Organization, where is it? Just like the set of lost keys, when you lose your sense of organization the simplicity of life is gone and losing your mind is just around the corner. Automotive repair shop owners, managers and technicians are inundated with large amounts of information on a daily basis. Customer estimates, repair orders, part orders, state legislation, federal legislation, bills in, bills out and those annoying and rarely informative circulars are just a few information items arriving on a daily basis and requiring a place in an office that is already filled to the rim with yesterday's mail.

And what about adding the administration side of clutter into the mix? Receipts, contracts, employee time sheets, attendance slips and legal records -to list a few -will devour even the most organized individual if not placed in their spots. Determining just where the spots are and how to manage the paper work can be a trick. The Automotive Service Association performed a short survey of randomly selected collision and mechanical shop owners to see what, how and how long ASA professionals keep things together.

This article doesn't take into account the actual parts kept on hand to get the customer's vehicle back on track. That's another article in itself.

What items are worth organizing?
According to the results of the ASA survey, technical manuals, insurance estimates/claims adjustments (for collision shops), customer receipts, business-to-business purchase receipts, business administration records and government documents are worth organizing. That's a large amount of information covering several different categories.

First, let me recommend that each major group receive its own file cabinet, shelf, drawer or electronic folder.

Technical manuals are staying around a bit longer just in case that one car rolls in and needs your expertise. As manuals pile up, space becomes less and less. What's the solution?

One option is to find an alternative to book-form manuals. Manuals are quickly becoming available on CD and can be searched, read, printed and easily stored. For older manuals, be realistic. Don't hold on to a manual just in case one person might roll through. The price of each square foot of space taken up with clutter, old manuals and magazines you might read, cuts into your profit margin.

Set up a system with other shop owners to establish a manual loaning program for the older manuals. Each shop could agree to keep a couple of outdated manuals and share information. It's a win-win situation that also increases communication and camaraderie among shop owners and technicians.

When cleaning out your manual shelf, remove the manuals that haven't moved in years and place the remaining ones in year order with the most current in the front. Leave space on the shelf for next year's additions or remove a year as you add a year.

Since insurance estimates/claims adjustments (for collision shops), customer receipts, business-to-business purchase receipts, business administration records and government documents are mostly loose paper or pamphlet materials; filing cabinets, electronic files and document software programs provide storage solutions.

How items are organized
The most common form of organization is the alphabetically ordered filing cabinet. A tried and true method, which provides offices with places to store things. Complications arise when the person looking for the folder isn't the person who filed it. Often times, alphabetical organization is in the eyes of the beholder. For example, John Adams, one of the shop's major customers, calls to check his service records for insurance purposes. Common sense would direct someone to check the A's for Adams. That's logical, but logic doesn't always win. It's easy to place John Adams in the J's if the file begins with John instead of Adams, John.

A simple solution to alphabetical filing problems is keeping things consistent. When starting a new customer folder or a new business customer folder, label it like the one before it. Speaking from experience, label customer files by last name first. Label the outside of each drawer with the beginning and ending file name or major letter. It's irritating to open four drawers in search of one folder.

If more than one person files documents, again, keep things consistent. Develop a chart that reminds everyone of the filing system rules such as: file by last name, place the newest documents in the front, double check-spelling and double-check the spot where items are filed. It saves time to look twice the first time instead of looking and looking in search of documents the second time.

Information receipts and items from suppliers and other vendors are best filed separately. For example, Joe's Parts Supplier filed in an alternative drawer or cabinet. When dealing with these types of files, place them into categories and then arrange the files alphabetically. For example, Joe's Parts Supplier is found easiest when placed with other parts suppliers and in alphabetical order.

Using categories for parts vendors, insurance companies and office suppliers means you are no longer required to remember specifics. Also, individuals un- familiar with company or vendor names can locate the necessary material without interrupting the workflow in the other areas of the building.

Pamphlets, bulletins, newsletters and other information from OSHA and the EPA are best placed in an area of their own also. If this information is referenced often, place them within a three-ring binder by type and year. If your shop only pays attention to certain issues, make a file folder and store either in a cabinet or electronically for future reference.

