Document Naming Convention System: The “Omni-Sort” Framework

Fictitious Company: Blue-Bolt Robotics (Industrial Automation Systems)

Storage System: Cloud-based Shared Drive (Google Drive/SharePoint)

Current Issues: Files like “Proposal_FINAL_v2_USE_THIS.docx” are causing version confusion and search friction.

1. Naming Convention Structure

To ensure files sort chronologically and are searchable by project or type, the following five-component string is mandatory:

[YYYY-MM-DD]_[DEPT/PROJ]_[DOC-TYPE]_[DESCRIPTOR]_[V#.#]

• Date: Always ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD) for perfect chronological sorting.
• Identifier: A 3-letter Department code (FIN, OPS, MKT) or a specific Project Alias (e.g., PROJ-ORION).
• Doc-Type: Short identifier (CONT for Contract, REPT for Report, PROC for Procedure).
• Descriptor: 1-3 words describing the specific content. Use hyphens (-) instead of spaces.
• Version: Standardized numerical versioning (e.g., V1.0).

2. Real Examples for Each File Type

3. Version Control & Status Rules

• Drafts (Major/Minor): Use V1.0 for the first complete draft. Use V1.1, V1.2 for minor edits. Increase to V2.0 after a significant stakeholder review.
• The “Final” Rule: Never use the word “FINAL” in a filename. The highest version number in the folder is considered the current version.
• Archiving: When a new version is created, move the previous version to a sub-folder named 00_Archive. This keeps the root folder clean.
• Draft Status: For internal working files not yet ready for review, append _DRAFT to the end. Remove it once the file is shared for feedback.

4. Do/Don’t Guidelines

• DO: Use underscores ( _ ) to separate components and hyphens ( – ) to separate words within a component.
• DO: Use leading zeros for dates (e.g., 04 instead of 4) to maintain sorting logic.
• DON’T: Use special characters (!, @, #, $, %) as they can break file paths or cloud syncing.
• DON’T: Include person names in the filename (e.g., “Report_by_John”). Use the “Last Modified” metadata in the storage system instead.

5. Edge Cases and Exceptions

• Meeting Minutes: Format as [Date]_[PROJ]_MINS_[Topic]. No version number is needed unless the minutes are amended.
• Multi-Project Files: If a document covers all of Blue-Bolt Robotics, use CORP as the identifier.
• Images/Assets: For non-document files, use [Date]_[PROJ]_IMG_[Brief-Desc].

6. Implementation Instructions

1. The Clean Slate: On Monday, all teams must move current “Active” files into a folder named Pre-Naming-System_Migration.
2. The “Renaming Party”: Allocate 30 minutes for each department to rename their top 20 most-used files using the Omni-Sort framework.
3. System Audit: The Ops Lead will perform a spot check every Friday for the first month. Incorrectly named files will be moved to a “Correction” folder.