On Projects*

The purpose of the document naming convention is to provide a mechanism for communicate key document information to the user at a glance. Day-to-day project staff are constantly sharing documents via email and portable storage devices as a result it can be easy to loose track of which version is which.

Putting the key document information in the title has several benefits, (1) it will assist your project team members to quickly identify the project, department/function, document title and version/revision number without having to open the document and scan for updates and (2) this information will assist in the development, management, security, storage/retrieval and the eventual deliberate destruction of the document.

Implementing a document naming convention in a project goes a little further than just sending out an interoffice memo or ‘All Staff’ email. Project staff need to be trained (ideally as part of their induction into the project) and a focal point (usually the project administrator) needs to be appointed to advise on how to implement the project filing when questions arise.

For example:

Notes on Components

A. Reverse Creation Date

Computer filing systems such as Window XP sort numerically and alphabetically, as such, using the reverse creation format “yymmdd” will ensure the file automatically list in order of creation. Some people like to use the “yyyy” format, as in “2006″ but why add more characters to your file name than you have to?

B. Project Name

Obviously there are millions of combinations and permutations for project name abbreviations however a six letter code has proven to be quiet effective. The first 3 letters are for the client organisation and the second 3 are for the project abbreviation.

C. Example Project Function / Department or Section Acronyms

PM – Project Management
TRG – Training
HR – Human Resources
SEC – Security / Risk Management
LEG – Legal
VEH – Vehicle Fleet Mgt
LOG – Logistics
ITC – Information & Communications Technology
PRO – Procurement
FIN – Finance
FAC – Facilities Management
INV – Inventory / Material Management
INF – Information Management

D. Document Name

This is pretty straight forward but a word of advice, try to keep it brief to prevent your file name from becoming too big. A way to do this is to not use spaces instead use capital letters to distinguish between words.

E / G / H. Suggested method for version and revision numbers

0.01 – 0.89 = DRAFT
0.90 – 0.99 = REVIEW
1.00 = FINAL (client version)
1.01 – 1.89 = DRAFT for second version)
1.90 – 1.99 = REVIEW for second version)
2.00 = FINAL (re-released client version)

There are obviously many ways of doing this however we’ve found this document naming convention to be quite useful.

Filed under: PM General, PMO, Project Hacks Tagged: | Document, Document Management, File Naming, Information Management, Naming Convention, PMO, program management, Programme Management, Project Library, Project Management, Project Management Office, Project Office, Storage