Storage

Hello,
We're thinking, after almost one year of gathering various data in various formats, to put everything together in one place (a file server and a network storage later) and organize all the files in a way that would be simple and clear.
All the data is located in various file types on LAN workstations and people are using this data locally in this moment. It's a research company, many of us are working on not related tasks.
The problem is that some of the guys are not very organized and problems appear as they seek for data that was deleted (we do have automated backup solutions) or misplaced.
This is why probably we will get someone to keep a record of everything so that if someone needs some kind of data, it would just go to this person and ask for a copy for example. I know, this should have been done from the beginning, I know.
What I would like to know is what are the "common sense" procedures and practicies in such cases, the starting point for this large task.

Thank you!