11. ALPHABETICAL FILING Alphabetical filing is the method which is most commonly used as it is very easy to use. Customer records for example can be stored in order of surname. In order to make this an easy method to use GUIDE CARDS are used to SUBDIVIDE the names eg Da; De; Di etc Miss T Raynor thinks that it is a very good idea to file documents alphabetically as it is easy to look up employee records – you look for their surname and find the file!
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13. What is an ABSENT CARD? An ABSENT card is used when a file is removed from its place in the filing system. The card clearly states WHO has the file; WHEN the file was taken; and, WHEN it was returned. The Absent card shown opposite is used in the Sales/Marketing Department at Caledonian Health & Fitness: MR SMART 580 05/10/05 30/08/05 MRS AMBLEON 135 28/08/05 02/07/05 MR SMART 452 01/07/05 DATE RETURNED BY WHOM FILE NUMBER DATE REMOVED
14. NUMERICAL FILING Numerical filing is when NUMBERS are used to file documents instead of letters. This method means that customer documents would be filed using their account number or employee records could be filed using their employee ID number Mrs McKenna thinks that this method of filing is ideal in the Finance Department as it is easy to see how many customer accounts there are – when a new customer joins Caledonian Health & Fitness they get the next number!
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16. What is an INDEX CARD? An INDEX card is used to find files which are stored in a numerical filing system. You must first look at an alphabetic index to find the file number. Heather has found an INDEX card used in the Personnel Department at Caledonian Health & Fitness:
17. CHRONOLOGICAL FILING Chronological filing means that all documents are stored in date order – the most recent documents are placed at the front of the system. Mrs MacDonald thinks that this is an excellent system to store the customer magazines that have been produced as it is very easy to find a particular edition – last month’s or last year’s.