Naming convention for documents

Naming convention for documents

Prepared by:
Xerox Global Service
For:
The University of Ottawa

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 Naming convention for documents
NAMING CONVENTION FOR DOCUMENTS
WHY HAVE GUIDELINES FOR NAMING DOCUMENTS?

The identification is more effective if the name of a document (file) is significant, that is to its content (or
subject).
KEY INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPER NAMING OF A DOCUMENT

The validation and modification if necessary of the name of documents or records created and received
belong to the person who uploads / saves those documents (files) in a shared folder or in a document
management system (DocuShare) as they are fully or partially responsible for those documents.

It is recommended to add metadata describing the properties of the document during its initial upload or
save. These contribute to the easy retrieval of documents using search engines.

Assigning a name to a document that is representative of its content is primarily based on analysis, so
as to bring out its main topic that can be expressed using keywords. It must include a minimum number
of words enough to identify the document well without having to lengthen its name unduly.
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1. Length of the name of a document

 In order to ensure the interoperability of a document in different environments where it is likely to

be used, limit the length of its name.

 In the Windows environment and in general the suggested limit is 20 characters (spaces included).
It is often difficult to respect that limit unless abbreviations are used. (See 3- Abbreviations).

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In DocuShare there is a distinction between the title of a document and the name of the document (filename). By
default the title is the same as the filename. In general, rules apply to the title of the document and not necessarily to the
document name (filename).
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 Naming convention for documents

2. Order of elements of the name of a document

 It is recommended to place the main subject of the document at the beginning of the document
name, and then add one or a few common names with meaning in order to qualify the document,
particularly when it is necessary to mention the document type in the name of the document.

(E.g.: minutes, agreements, statistics, etc.).

 Place nouns expressing general concepts before those reflecting more specific concepts.
 Common names expressing a topic are placed before those expressing a type of document.
 The use of common names and proper names is usually sufficient to name a document.
E.g.: « management committee minutes 2009-11-18.doc » or « management committee MIN 2009-11-18.doc »

 The name of a document is adequate when the reading alone of the name is enough to identify the
content without needing to open the file.

3. Abbreviations
 The use of abbreviations seeks to shorten the length of titles nevertheless; it will be limited to those
commonly used by the Physical Resources Service.

E.g.:
« PRJ » Project/Projet
« LTR » Letter/Lettre
« ODJ » Ordre du jour
« POL » Policy/Politique
« AGD » Agenda
« MIN » Minutes
« CON » Contract/Contrat
« PV » Procès-verbal
« FRM » Form/Formulaire
« MTG » Meeting
« PLN » Plan
« RPT » Report/Rapport

4. Uppercase and Lowercase

 As a general rule use lowercase letters to name documents and folders as they facilitate the
readability.
The ideal is to use lowercase with no accents, numbers and space to separate words because
spaces are supported by DocuShare.

 Uppercases will be used only when they are actually significant. For example to convey a special
meaning to a concept (acronym, proper name, etc.).

5. Replacement character of a space or a separator

 Use the hyphen « - » to separate elements of a date (see 6. Numbers and dates) and space to
separate elements of a document name or title :

E.g.: “management committee MIN 2009-06-01.doc” instead of “managementcommitteemin2009-06-

01.doc”

Avoid the use of underscore “_” or hyphens “-” to separate words in DocuShare, because it will
limit the results displaying during the search. For example, if a document is named “active_project”, it will
not be found if a user type in the search engine words like “project” or “active” or else “active project”,
because DocuShare considers “active_project” as one word.

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 Naming convention for documents
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6. Numbers and dates
 A “0” is placed before numbers going from 1 to 9 in order to ensure their numeric sort. Of course
put two zeros (00) if the number exceeds 99 and three zeros if it exceeds 999.
 When the date is required in the name of a document, it is listed as numbers at the end of the
document name, in accordance with the format year (four digits), month (two digits) and day (two
digits).
 This format complies with the ISO 8601 standard, eliminates some ambiguities with dates (E.g.: 02-
nd th
04-02 = 2002-04-02 or 2002-02-04 -2 April or 4 February?) and facilitates the sorting of
folders/documents. The numbers in the date will need to be separated with a hyphen (“–”)

E.g.: “management committee MIN 2009-11-18.doc” instead of “management_committee_min_18112009.doc”

In some cases, it is more efficient to put the title of the document first so that documents are classified by date. It is
the case of agendas, minutes of meetings etc.

For example: “2011-03-24 management committee AGD” or “2011-05-18 management committee MIN”

N.B.: DocuShare automatically saves the date on which the document is uploaded. In this case it will not be
necessary to include the date in the name of the document unless such date is different from the date of the upload
and that it constitutes an important element of the document.