How long to hold on?
According to the ASA/AutoInc. survey results of both mechanical and collision shop owners and managers, times vary only slightly for keeping documents on hand. Technical documents have an average office life span of five years. This is less than the eight-year average age of vehicles on the road today.

Insurance claims and adjustments at collision shops remain an average of four years inside a shop's cabinets. If you are working with electronic filing, the length of time for keeping insurance claims and adjustments is greatly extended.

Customer-related documents tend to linger a bit with an average of six years. Hopefully the relationship with the customer outlasts the documents within their folder. Cleaning out folders and discarding documents can be done on a daily basis by removing materials within files as you perform day-to-day tasks.

Business receipts, supplier orders and other business-to-business documents are kept an average of five years. These documents provide a source of reference for past sales, prices and order amounts without the year. By placing the figures from receipts into a database on a regular basis, you are able to track your spending in a paperless manner.

If your business utilizes electronic filing, scan in the actual receipts and file them under the company name.

Business administration documents such as employee records, contracts and other legal documents should be kept a bit longer than other documents. Survey results averaged 30 years. If using a paper filing system, each employee folder should contain documents on attendance, vacation, insurance records and other reports. Again, electronic filing and scanning of documents serves a great purpose of extending the life of documents and reducing the amount of paper space required.

Finally, government documents (i.e. OSHA and the EPA) are kept an average of five years by shop owners. As mentioned earlier, these are best kept in three-ring binders. Often times, these documents are extensive and would require large amounts of computer hard drive space and clerical time if scanned and organized electronically.

Software and the electronic alternative
When assessing just how much information should be filed and organized, it appears like a mountain of paper.

One way to reduce this mountain into a molehill is turning paper copies into computer images and electronic documents.

This requires a computer with a large amount of memory, a scanner and paper management software. Great software created by Documagix known as Papermaster allows the user to build file cabinets inside their computer. Specify cabinets for specific topics. Each cabinet contains drawers with files. Each file can then contain actual scanned documents.

These documents are electronic images, tiff files, which can be printed, faxed or e-mailed for future reference. This is an inexpensive software that is easy to use and highly efficient.

Sand Dollar Software specializes in PC-based document management/ image processing systems. Sand Dollar offers both off-the-shelf and customer software along with customer support.

According to the ASA survey, both mechanical and collision repair facilities recommend ADP's AutoPay software, a payroll and human resources management system. This is a system that helps with tax situations, employee payroll and direct deposits.

Wrap it up

Organizing your service facility's documents and keeping them that way is a challenge that arises every time the postman delivers or a customer makes a request. By designing a system that saves space and time, you have managed to accomplish a great task.

Be realistic when determining what is important enough to keep and how long documents should remain in folders. If you tend to keep documents on hand just in case, consider making a change to scanning documents and electronic filing.

If this is the direction you choose, remember to make computer back-ups and keep paper originals long enough that you feel comfortable with the electronic system.

Remember that electronic documents can be printed out as long as they are available on the hard drive, CD or disk.

RATE THIS ARTICLE What do you think of this article? Your input will help AutoInc. develop additional articles on this subject. Share your thoughts! Your name Your e-mail address

MOST ACCESSED ARTICLES Fuel Injection Service, Not Just Cleaning The Art of Extraction EGR Systems: Operation and Diagnosis Proactive Target Marketing:_Rethinking Your Business Strategy Engine Performance: HO2S Diagnostics MOST E-MAILED ARTICLES Developing Employee Potential How Critical Thinking Can Help Your Business How to Diagnose the Ford Glow Plug What to Look for When Shopping for the Right Shop Management Software Putting a Price Tag on Complaints

AutoInc. Web Site | ASA Web Site | U.S. Appeals Court Rejects Clean Air Regulations | Scan Tool Information: Data or Dogma? | How Accurate is That Computerized Estimate? | Clearing the Hurdles of Estimating Systems Training | Organizing the Office | AutoInc.'s Ninth Annual Management Software Guide | Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) | Guest Editorial | Tech to Tech | Tech Tips | Shop Profile | Net Worth | Stat Corner | Chairman's Message