The ABC of your index structure

The ABC of Designing your Index Structure:

A) Start with the END in mind.
That is start with the logical ways that you will retrieve your document. EG: in an Accounting Practice, the structure was that the Client Name is always the primary search. Of next importance is the tax year, followed by the document type and then the date, finally the ASIC Details. Hence the index structure was created as follows:
Index 1= Client Name
Index 2 = Tax Year
Index 3= Document Type
Index 4= Document Date
Index 5= ASIC Details
Also, Info-Organiser DMS allows you to add notations in the Document Summary and this is used to add specific details about the document. Notes in the document summary are also searchable. This is kept as a free form field to cater for all types of variations.
B) Keep it simple and manageable – Start with less indexes. Most business that I have consulted to use between 5-7 indexes. Too many indexes can make it onerous on the team and only create confusion. As you learn to use and rely on the search function you will discover that more than 7 indexes is unnecessary.
C) Continuous Improvement. Hindsight is a wonderful teacher! Info-Organiser DMS administration allows you to add additional indexes at any time. Indexes can be merged, delete and redefined so if you change your mind you can easily implement this change to the entire file.