What is the Classification Table Documentary?

The classification chart is a document management tool used to assign classification codes to an organization's documents. It is based on the idea that documents can be grouped according to their subject matter and characteristics, which facilitates their storage and retrieval. It is a technical instrument that reflects the structure of an archive based on the attributions and functions of each unit, in which series, sub-series and document types are grouped according to a logical and systematic criterion, in order to simplify the classification, arrangement, preservation and retrieval of information.

The classification chart in the archives serves as a basis for the rest of the activities: description, valuation, recovery, dissemination, etc. This instrument reflects in a hierarchical and logical way the functions and activities of our company, agency or institution, and helps us to locate the documents according to their content and function.

It is a tool that allows the assignment and revision of the documentary series produced or received in the company, that is to say, that its filling out is the organized, controlled and hierarchical reflection of the functions, information and other business aspects. In it appear all the documentary series created and managed by our organization, independently of their support (photographic, paper, electronic, etc.) and of their chronology. The classification chart facilitates the work of the documentalists, since they will not have to invent a classification system every time they receive or produce new documentation.

The document classification chart is the one that shows graphically and clearly the structure of a file, according to the function of each unit, in which series, sub-series and document types are grouped in a logical and systematic way, simplifying the classification, arrangement, preservation and retrieval of information. This table facilitates the search, since it is a single classification that includes all the documents of the company.

There are several types of classification tables:

• Organic: They reflect the organizational structure of the organization, reproducing its services, sections, administrative units, departments and offices.
• Funtionals: They are based on the analysis of the company's functions or activities, which do not necessarily coincide with its organizational structure, since a department may carry out more than one activity.
• Organic-Funtional: They are the most common and as their names indicate they are a mixture between the organic and functional systems. In this type of tables the most general categories are the organs or producing subjects and they hang the documentary series.
• By subject: Reflects the content or subject matter of the documents.

That is why document classification tables are considered one of the most important resources because they are used for the hierarchical arrangement of documentation and for its quick location.

Documentary classification tables have the following qualities:

• Delimited: The CCDs must be assigned by units or sections, in order to control their completion and guarantee the security of the documentation.
• Unified: The CCD does not take into account the date of creation of the documents, since it is based on other aspects for the organization of the information.
• Stable: The structure managed should be permanent and stable over time, in order to provide flexibility and adaptability to the changes generated in the company.
• Simples: con el propósito de mantener el control y la facilidad de consulta y registro, la estructura de las CCD debe ser simple e intuitiva.

The document classification chart is a document management tool used to assign classification codes to an organization's documents. It is based on the idea that documents can be grouped according to their subject matter and characteristics, which facilitates their storage and retrieval.