Hassle Free Archiving

By hassle-free archiving we mean:

  • You can perform as much or as little of the archiving as your priorities and resources allow
  • You have the option of a completely hands-off service in which we perform the entire archiving process including culling files from shelves, packing boxes, barcoding and creating detailed inventories
  • We’ll put you in a position to simply ask for what you want – without necessarily needing to know in which box a particular record is stored
  • Web access for enquires, searches and reporting to give perfect visibility and control of your records
  • We’ll operate more as your company’s archives help-desk than just a storage company

The problem with archiving

Archiving is problematic to so many organisations because of several universal factors:

  • Archiving is generally the least-liked office function and so is often left to the most junior person to perform
  • The person that packs the records will most likely have moved on during the life of the records
  • The person that needs the records, perhaps years in the future, will have no knowledge of the archiving history
  • The hidden cost of archiving will generally equal or exceed the direct cost of archive storage and retrieval

Many archive storage companies prefer to ‘just store boxes’ and leave the important but more difficult tasks of systematic and thoughtful archiving to the customer. This approach is destined to disappoint when it really matters – when documents are required urgently perhaps years in the future.

A storage company is of no help if a client calls urgently wanting a file or information and the Customer Service Officer (quite probably sitting in a call centre in another state) says “Sorry – I can’t help unless you can tell me the barcode of the box you’re looking for.”

FileSaver’s approach

Rather than ignore the tedious but important archiving processes, we respond by providing a proactive and systematic approach to archiving:

  • We start by listening to clients to learn their past and present archiving practices and objectives with respect to archiving
  • We try and undo the sins of the past by documenting the origin of existing archives and filling in the gaps in metadata
  • We get involved in future archiving so that clients can perform as much or as little of the archiving tasks as their resources and priorities allow
  • We put clients in a position of being able to ask for what they want without necessarily needing to know in which file or box the information is located
  • We agree metadata templates to be completed for all records going into archives – this avoids the problems many companies experience of having perhaps 1000’s of boxes in storage but inadequate information to enable the timely retrieval or fully informed and confident disposal of records at the end of their retention period.

We talk in your language and put you in a position to simply ask for what you want…

…“I need invoice 91010 from June 2005”
…“Send me the medical record for Mary Jones DOB 1-1-1972”
…“Please email the front page of the contract for legal file matter number 2004856”

Being able to rely upon us in this way is what we mean by hassle-free archiving.