January 23, 2025

In This Issue

• What’s in a (File) Name?
• RIM Month 2025
• We Need Your Help
• Upcoming Training

What’s in a (File) Name?

A whole filing system! Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but digital file names can hold a lot of information, and a well-thought-out file naming convention can go a long way toward a successful file management plan.

Thinking about how you search for things is a great place to start when creating a naming convention. Think about the type of work that you do and the records you create. With that in mind, what is the first thing you think of when you need to find something in your department’s digital repository (like Box or SharePoint)? This could be a form name or number, the name of the file’s creator, or a unique identifier, like an EID or account number. These are things that could be included in your naming convention and may even make sense as the first part of a file name.

Once you figure out what you want included in your file names, you’ll next need to think about the order of those pieces of data. If your files are primarily date-dependent, where files are organized by fiscal, academic, or calendar year, you might consider a date-first naming system. This system works best for files related to events, meetings, or anything regularly scheduled or recurring. Here are a few examples of date-first naming:

• 2024_ConferenceEmailBlast.txt
• 202205_AdvisoryCommitteeAgenda.pdf
• 20210801_AlumniEvent_Agenda.docx

Subject-first naming is going to work best for things that are related to a particular entity, such as student records, employee records, or contracts related to a particular vendor. The following are some examples of subject-first naming:

• SmithJ_PerformanceAppraisal_202305.docx
• ABC_Services_Contract_2023-2024.pdf
• GarzaR_WorkStudyApplication_2018.pdf

A couple of final thoughts:

1. Find a system that works best for your department and your records.
2. Don’t make the system too complicated, or it will be too hard for people to use.
3. Apply your system consistently: find a format and stick to it.

Want to know more about managing digital files? Check out our archived recording of Tackling the Digital Sprawl (EID required) or join us for the live presentation as part of RIM Month 2025.

RIM Month 2025

RIM Month is just around the corner! This April, we will be celebrating Records and Information Management Month with some all-new sessions, an update of a previous training, and multiple sessions of our classic trainings.

• One of the most frequent questions we get asked about is email, so one of our new trainings will be all about email: how to manage it and how to organize it.
• A records inventory is one of the most powerful tools you can create for managing your records, so we will be expanding on RIM Month 2024’s inventory training, Knowing What You’ve Got, with a new in-person, hands-on inventory class. HBP Part 20.4.1 requires Departmental Records Management Contacts to maintain a departmental records inventory, so this is highly recommended for DRMCs.
• Elista Street will be back to demonstrate how to set up metadata and manage permissions in SharePoint.
• RIM Month 2024’s Tackling the Digital Sprawl will be back with a slightly longer run time (the sprawl gets us all) and more time for questions.
• Not sure where to start? IG101 and IG103 fill you in on all the important records management basics, but our in-person classes are particularly effective at giving you the confidence to tackle any records management project, so consider joining us for our new in-person inventory class or one of our sessions of IG110: Learning the Records Lifecycle.

Stay tuned for registration links and full session descriptions to come!

We Need Your Help

If you’d like to participate in an in-person training session but find it difficult to get to the West Mall, we welcome your input.

If you know of a meeting space in your building or a building close to you that seats up to 20 people, has AV hookups, and is available for use to other UT departments, please let us know. Bonus points if you know how to reserve it. Contact us at rims@austin.utexas.edu.

Upcoming Training

The following sessions are coming up and still have seats available. Get registered today through UTLearn.

• IG101 Records and Information Management for Department Records Management Contacts
  • Required for all Departmental Records Management Contacts (DRMCs)
  • Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
  • Presented virtually through UTLearn
• IG103 Records and Information Management: What Everyone Needs to Know about University Records
  • Recommended for all UT Faculty and Staff
  • Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m
  • Presented virtually through UTLearn

We’re taking March off to get ready for RIM Month, but keep an eye out for an upcoming On the Record listing all of our April training sessions.

Resources 

• UTRRS 8.1 Resources 
• DRMC Resources 
• Records Management Plan 
• Imaging Departmental Records 
• Records Inventory 
• Request to Dispose of Records