folders and files - guidance · folders and files - guidance 1.0 folder structure / fileplan a...

DATUM in Action - Supporting researchers to plan and manage their research data. http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/datum Folders and files - Guidance

© Copyright holder: Northumbria University School of Computing, Engineering & Information Sciences, 2014 Freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License

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Folders and Files - Guidance 1.0 Folder Structure / Fileplan A fileplan is a hierarchical structure of folders on your computer / shared drive that enables you to organise your files (data and documents) efficiently. The purpose of the file plan is:

to enable you identify your files (data and documents) consistently, particularly where a number of researchers are working together on a project

to find and retrieve files quickly

to help with the retention of files (easily identifying groups of files that need to be kept OR destroyed)

The design principle of a file plan is based on ‘business’ functions and activities within those functions. For a research project the function is easily identified, i.e. research. The folders would therefore relate to research/project activities and sub-activities e.g. Project Management (an activity) and Finance (a sub-activity under Project Management relating to its financial management). A simplified file plan for a research project might look like this:

Dissemination o Presentations o Publications o Publicity

EthicsGovernance

InterviewStudy [an e.g. of one of the separate research activities within the project] o Administration o Data o DataAnalysis o Outputs o Tools

LiteratureReview

Methodology

ProjectDevelopment

ProjectManagement o Administration o Finance o FunderCommunication o Meetings

AdvisoryPanel Team

o Personnel o Planning o Reporting



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An example of a more detailed fileplan developed during the DATUM in Action project is given below. Design Principles

Folders relate to research/project activities and sub-activities e.g. ProjectManagement (activity) and Finance (a sub-activity relating to its financial management)

Folders ProjectDevelopment and ProjectManagement (Level1) relate to the whole of the research project and should contain files which concern cross-project activities/matters. Each work package/project phase has its own (Level 1) folder (e.g. WorkPackage[name])

Folders have mostly been developed to 3 levels; the exception is the ProjectManagement of specific work packages (WP); more can be added by the team as required.

Folder names contain no spaces, use upper and lower case to distinguish multiple words. Names are meaningful whilst being as short as possible (e.g. Personnel rather than PersonnelManagement or HR)

Folder names are reversed where it is helpful for their (alphabetical) ordering (e.g. ResearchLiteratureReview & Research[named activity] not [named activity]Research and LiteratureReviewResearch)



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Explanation of Folders and Sub-Folders

Folder Sub-Folder Sub-Folder Sub-

Folder

Content

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

tbd=to be developed if

required

Level 4 Files

ProjectDevelopment Files relating to the bidding

process e.g. call documents;

draft and final proposal; costings;

signed letters of support

ProjectManagement Files relating to the management

of the entire project. Normally

created by the PI and any

WorkPackage leaders or staff

with PI delegated responsibilities

Administration tbd Files relating to e.g. templates;

passwords; RDM

Agreements

(OR sub-folder under

Administration)

Agreements with partners re

data, IPR etc

Dissemination tbd (e.g. Publicity &PR;

website; individual

publications & presentations)

naming convention options

for individual

publications/presentations:

EventNameYYYY

E.g. internal & external news

items, publicity, PR etc;

design/structure of website;

content for website;

presentations & publications

including drafts and final version;

list of publications with links to



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JournalNameYYYY

PaperTopicNameYYYY

YYYYEventName

published e-outputs

Finance tbd

naming convention options

for individual visits/travel:

ResearcherNameYYYY

VisitOrganisationYYYY

VisitPlaceYYYY

YYYYResearcherName

YYYYVisitOrganisation

Files relating to budget control;

agreed expenditure;

meeting/conference fees; travel

requests; expense claims. (Note;

likely to be convenience copies;

originals with School/Finance

Dept/Research Dept)

FunderCommunication tbd (e.g. Funding;

correspondence; reporting)

Files relating to: (1) funding (offer

letter, conditions, requirements

etc); (2) correspondence during

the project; (3) reporting to the

funder

Meetings tbd (e.g. Team meetings;

Advisory Panel meetings)

Project team meetings; Advisory

Panel meetings, etc.; e.g.

agendas; minutes; meeting

papers/presentations

Personnel tbd (by role/name) Files relating to

appointment/secondment of staff;

staff contact details; roles &

responsibilities

Planning Files relating to project level

planning e.g. project plan &

timescales; WP aims/objectives;

overall methodology; monitoring



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plans

Reporting Internal project reports; progress

reports etc.

WorkPackage[name/numb

er]

Files relating to the specific

WorkPackage

Dissemination

(section under each Work

Package with shortcuts from

ProjectManagement>Disseminati

on OR everything in


on)

(As in


on)

EthicsGovernance Files relating to internal and

external approval processes –

use Research sub-folders for

consent forms for research

activities

ProjectManagement

Administration tbd Files relating to e.g. WP

document templates; passwords;

master project information sheet;

consent form template

Finance



ProjectManagement>Financ

e OR everything in

ProjectManagement>Financ

Files relating to WP level incl.

budget control; agreed

expenditure; travel requests;

expense claims (Note; likely to

be convenience copies; originals

with School/Finance Dept/RBS)



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e)

Meetings WP level meetings with project

staff &/or partners e.g. agendas;

minutes

Planning Files relating to WP planning e.g.

