File Tracking Solutions

Organising records in the Filing Room is a matter of good storage and good indexing. However, many organisations that have good control in their Filing Rooms suffer major problems once files circulate amongst users, especially if their operations are in multi-floor buildings with cellular offices.

Traditional methods of tracking, such as 'Tracer Cards' (sometimes called 'Out Cards') work to a point, but rely hugely on staff discipline and often break down due to a lack of it. Even then, they are very labour intensive and time consuming. Some organisations employ their IT Departments to come up with a file database so that movements can be tracked. Whilst this is a step in the right direction, these systems have relied on keyboard entry only and, as a result, are very slow and labour intensive. Also, in-house systems are notoriously prone to never being quite finished or never fully developed.

Civica Records Management's File Tracking software has used Barcode data capture since 1989, and RFID capture as well since 2007. Capturing file movements with barcode scanners is fast, accurate and easy. All movements are instantly tracked, and audit trails of movement history are automatically maintained. Management Information Reports can be generated at will, and there is true management control over vital records.

"A tracking system is more efficient. Barcoding improves the speed and accuracy of recording file movements." - Department of Health

RFID tracking is even faster and easier because it is fully automatic. Often staff do not even have to know the system is deployed. Files are fitted with discreet radio-frequency identification tags which are located by antennea strategically placed behind ceiling tiles and near doorways. Thus, when files are moved, their identities are picked up continuously and registered to the locations they are at and the FileTrail database is updated - automatically. Unlike barcodes which must be individually scanned, multiple RFID tags can be read within moments by a reader, greatly reducing the time taken to process trolley-loads of records as they move about.

Civica Records Management has massive expertise in providing File Tracking solutions and could help your organisation today.