Electronic Records Naming Convention R e c o r d s M a n a g e m e n t |1

Electronic Records Naming Conventions

General: This document is a companion document to Electronic Records Management Guidelines (GUI-
0002). The purpose of these two documents is to help units to:

 Organize shared drives and content management systems

 Name documents in a manner that is consistent and efficient

Units must ensure that the records under their care are secure and both authentici and reliable.ii
Multiple documents stored on shared drives, or in systems such as SharePoint, can become unruly
quickly. Without a naming convention it is difficult for users to determine the revision status and
whether the record has been acted upon. All records should be named consistently with a method for
naming that is documented, shared and agreed upon by the unit.

Naming Elements: The name of the document is made up of elements that when brought together
will form the filename. The filename should also appear in the footer information. Using naming
elements is beneficial because once staff become familiar with the agreed upon naming convention its
use efficiently relays a lot of information. Key elements include:

 Project or account number

 Subject or Activity (required)
 Document Form
 Date (required)
 Revision (required)

Document Form: Use one of the abbreviations below to identify the document form. If you require a
new abbreviation please email us and we will add it to the template.
ACT Action Request LTR Letter
AGD Agenda MEM Memo (internal)
AGR Agreement MIN Minutes
ANN Announcement MNL Manual
APP Appendix MTG Meeting
ART Article NSL Newsletter
BIO Biography PLN Plan
BRC Brochure PMT Permit
BRN Briefing Note POL Policy
CHT Chart PPR Paper
CON Contract PRC Procedure
COV Cover Page PRF Profile
DFT Discussion Draft PRO Proposal
DRT Directory PRS Presentation
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DWG Drawing PRS Press Release

ETD Electronic Thesis and Dissertation PST Poster
EXA Example RPT Report
FCT Fact Sheet RVW Review
FRM Form SCH Schedule
GRA Grant SPE Speech
GUI Guidelines SRY Survey
INT Interview SUM Summary
INV Invoice SUP Supplement
INX Index TML Timeline
LCT Lecture TOR Terms of Reference
LGL Legal Document YRB Year Book

Date Standard: When dating the document use the ISO standard for dates: YYYYMMDD (no dashes).

Revision Status: It should always be clear when a document is in drafting mode and when it has been
finalized and acted upon. This is achieved two ways:

1) by adding the revision element (letters for drafting and numbers for finals) separated by
an _underscore) when naming the document
2) saving the document as a PDF so no more changes can be made to the document

A sample title using all the elements (an _underscore) is shown below:

RMProject_RiskManagement_GUI_20150414_Rev0.pdf.

The document’s name tells the reader that the document is a Records Management project proposal
document, created for Risk Management dated April 14, 2015, it’s both final and acted upon.

Subject Faculty/Dept/Unit Identifier Document Dateiii Revision File extension

[optional] Form

RMProject_ RiskManagement_ GUI_ YYYYMMDD _ Rev0 .pdf

Revision Details:
DRAFT REVISIONS (Letters)
A Initial draft sent for review
B Official draft sent for external or internal review
C Next incarnation of official draft sent for internal or external review
FINAL REVISIONS (Numbers)
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0 First final revision

DRAFT AFTER FINAL HAS BEEN PRODUCED (First Number followed by Letter)
0A, 0B, 0C etc. Drafts after final has been produced, next final issue will be a number only
FINAL REVISION

1 Next revision after final

If a record goes back to drafting after the final has been produced the revision number remains along
with a drafting letter. Following drafting, the document will get the next consecutive number. See
drafting and issuing example below.
 Project_RiskManagement_GUI_20150420_Rev0A.docx Finalized record that has gone
back to drafting
 RMProject_RiskManagement_GUI _20150426_Rev1.docx Final document

Units can define for themselves which order they want to place the elements in (often date is chosen to
be represented first) but we suggest following the order suggested in this guideline.
Example : RMProject_RiskManagement_GUI_20150414_Rev0.pdf

Keep the subject simple and to the point and capitalize the first word if using multiple words. Do not use
all-caps except for acronyms.

