Newcastle University

Records Management - Naming Conventions for Electronic Records

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Convention 8: Order the elements in a file name in the most appropriate way to retrieve the record.

The elements to be included in a file name should be ordered according to the way in which the record will be retrieved during the course of day to day business, how this is implemented will invariably depend on the way you work.

For example, if the records are usually retrieved according to their date then the date element should appear first. If, on the other hand, the records are retrieved according to their description, then the description element should be listed first.