Your day to day
Living with the old system
For a few months you will have two places. How to manage without duplicating work or losing things.
Nobody switches systems overnight. For a few months some things will be here and some in the usual folder, and that period is where documents go missing and where people decide whether the change is real.
The rule that makes it work
Important
**New material comes in here from day one; old material comes in only when it is needed.** Without that rule you end up maintaining both places in full, which is double the work and why most transitions get abandoned.
What goes where during the overlap
| Situation | Where it goes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A new document arriving today | Here, always | If there are exceptions, there is no rule |
| An old document someone consults | Uploaded as it is consulted | You bring what gets used, which is little |
| An old document nobody touches | Stays where it is | Bringing it adds nothing |
| An old document expiring soon | Bring it now | It is the one you will need |
How to run the period
- 1
Set a cut-off date and say it out loud
"From Monday the 3rd, whatever arrives goes here." Without a date there is no cut-off.
- 2
Make the old system read-only when you can
While both can be written to, both will be written to.
- 3
Bring the expiring items first
Insurance, certificates and contracts with end dates. They are what you will need soonest.
- 4
And review after two months what has come across
Usually 10% of the archive. That figure tells you how much of the rest was unnecessary.
Watch out
The costliest failure is not technical: it is someone still saving to the old folder "just this once". Within a month there are two truths and nobody knows which to check. If you spot that, it is more urgent than any migration.
When you can call it done
Worth knowing
The old archive need not be deleted. It can stay read-only for as long as you like: what matters is that it stops receiving new material, not that it disappears.
›Can I upload everything at once?
You can, and sometimes it pays. But bringing what nobody looks at only buries what matters.
›How long does the overlap last?
Weeks with a cut-off date; indefinitely without one.
›What if the team resists?
It is almost always because they cannot find something. Look at that before insisting.
A real case
The situation
A team has spent four months with documents in two places and no longer knows which is right.
What you do
- Sets a cut-off date and makes the old folder read-only
- Uploads what expires this year first
What you get
Within three weeks "where is this?" stops having two answers.
The situation
For six months the old and new systems coexist and nobody knows which to check.
What you do
- Sets the date from which only the new one counts
- Leaves the old one read-only
- Announces the cut-off to the whole team
What you get
There stop being two truths and nobody works in the wrong place.
The situation
A document is uploaded to the old system out of habit.
What you do
- Closes document intake on the old one
What you get
New material lands where it should.
The situation
You search the new one and the document is in the old.
What you do
- Notes which period each one covers
What you get
You know where to look without trying both.
The situation
The old system is switched off with documents nobody migrated.
What you do
- Checks what remains before switching off
What you get
Nothing is lost along the way.
The situation
Nobody decides when the old one gets switched off.
What you do
- Sets a date and an owner
What you get
The overlap ends rather than lasting forever.
This article answers
- running two systems at once
- migrating gradually without stopping work
- what to do with the old shared folder
- transitioning between document systems