Does your family have a Document Management System?
Category : All About Dwel
Leases, contracts, insurance policies, warranty cards, manuals, certificates, forms, leaflets, etc.
Just where do you keep all that stuff?
No, seriously, I’m actually asking – where do YOU keep them?
In the years past, I had a few drawers for manuals and other printed materials.
It was a mess, but things could be found, when absolutely necessary…
Electronic documents I kept on my computer, in several folders, depending on the application they were created in – email, Word documents, scans, etc.
There was a method to my madness, and again, thigs could be found, when needed, even if it took a while.
Here’s the thing though – over the years, as I moved a few times and changed my computer more than once, my document management system became bloated, even less ordered, and, quite frankly, a bit of a jungle :-).
I still could find things, when needed, but my family couldn’t, and had to do without, if I weren’t handy at the time.
What annoyed me most back then, was when related information was scattered over several mediums, and therefore I had to rummage through all my drawers and all my computer files, in order to find everything about… say a TV – was it still under warranty? When exactly was it purchased? Where is the receipt, where is the user manual (and the warranty card in it)?
So when I got a chance to design my very own digital Document Management System, my focus was on keeping the relevant info together. This is why in Dwel we have a hierarchy of Categories/Clips/Staples/Clippings.
Clippings can be anything – a file, a note, a link, a photo, an email, etc. I don’t keep any printed materials any longer, if I can help it. I simply take a photo of whatever it is and clip it in the relevant Clip. Maybe Staple it with other pertinent Clippings, so when I find one, I find them all.
Like the one in the image on the left – the baggage insurance form – photo-ed and Stapled together with the ticket, hotel and other trip-related expense information, stored in the ‘Business Trips’ Clip under the ‘Business’ Category.