Optimal folder structure

[kendrewp]

Given that we have many thousands of documents what is the most optimal structure?

1. A deep folder structure with few documents in each folder
2. A shallow folder structure with many documents in each folder

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
Kendrew

[dhalupa]

Hi,
imho none of the above.
If the requirement is to store a large set of documents, users should not be forced to fetch the document by browsing through any kind of folder hierarchy. It will be a constant source of frustrations. Use folders to group documents which share the same permission set and cleverly design content model and custom search in order to fetch documents.

Kind regards,

Denis

[ofrxnz]

The correct answer is probably "yes" depending on what the documents are

How are they organized now?

If they are decently organized now, your best bet is probably to mirror the structure as best you can

The real goal should be; it should feel natural for the user….

If there are layers upon layres of folders, they should be intuitive and natural to the user.  an example off the top of my head, though not the best is….

eg  Countries–>United States–>States–>Idaho–>Counties–>Ada–>Cities/Towns–>Boise–>Districts–>North End

or  Countries–>United States–>Government–>Federal–>Congress/Legislature–>House–>Members

or  Countries–>United States–>Political Parties–>Democrats

In another section such as a Business Development section you may only have one folder with hundreds of propaganda flyers

Business Development–>Propaganda

or potential clients could just be in a Leads folder

Business Development–>Leads

How would you organize it on a hard drive?  How would you organize it in a standard network share?  Who is using alfresco noobies or power users?

[napata]

Hmmmm … this is an issue for record management and information architecture. Search is horrible …. Ican never understand those who wish to rely on it … mathematically can I distinguish between  an earlier or later version of a document by search? Internet is different from workplace .. I could have  4 documents about the same issue unless I know in advance what I am looking for how do I know if I have found it?

I would recommend researching functional analysis (http://www.arma.org) which suggests  that the file structure should  follow the way people work…  then I know where to find the latest version of a document etc! Meta data is good but some documents are relevant to more people than the creator ever imagined. At the end of day we work with document trails/series not one off finds using search terms! Search is great for finding a lost/forgotten document … not sure about finding the reply to a question when I don't know the document that raised the question!
(ps if the reply was about litigation then I would look in the litigation dept files and check where  such issues are discussed etc)

[swatnew1]

Thanks.

[mitpatoliya]

Many folders with minimum documents in each folder will give you better performance then the other option.
Also you can explore categories feature in alfresco so that you can use combination of both or only one of that based on your requirement.