WP plan & timescales;

methodology; research activities

(to match Research sub-folders);

Reporting



ProjectManagement>Reporti

ng OR everything in

ProjectManagement>Reporti

ng)

Files relating to internal reports

by WP Leaders, WP staff

ResearchLiteratureReview Literature sources and review

incl. search strategy & log;

Endnote database; pdf

documents; draft reviews

Research[name of activity]

(e.g. ResearchInterviews)

Files relating to this research

activity in the WP

Administration correspondence with

participants; participant codes

and key; signed consent forms (if

in e-form)

Data tbd –

separate

raw &

Data collected; raw &

anonymised



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anonymise

d

DataAnalysis Analysed data

LiteratureReview

(section under each

Research Activity OR

ResearchLiteratureReview

as one Research Activity)

Literature sources and review

incl. search strategy & log;

Endnote database; pdf

documents; draft reviews

Outputs Project outputs (not published)

e.g. working documents based

on analysis

Tools Consent form template (tweaked

for this activity); data collection

instruments (interview schedule,

blank questionnaire etc);

protocols (anonymisation etc.)



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2.0 Folder / File Names The purpose of establishing agreed rules for folder/file naming is:

to work efficiently

to ensure that individual project files can be easily accessed by all members of a research team throughout the duration of the research

to ensure that individuals are referring to and working on the correct document versions, i.e. version control

to manage the files beyond the duration of the research in order to deliver on future research value

The discussion below on file naming conventions refers to file names, but most of these conventions also apply to folder names.

File Naming Conventions The file name comprises the following components: not all of them are necessary in all circumstances: 1. Simplicity Use a simple title - short but meaningful - which accurately describes the file contents, e.g.

Interview 01 recording.wav Interview 01 transcript.doc

Microsoft operating systems only allow a maximum of 256 characters (including spaces and slashes), which includes all the folder names in the complete folder path from the very top to the file extension. 1.1 Avoid special characters Avoid special characters which will not be recognised by the computer, or have special meanings, e.g.

: \ / [ ] $, and so on 1.2 Avoid spaces Often spaces are used in file names to separate the individual words. However, this can cause problems, e.g. sometimes these spaces will be filled by ‘20%’ when migrated or emailed to new systems making the title harder to read, e.g.

Interview 01 transcript.doc becomes

Interview20%0120%transcript.doc To delimit the separate words you could use an underscore or capital letters, e.g.

Visit_report_template.doc VisitReportTemplate.doc



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1.3 Don’t repeat the folder name It is not necessary to repeat information from within the folder structure, e.g.

Under the literature review folder you may keep a copy of your Endnote library. The file name for this will be:

LiteratureReview\EndnoteLibrary.enl not

LiteratureReview\LiteratureReviewEndnoteLibrary.enl 1.4 Appropriate word order The computer system orders files in alphabetical order by file name. So order the separate words / elements within a file name in the most appropriate way to find and retrieve the file for your purposes, e.g.

This order will keep all the different stages for a given interview together: Interview01Recording.wav Interview01Transcript.doc Interview01TranscriptAnonymised.doc This order will keep the different processes together, with the individual interviews separated under each process: RecordingInterview01.wav RecordingInterview02.wav RecordingInterview03.wav TranscriptInterview01.doc TranscriptAnonymisedInterview01.doc

1.5 Personal names If you are using a personal name within the file name, put the last (family) name before the first (individual) names, e.g.

AnnualReportBrownJohn.doc You might want to use initials within a file name, e.g. if a number of people send back comments on a document, e.g.

JournalArticleCommentsJB.doc JournalArticleCommentsJS.doc JournalArticleCommentsSC.doc

1.6 Numbers If you are using a number in a file name always give it as the largest number of digits you will require, e.g. 01-99, 001-999. This ensures that the names will file in the correct numeric order, e.g.



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Interview01 Interview02 Interview12 Interview23

Not Interview1 Interview12 Interview2 Interview23

(Dates are treated differently: see below) 1.7 File formats/extensions The format of the file / file extension is usually automatically added to the file when creating/updating. When downloading files from email, the Web etc. check that the right format / extension is applied. 1.8 Dates You might want to include a year (e.g. for the yearly progress reports for a 3 year project) or a date (e.g. for an event) in the filename. Use four digit years (YYYY), two digit months (MM) and two digit days (DD), and order them year, month day, e.g.

