be viewable, searchable, and printable at any point in the future and on future workstation technologies. The selected software tool and format must involve universal standards that would be supported well into the future.

THE DIGITAL DOCUENT LIBRARY SOLUTION

I decided to first tackle the file format issue and quickly realized that Adobe's PDF format satisfied all requirements:

Represents and prints all content

Universal standard

Searchable

Can be secured with password

I next looked at PDF creation tools and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Adobe Acrobat product represented one multi-purpose software tool:

Operates a scanner to scan and save into PDF format

Edits pdf files to incorporate searchable strings

Contains tools for searching PDF files

Batch processing to password-protect PDF files

Has a companion product, Adobe Reader, which allows PDF files to be viewed, searched, and printed on many platforms.

Finally, I needed to address the need to organize these digital documents such that content could be easily located. I did consider using various document management systems and quickly ruled them out because they added another level of complexity and significant additional cost. I instead focused on utilizing Windows operating systems' existing filing and search capabilities to achieve organization that could easily be adopted by others.

I developed and perfected a method of storing related digital documents in a series of hierarchically ordered folders. Individual digital documents adhered to a file naming convention that consisted of creation date, description, and amount (if applicable). For example, one folder is called "Unpaid Bills". Bills to be paid are scanned into PDF format and stored in this folder. The filename consists of due date (in yymmdd format), description, and amount. At any time I can browse this folder to get a list of bills that need to be paid soon.

Documents can be quickly located using one of two approaches:

Browse/navigate through the folders and located the desired digital documents

Use the Startup, Find, Files or Folders command to search based on folder name or file name content

OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL DOCUMENT LIBRARY APPROACH

Paper records are scanned into PDF format (with appropriate file name) and stored in the appropriate folder on a daily basis

Electronic records (MS Office documents, email, online statements, websites) can be printed to PDF and saved with appropriate file name in the appropriate folder. Many companies, such as Bank Of America, now provide "paperless statements" in which statements are available online in PDF format. Records already in PDF format can be viewed online and then saved as PDF on your local hard disk.

Adobe Acrobat batch processing is used to apply password to all PDF file

Records can be quickly retrieved, viewed, and printed as needed

Contents of PDF files can be optionally OCR'ed and made searchable

PDF files can be burned onto CD and stored in a safe location for backup purposes

People who travel can carry the CDs with them so that they have access to records while on the road

WHAT IF YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO REVISE ELECTRONIC RECORDS

Imagine a scenario in which the record you wish to store, retrieve, secure, and make portable is a MS Word document that you may also need to revise in the future. PDF has a little known ability to imbed the revisable electronic document inside the PDF file. The revisable, formatted electronic document travels with the PDF and can be modified and redistributed as needed. The drawback to this approach is that imbedding the electronic document involves extra steps that could become time consuming. Here are some alternate approaches:

Extract the text from a PDF (possible in Adobe Acrobat) and paste it into a work processor or page layout program where it can be revised. Drawback to this approach is that all formatting is lost and must be re-created.

Utilize a document management system that stores all document types and allows checkin, checkout, audit trails, version control, security, and more. This approach is more costly but should be seriously considered for business environments and home offices.

You can store formats other than PDF in the digital document library. Make sure that tools are available for reading the formats. Many formats include the ability to password protect individual files. Applying passwords to each individual file could be time consuming.

DIGITAL DOCUMENT LIBRARY ISSUES

Be disciplined and scan papers on a daily basis. If you accumulate papers for several days and even weeks, you will find yourself spending a large block of time scanning the large volume of papers. Your digital documents library will also not contain current information, limiting it's usefulness.

Going totally digital is not for everyone. Many will find it more practical to save current/recent information in traditional form (store records in organized physical folders or file cabinets) and use the digital document library as a method of archiving historic information. The best approach is to understand the needs of each household/business and deploy the approach that makes the most sense.

Consider using a scanning service or consulting professional to get started. A nominal fee will be charged for these services, but it will be well worth it in the long term to insure that your information is being properly preserved.

Make sure that you have proper disaster recovery and backup procedures in place for your computer and its contents.

.Now let's take a look at these same circumstances and how they are handled before and after:

Before	After
Papers are misplaced and you spend lots of time looking for them or unable to find them	Receipts and documents are easily and quickly located on your computer and in file cabinets and can be shared with others
You are away from home or involved in an accident and your spouse, family, or friends need to find important documents or receipts in your absence	Having been educated in how and where digital documents are stored, receipts and important information can be quickly located in your absence
Your computer crashed and you've lost content stored on it	No problem, you can access the backup which is stored in a safe location
You are travelling and need access to important documents while on the road but dont want to carry a lot of paper	Access the password protected documents on the backup CD that you carry when travelling
You need to reconcile checking account or credit card statements and unable to find receipts for the desired amount	Search your documents for the desired dollar amount or date and find the receipt
You need a receipt to return an item weeks later. You can't find the receipt or you find it but it is too faded to be used	Search for the receipt, print it, and use the printed version to return the item
You submit an application for something and then later wish that you had a copy of the application. Maybe it was never received or you just want to reference the original application to insure that you receive what you applied for.	Prior to mailing, faxing, or electronically submitting the application you save it in electronic form. You can later quickly locate and reference the application online.
Someone browsing your computer (kids or visiting friends/family) finds confidential or sensitive information that you had wised to remain private.	Info is secure. If found, can only be opened by someone with the correct password.

Experience has shown that this is for everyone and that for most it can actually be implemented in both the home and business.