Filing to Cabinets and Categories

Introduction to Cabinets and Categories

FYI utilises cabinets to limit user access to documents and categories to "tag" your documents with relevant metadata.

When we think about traditional filing structures (i.e. a folder based system) we all know that a file can only sit within a single folder at anytime, otherwise it needs to be copied. This means that if we forget the folder name (among the hundreds of other folders) or we accidentally drag the folder inside another, it can be a nightmare to find what we need.

In FYI's system each document is designated to a cabinet and then tagged with a range of metadata relevant to that cabinet. These points of metadata are essentially tags on the document making it easy to search and find what you need!

For example: 

Objective: we want to locate all of our 2020 Tax Letters in .pdf format, for all clients:

In a folder based system we could:

• perform a search for "2020 tax letter"... but we may miss documents if the naming convention differs even slightly (i.e. tax letter - 2020); or
• search each individual client folder, followed by the "2020" year folder and locate their tax letter... but this is extremely time consuming

In a tag-based system (i.e. FYI) we could find these documents simply by:

• performing a search and filtering year by "2020", document type by .pdf and document name containing "tax" or "letter"

Finding and refiling documents is extremely easy in a tag-based system (it's just like filtering and sorting an excel spreadsheet of all your documents!). 

The benefits become greater the more data you have available to you!

Cabinets

Cabinets are the top-level hierarchy for filing documents within the practice.

You can configure the number of cabinets and the naming conventions applied to reflect the broad divisions of operations in your practice.

FYI comes shipped with best practice default cabinets, including;

• Client Files
• Partner Files
• Practice Admin
• Training

When filing a document for a selected client, these defaults are offered and can be changed as needed.

Defaults for Cabinets can also be held for each user. These will be offered if there is no default held for a selected client.

Access to documents within a Cabinet can be restricted to a specific User Group in order to secure access to information. Where a user does not have access to a Cabinet, they cannot see any of the documents stored within.

It is important that Cabinets are set up correctly for your practice before you set up your User Groups. 

Refer to Managing Cabinets

Categories

Categories are the way in which documents in FYI are tagged with meta-data to create a filing structure. Categories can be used as filters on lists when displaying the information in FYI.

When FYI is implemented, Categories are automatically added for Work Type and Year.

Work Type can be set up to suit the requirements of your practice – for example, Tax, Audit, Administration and more.

When filing a document for a selected client, these defaults are offered and can be changed as needed.

Defaults for Categories can also be held for each user. These will be offered if there is no default held for a selected client.

Refer to Managing Categories