YYYY YYYYMM YYYYMMDD

ProgressReport2009.doc ProgressReport2010.doc ProgressReport2011.doc

EUMeeting20090712.ppt EUMeeting20110816.ppt

1.9 Codes You can use codes / abbreviations within the file name if this would shorten very long names, force a particular order or provide other benefits. However, agree what these codes/abbreviations will be, and keep a list. E.g. if you are carrying out a number of interviews by different researchers then a coded file name can act as an audit trail of this data collection.

File name IP02R0120110205.doc File name components I P02 R01 20110205

I = interview (type of data) P[n] = participant ID - participant 02 R[n] = researcher ID – researcher 01 Date of interview in form YYYYMMDD – 20110205,



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Version Control All files undergo different versions. If you are working on a document over a short amount of time, e.g. producing the transcript from an audio recording of an interview, then you would not bother to keep track of the different working versions. However if you are developing a more complex document, particularly where a number of people are working on it, then you would need to keep track of different versions. A simple way to manage different versions of files is to add the version name / number into the filename at the end. You can use ‘draft’ and ‘final’ if there are only a few versions of a file, and only one person writes the draft / final, and others just comment on the documents, e.g.

ProgressReport2009Draft.doc ProgressReport2009DraftCommentsJL.doc ProgressReport2009DraftCommentsSC.doc ProgressReport2009Final.doc

To provide more detailed version control, use numbers:

running numbers (v1, v2, v3 etc.) - each new version, no matter what changes are made, is given the next number in the sequence

major/minor version numbers system A - if something is a ‘draft’ policy document that will be subject to a formal agreement then it is common to use the running sub-numbers (v0.1, v.0.2 etc.) up until the point when the document is signed off at which point it becomes a completed agreed document with a whole number, (v1, v.2)

major/minor version numbers system B (v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, v2.0, v3.0 etc.) - the first number is changed when the file is significantly altered, the second number is changed when only minor amendments are made. What is a major or a minor alteration is a matter of individual judgement.

Actions Running numbers system

Major/minor numbers system A

Major/minor numbers system B

Create initial draft v1 v0.1 v1.0

Changes to draft v2, v3 etc. v0.2, v0.3 etc. v1.1, v1.2, etc

Consultation draft v4 v1.0 v2.0

Final version v5 v2.0 v3.0

Minor amendments to final version, e.g. departmental name change, correction of spelling, updating URL

v6, v7 etc v2.1, v2.2 v3.1, v3.2 etc

If a final version is agreed, e.g. of a journal article submitted for publication, then the version number can be removed and replaced with the word ‘final’, e.g.



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AnyJournalArticlev8.7.doc

becomes AnyJournalArticleFinal.doc

You will need to decide if you want to keep earlier versions of documents after the final one has been produced. Reasons for keeping them:

maintaining the audit trail so you can return to the original (particularly important for data which has undergone a number of processes)

as a source of words / ideas for future documents NB: It would be normal to delete drafts but then to keep all document versions as they evolve throughout the duration of the project.

Related Document Content Within the document itself it is advisable to include some of the file naming conventions within a header or footer, e.g. the file title, version number, file date and author. This acts as an additional audit and enables any paper copies to be tracked back to the file source.

Standard Operating Procedures There are a number of choices that can be made in which conventions to use when creating file names. A project could decide on a particular set of conventions, then this guidance could be turned into a standard operating procedure.

3.0 Northumbria University’s Records Management Service Northumbria University provides a records management service. Guidance documents are available on the University’s website at http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/vc/leservteam/recman/remang/ Guide to electronic file naming Guide to organising shared drives Guide to versioning Further information is available from Duncan James, Records and Information Manager, http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/vc/leservteam/

4.0 Further References BSI (2005) BSI 8723:2 Structured vocabularies for information retrieval guide. BSI. JISC Digital Media (2008) Choosing a file name. JISC. http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/crossmedia/advice/choosing-a-file-name NCDCR (2008) Best practices for file-naming. NCDR. http://www.ncdcr.gov/Portals/26/PDF/guidelines/filenaming.pdf

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/vc/leservteam/recman/remang/

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/vc/leservteam/

http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/crossmedia/advice/choosing-a-file-name

http://www.ncdcr.gov/Portals/26/PDF/guidelines/filenaming.pdf



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Thompson, A. (2007) Electronic file naming conventions, Edinburgh University. http://www.recordsmanagement.ed.ac.uk/InfoStaff/RMstaff/RMprojects/PP/FileNameRules/Rules.htm Thompson, A. (2006) Version control. Edinburgh University. http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/records-management-section/records-management/staff-guidance/electronic-records/version-control Wikipedia List of file formats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats_(alphabetical)

http://www.recordsmanagement.ed.ac.uk/InfoStaff/RMstaff/RMprojects/PP/FileNameRules/Rules.htm

http://www.recordsmanagement.ed.ac.uk/InfoStaff/RMstaff/RMprojects/PP/FileNameRules/Rules.htm

http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/records-management-section/records-management/staff-guidance/electronic-records/version-control



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats_(alphabetical)

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