Follow One Test Page Through the Office

A document leaves a desk, arrives somewhere, and ends up in a person's hands. Has anyone in the office followed a page through that whole route?

A useful review follows the whole route instead of one setting on the machine.

Use a test page, not real work

Pick a page with nothing sensitive on it. A blank form, or a sheet that says TEST in large type, is enough. Use that page for every step, and keep real documents out of the test.

Step one: how it is sent

Send the test page the ways the office actually sends work. Print it from a desk. If the machine scans, scan it. If it copies, copy it.

For each route, write down who else in the office could send the same page the same way.

Step two: where it arrives

A printed page arrives in a tray. If a scan goes to an email address or a folder, note which one.

Check each destination against the one the sender meant to use. If they match, write that down. If they do not, write down where the page went instead.

Step three: who collects or opens it

For a printed copy, walk to the tray. Who passes it in an ordinary hour?

For a scanned copy, check the destination it reached. Then ask the person responsible for that inbox or folder to confirm who can open it.

Put it on one sheet

Three columns are enough: how it was sent, where it arrived, and who could pick it up or open it. Any line that surprised somebody is the line worth discussing.

Before anything changes

This review shows the route. It does not decide what the route should be, and it is not a compliance review.

Take the sheet to the person responsible for how the office handles documents. Agree on any change with them before a setting is touched or sensitive work runs through a new path.

Where Classic fits

Classic Business Products has placed and serviced office print equipment across South Louisiana since 1986, with technicians working out of Lafayette, Houma and Morgan City.

For office print equipment help in Lafayette, Houma or Morgan City, call (800) 738-2200.