I used to recall a topic on here that outlined a “standard” Sqn filing system for forms, letters etc; both internal and external.
Does anyone remember how it goes?
It was something along the lines of:
this document details it on page 7, although if this is a “squadron adaptation” of the official system I don’t know.
Although yes that’s the document that we should adhere to, it doesn’t actually give a “Filing Plan” for the ATC.
I don’t think we need to file much anymore - everything is electronic (email, sharepoint, SMS etc). I haven’t ‘filed’ anything apart from TG21,22 & 23 forms for ages.
But surely would need a filing system for letters/communications inside and outside of the ACO surely? Like for subs, the “we’ve not seen you in x months” etc…
File it electronically - having a paper copy of a letter in a file no more proves it was sent than having an electronic copy held on a computer.
I might even suggest the letter might now a days be an email to cadet and cadets patents first, possibly followed by hard copy.
In terms of mail in, don’t think I have had and proper hard copy stuff that wasn’t also sent by email and or share point. The days of saving everything have gone. Even if you get a hard copy letter, read it, action it, bin it.
I got rid of a load of paper when the Corps went electronic and maintained a gradual binning process ever since. The only paper things I keep are consent to join and H&S BS to keep the anally retentive types happy. Consent forms are now sent to Wing to clutter their cupboards and not mine 
. We’ve got a 1TB hard drive with electronic copies of things going back nearly 12 years. We only print what we need when we need it and then shred it. I lost a filing cabinet into the bargain.
Emails are deleted once dealt with and attachments saved on the external hard drive, given we still don’t have enough space on the cadet email system, despite getting some extra space.
Side point actually,
How many squadrons have a proper NAS system with redundancy, rather than just a portable drive?
I have an EDRMS running on the same hardware as our Domain Controller… but then I have too much time on my hands 
I got sick of the old system we had in place (implemented by someone with few skills in that area). I asked Wing for a copy of their file plan so that we could replicate it, and thus create some coherence, but all I got in reply was “We don’t advise squadrons on filing!”.
I decided to rework both our paper and electronic file structures to use the modern standard of “Command, Administer, Support, Deliver” in the primary level.
Primary and secondary classes are specific in JSP 441 and should not be changed, leaving the unit to decide on the appropriate tertiary (and further only if absolutely necessary) levels as required.
In particular each business unit (in our case Sqns) should create secondary and tertiary levels under “Deliver the unit’s objectives” based upon the business output.
It would be nice if HQAC took a lead on that so that we could all be the same, but it’s probably not high on their list of priorities.
Once I’ve finished I’ll happily upload my file plan here as an example.
Most Wings will still be using the super-old system which looks like ABC/1/2/TG, ABC/2/4/ORG, &c
There’s a nice explanation of this and a sample file plan from South & East Midlands Wing in this old Staff Cadet manual:
Is that code for: “we don’t know how to do it either?” 
I’ve ever thought there was much point implementing a domain controller etc just for a dozen computers that are used twice a week.
No, there probably isn’t.
As I say, I had time on my hands.
It started out as a simple file server running on Ubuntu. I had shares set up for separate staff and cadet access and then I just decided “What the hell… I’ll set up an Active Directory DC”. You know, just for fun 
It was a good Linux learning experience.