7. Bilingualism :
 A good practice will be to name documents in the language documents are written. In the case where the title
does not give an indication on the language of the document, add at the end of the title “fr” (for documents in
French) or “eng” (for documents in English).

8. Status of a document :
 A relative importance is accorded to the status of the document which allows the distinction between official
documents, drafts, and working documents.
 The statuses are :

 draft,
 final,
 accepted
 refused.

The status will be indicated in the title of the document at the end or in the summary field in DocuShare if the latter is
not used for another indication (see screenshot below).

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If numbers exceed 99 put two zeros; 3 zeros if > 999 etc.
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 Naming convention for documents
Another option will be to separate the official documents from the working documents and drafts. In this case, it is
recommended to create a folder for each type of working papers whenever it is necessary.

Example:

9. Extension :
 The extension is the three-character string located after the dot in the name of a file or document.
Office applications automatically assign extensions to the document name when it is saved.

 The final extension of a document automatically generated by the application used to create and
identify the document format (e.g.: .doc for a Word document; .ppt for a PowerPoint document)
should never be modified. The extension helps to associate a document to the right application or
Office application. But in DocuShare, you can enter the “title” without adding the file extension.
(See screenshot below)

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10. Avoid:
 Avoid the use of verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and empty words (the, a, an, my, mine, and, or, etc).
They do not add more meaning to the title and take up space unnecessarily.
 Avoid the use of complete sentence to name a document.
 Avoid the use of special characters (" # / \ ^ | [ ] < > % *) or characters reserved for the Windows
environment (; / ? : @ = & )
 Avoid the use of diacritics (accents and punctuation).

A few reminders:

 Prefer lowercase to uppercase except in special cases (Acronyms, abbreviations, etc).

 Use the format YYYY-MM-DD for dates.
 Use space to separate different elements.
 Avoid the usage of verbs, adverbs, adjectives and empty words (the, a, an, my, me, mine, or,
etc.).

Abbreviations and acronyms

ADMIN: Administrative / Administratif
AGD Agenda
AP: Account payable
APPA: Association of Physical Plant Administrators
AR: Architecture
BEPI: Building Energy Performance Index
BLDG: Building
BT: Bon de travail (Maximo)
CA : Comité d’administration
CCDC : Comité canadien des documents de construction
CE : Comité exécutif
CERT : Certificate
CFI: Canadian Foundation for Innovation
CO : Change Order
COMM : Commitment
CON Contract/Contrat
COU : Council of Ontario Universities
CSP : Centre des services psychologiques
CUO : Conseil des universités de l’Ontario
CVAC : Chauffage Ventilation Air Climatisé
DEP : Dépense
DIR : Directive
DS : Demande de service (Maximo)
EJ : Ecriture de journal
ELE : Électrique – Electric
ENCU : Encumbrance
ENGA: Engagements
ESA: Electrical Safety Authority
EXP : Expense
FCI : Fondation Canadienne pour l’Innovation
FIN: Finance
FOAP: Fund Organization Account Program
FRM Form / Formulaire
HVAC: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
ID : Identification
IPFPC : Institut Professionnel de la fonction publique du Canada
JE : Journal Entry

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Abbreviations and acronyms
LTR Letter / Lettre
M/E: Mechanical and Electrical
MEC: Mécanique - Mechanical
MFCU: Ministère de la formation et des collèges et universités
MIN Minutes
MOE: Ministry of Environment
MOL: Ministry of Labour
MTCU: Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
MTG Meeting
OAPPA: Ontario Association of Physical Plant Administrators
OBC : Ontario Building Code
ODJ Ordre du jour
OHSA: Ontario Health and Safety Act
ORG: Organisation / Organization
OVCA: Ottawa Valley Conservation Authority
PA : Project Accounting
PAPI : Plan d’Amélioration du Parc Immobilier
PL: Project Leader
PLN Plan
PM: Project Manager
PO: Purchase Order
POL Policy/Politique
PQIF : Plan Quinquennal des Installations Facultaires
PRJ : Projet
PRS : Physical Resources Service
PSUO : Personnel de Soutien de l’Université d’Ottawa
PV Procès-verbal
RPT Report / Rapport
SDI: Strategic Development Initiatives
STATS: Statistiques
SUBS: Substantial
TAC: Technical Advisory Committee
TSSA: Technical Standards and Safety Authority
UO or uO: Université d’Ottawa / University of Ottawa
VFA: Virtual Facilities Assessment
WO: Work Order
YE: Year End