• Section 1 - Titling Documents
• Section 2 - Principles
• Section 3 - Examples of Recommended Conventions
• Section 4 - Guidelines for Naming Common Types of Documents
• Section 5 - Review

Section 1 - Titling Documents

(1) One of the most important functions of records management is to be able to locate business records in the future. A title should provide a concise statement of the content of the business record.

(2) A meaningful title supports better recordkeeping, reduces duplication and allows ACU business records to be located by staff that require access to it, when they need it. This helps aid discovery and search processes. A key titling benchmark is that titles should distinguish the business record from all others.

(3) All staff and contractors are required to create and maintain full and accurate records of their business activities as detailed in the Records and Archive Management Policy. Staff should understand and use the principles in this guide when creating and naming business records.

Section 2 - Principles

(4) The following principles apply to the naming of files, folders, and containers:

1. capture the purpose of the document;
2. be brief and clearly explain the context and meaning of the content;
3. be specific; use a short phrase or names (e.g. of an organisation, individual or project) to define the action, subject or topic of the document;
4. be consistent:
   1. use the date format YYYY-MM-DD;
   2. the document status such as drafts or versions can be managed by the metadata properties of the document;
   3. for documents that are produced regularly (i.e. meeting minutes) insert the date first in the title to enable easier search and retrieval processes; and
   4. always use the full name of an organisation.
5. be aware of the following naming and titling issues:
   1. avoid superfluous words like ‘the’ and ‘a’ which do not add any value to searches;
   2. avoid abbreviations and acronyms;
   3. avoid using ambiguous titles (e.g. ‘Final Report’), with no further details included;
   4. avoid using punctuation (this can impact search results);
   5. dashes can be used to separate words but must always include a space before and after (e.g. 2017 - 05 - 19 Audit Risk Committee Agenda;
6. avoid using jargon which may be understood by some but not all; and
7. avoid titles with imprecise nomenclature (e.g. doc, doc1, doc123).

Section 3 - Examples of Recommended Conventions

Section 4 - Guidelines for Naming Common Types of Documents

Section 5 - Review

(5) Unless otherwise indicated, this Guideline will still apply beyond the review date.