optimal Windows folder org. structure

[mickyjune26]

Hello all,
After being in business for about 1 year, I'm getting a lot of files (proposals, ideas, projects, etc...) and am trying to organize them in Windows Explorer. Here's my revised structure. I welcome any ideas, criticism!

(indents represent subfolders)


Business Folder Organization Tree Structure:

CRM (customer contact information, pst file, current projects)
(Each client gets their own sub-directory unless the info is in a file that contains multiple clients)
Forms Templates
Web Design
Networking
Pre-Paid Services
Training
New Employees
Accounting
Userdocs
Applications
Utilities
Network
Computer hardware
Games
Past Operations
(Different sub-folders representing previous projects so we can analyze past processes and learn from them)

Research
Backup

 

[MLoew]

mickyjune26,

You may ultimately wish to implement some type of document management system for better control of these files because of the limitations of a linear directory structure. If you do not want to go with a document management system, you can maintain the files in a structure that is meaningful in a first-order sense, as you have suggested. Then create a web document with hyperlinks for each customer (or activity, project, etc.; whatever makes sense) to access the individual documents themselves.

With this method, you can provide a little more documentation on the web page to provide descriptions, change dates, etc. to make the information easier to find. You can also, of course, hyperlink in intranet documents, and web sites in this same page for more fidelity. Also, if documents are shared across projects or customers, you do not need to copy them in duplicate file structures; they just live in one place, but are linked from as many web documents as necessary.

I use this system to create a Project Home Page with images, links to company procedures, MS Project file (and image), all project files (linked in an order according to a procedure), etc. It helps communicate the project scope and content to others that may be involved or interested a bit more than just showing a directory structure.

Hope this helps. Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew

 

[mickyjune26]

creative and practical. I like that.

Thanks for the advice

 

[mfonseca11]

I use a collaborative info organizer. Personally I like Infotree, which gives you the capability of storing attachments and web links along with personal comments. Retrieving informationis always fast and easy.

 

[mickyjune26]

is that

http://www.infotree.com?

It looks like it's a web server.

 

[glrpfi]

Yes, thats the right people. The use a web server to serve out the documents in a collaborative fashion for a distributed organization. Very useful if you have multiple sites.