Filing systems offer advantages and disadvantages to office settings. Most companies use traditional filing systems where paper documents are filed in filing cabinets. The most common type of filing system used is an alphabetical system.

Purpose

Filing systems are used to keep documents organized and easy to find for employees. A filing system is set up and employees follow the system being used.

Advantages

Alphabetical filing systems are one type of system that is easy to teach and learn. Documents are filed in alphabetical order typically by vendor name. Any employee can find a needed document as long as the vendor name is known.

Disadvantages

One disadvantage of this system is that documents are frequently misfiled because of the letters. Another disadvantage is that if something is filed under a vendor first name versus last name, documents are difficult to locate. Name changes in companies may not be recorded properly which also causes confusion with this filing system.