Document Filepath: The filepath should always be displayed in the footer of a document. Doing so
will tell the user how to find the native file of document again should the document be printed and the
revision status.
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To insert filepath into document footer choose: Insert > Quick Parts > Field to bring up a dialog box.
Scroll through the Field Names to select FileName and then check Add path to file. To update the
footer choose F9>enter

Principles for Naming Emails:

Seek agreement within your unit as to how emails will be named. Use the naming standards defined in
this document where possible. At the very least, separate the subject line into elements separated by
dashes starting with general and move to specific. Subject lines should be kept as short as possible.
There is a 255 character limit when storing records on the shared drive. This number includes the entire
directory path.

A sample subject line would read: RMS Project _InternshipSLAIS Student _20150420.msg
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Examples
Keep file names short but descriptive with the following:

• Denote dates in YYYYMMDD format

DO: Use 20160403
DON'T: Use 04032016
BECAUSE: Computers will sort YYYYMMDD in chronological order.

• Unique identifier
DO: UBCO
DON'T: University of British Columbia Okanagan
BECAUSE: Keep it short to avoid side scrolling and column adjustment.

• Summary of content of document (e.g. Questionnaire or

Guidelines)
DO: RMProject_GUI_20160409_RevA.docx
DON'T: RMProject_20160409.docx
BECAUSE: Files will be found more quickly and easily.

• Use_ as a d elimiter. Avoid these special characters: & , * o/o #; * () ! @$ A '{} [] ? < >
DO: RMProject_GUI_20160409_RevA.docx
DON'T: RMProject Guidelines 2016 04 09 RevA.docx
BECAUSE: The special characters are difficult to read and different systems
do handle them differently.

• Keep track of document revision by adding the revision element (letters for drafting and numbers for
finals starting with 0) separated by an underscore when naming the document
DO: RMProject_GUI_20160409_RevA.docx
DON'T:
RMProject_Guidelines_20160409_Revie
w.docx AND RMProject_Guidelines_2
0160409_Investigation.docx
BECAUSE: Keep the revisions clearly documented because category style addendums will be
confusing in the future.

• Avoid complex folder hierarchies if possible

DO: F:/ Env/LIBR/RMProject_GUI_20140409_RevA.docx
DON'T: F:/Environment/LibraryjWoodward/Data/Education/Materials/Draft/2014/04/
RMProject_GUI_2 0160409_vO1.docx
BECAUSE: Complex folder hierarchies require more effort for file navigation and
saving. System back-ups may also take longer.
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Document Naming Checklist:

 Seek agreement on the order of the elements that will make up the filename
 Separate the elements by using an underscore
 Separate the revision status on documents by using an underscore
 Use letter code when drafting (A,B,C) and use numbers starting with 0 when the document is
final
 When sending a final document by email save & send it as a PDF not the native file
 Use tags/keywords in the properties of the document
 Always include the file path in the footer information

i
Authentic, according to ISO-15489-1 means that the record can be “proven to be what it purports to be; created
and sent by the agent purported to have created or sent it; and created and sent at the time purported.”
ii
Reliable record, according to ISO-15489-1 is one that “contents can be trusted as a full and accurate
representation of the transaction activities or facts to which the attest….”
iii
Date element can be replaced with a sequence number where warranted (many documents of the same
document type exist and where the addition of a date would not give the document title unique. Example:
RMProject-RiskManagement-GUI-0001_Rev0.pdf
RMProject-RiskManagement-GUI-0002_Rev0.pdf
RMProject-RiskManagement-GUI-0003_Rev0.pdf
Date information would need to be displayed in the metadata and on the document itself. This method is best
used with a document register (excel spreadsheet or database).

Document Control
Revision Issued For Date
0 Issued for Use 20150209
1 Removed dashes and replaced with underscore to be in-line with 20160418
Research data management naming principles; removed version and
replaced all with revision.
2 Corrected error in example 20170327