The four most commonly used methods
of color coding are as follows:
Alphabetical-The use of alpha labels to designate a fle by patient, client or customer name. By using the frst few characters of a
name, there is little to no need for a cross reference system to access active fles. The amount of alpha letters needed to color code
a single fle is determined by the size of the overall fling system, frequency of common names, etc…
Straight Numeric-The use of numeric labels to designate a fle by customer number, date, social security number, etc… Use
of numeric labels usually requires some level of cross reference and is very simple in nature. The most recent fle (new customer,
patient, etc…) is usually found at the end of a straight numeric fling system.
Alpha/Numeric-The use of a combination of alpha and numeric labels to create a fling system. The use of both alpha and
numeric labels are used to create a specifc fle for customer fles, court fles, service records, property management fles, etc…
Terminal Digit-The use of numeric labels for large volume fling systems. This unique systems breaks large fling systems up in
groups of 100 or 1000 fles, depending on the overall size of the fling system. This type of system places the initial emphasis on the
ending digits of the fle number to speed referencing, thus the name “Terminal Digit”. You are basically creating smaller systems,
or groups, within the entire fling system.
Other labels such as Year, Month, Solid (designator) labels can be used to further departmentalize or detail the information located
on the tabs of fles within your fling system.
Applying labels to the fle folder tab to color
code your fling systems adds a number of
benefts and efciencies to your fling system.
Two of the more prominent benefts are
referencing and locating fle folders within
the system and, perhaps the most cost saving
beneft, is locating misfles within a fling
system. Using color coding in your fling
system can speed up referencing and spotting
costly misfles by as much as 70 percent
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