My experience tells me that almost every office suffers from some degree of backlog. Unfinished work can hinder an agency in a number of ways. For instance, every time a document is touched, the cost of processing that item increases. If backlog is significant, someone hunting for a specific item probably touches a number of pending files and documents during the search. If he or she doesn't find the target the first time around, then another search likely ensues, and costs multiply.

Other consequences of backlog are decreased employee morale, customer dissatisfaction and staff burnout that may ultimately result in higher turn-over. Also, an agency's errors-and-omissions exposures increase, along with the odds of items being overlooked or misplaced. Add up all these factors and suddenly backlog becomes a much larger issue than just tasks pending completion.

Would you like to make your agency's backlog disappear forever? It's possible, and it doesn't take a large investment of time or money. Here are several ways to permanently eliminate backlog in your agency: