The numbered folder tree for an integrated management system, ready to unzip onto a shared drive, with an index sheet for a paper copy.

Effective IMS Filing

Supplied as a zip file of folders, ready to unzip onto a shared drive, server or cloud storage. The folder index is supplied in fully editable MS Word format, in Calibri font.

alphaZ documents - tried and tested management system documents with no junk, jargon or unnecessary content, developed over 25 years through practical use in the real world.

Further Reading

Further guidance on filing documents and records:

• Records Management and Retention
• Document Control Explained
• Integrated Management Systems
• Document Control knowledge base

How to Download

This file is included in the alphaZ subscription. The alphaZ ISO toolkits are supplied laid out in the same IMS folder structure, so the toolkit route gives you the folders already filled with everything else you need.

Need Help Implementing?

If you'd like hands-on help setting up your IMS folder and filing your management system documents, our remote support services provide direct expert input from our team, by the day, by project, or on an ongoing basis.

IMS Folder Structure

The IMS Folder Structure is a zip file of the default filing structure for an integrated management system (IMS), with the numbered folders and sub-folders described in the IMS1 manual, ready to unzip and use when setting up a new IMS filing system.

It also includes the IMS folder index, a printable index sheet for setting up a paper copy of the IMS folder in a sectioned lever-arch file.

What's Included in the Folder Structure

• IMS documentation - the IMS1 manual guidance and references as PDFs, with a folder for the IMS registers
• Forms, policies and procedures - separate folders for each
• Management review and objectives
• Issues, actions and improvements - with folders for completed problem forms and improvement requests
• Customer feedback - including enquiries and quotes
• Audits, risk assessments and monitoring - internal and external audits, audit checklists, inspections and risk assessments
• Key suppliers, equipment and premises, and staff competency and training - each with a folder for its records
• Standards, guidance, certificates and regulations
• Environmental records and health and safety records, for systems covering ISO 14001 or ISO 45001
• IMS folder index - the printable index sheet in MS Word

One Place for the Evidence

Keeping the management system documents and records in the same numbered folders as the IMS1 manual means anyone looking for a record, including an auditor, knows where to find it. The structure is for management system documents and evidence, not day-to-day operational records or confidential personal data.

Paper and Shared Drive Copies

The index sheet carries the same section names as the folders, from IMS documentation to standards, guidance, certificates and regulations, so the tabs of a paper IMS folder match the folders on the shared drive.

Who Needs the IMS Folder Structure?

Businesses setting up an integrated management system from scratch, or tidying an existing shared drive, that want a filing structure that matches the IMS1 manual.

Using the Folder Structure

Unzip the folders onto your shared drive, server or cloud storage, remove the environmental or health and safety records folders if ISO 14001 or ISO 45001 is not covered, and file documents and records as they are set up. Print the index sheet if a paper copy of the IMS folder is kept.

Related Documents

The I-C-IMS Evidence Folders Checklist checks each folder before an audit, and the F-Q30 Folder Filing Overview records where other files are kept. The IMS1 Guidance explains the manual the folders follow, and the F-IMS20 Document Register lists the documents filed in them.