Communication & Soft Skill

Office Records and Correspondence or Office Management

Meaning of Office Correspondence:

A lot of communication that takes place in an organization is in writing. Correspondence thus is defined as ‘communication in writing on subject of mutual interest either within the organization or with an outsider’.

Correspondence within the organization lends a meaning of definiteness to corporate policies and practice, promotes understanding between the members and departments the organization.

Correspondences with the outsider promotes image of the organization, clarifies its policies, keeps its legal entities intact and keeps its operations going.

Purpose of Office Correspondence:

There can be and there are many reasons for office correspondences.

An office correspondence can be because of the following reasons:

1. Serving a notice to the office personnel.

2. Serving a notice to the individual person.

3. Serving an order either to the entire department or to the individual employee in the office.

4. Serving an instruction either to the department or to an individual working in the department.

Serving an instruction or a notice to the office situated outside the office premises. There can be many other reasons to execute and serve an instruction which is a part of office correspondence, however, the nature of the correspondence depends upon the situation that arises in the office for which a notice has to be served.

Principles of Office Correspondence:

There are certain principles of correspondence which has to be followed by every office. An office notice or an office order cannot be issued by every Tom, Dick and Harry. Suppose a departmental head wishes to issue a warning letter to one of its employee. He just cannot issue the same on his whims and fancies.

He has to first refer to the office manual wherein it will be clear to him whether the office has empowered the departmental head to issue such letters.

If yes, then he can, under the framework of the administrative manual, issue the letter. If not, he has to revert back to the organizational head, explaining the situation and seek his permission and approval to issue such order, before serving such a warning letter. A copy of that letter should be forwarded to the office organization head for his information.

The greatest principle of any official correspondence is that official letters issued, served, or sent to anybody, should have a valid, substantial reason which should evince a firm resolute action.

Another principle of the official letter is, unless and until needed, it should be brief, polite, and should be written in a manner that the person reading it should take a favorable action. At no stage should the official letter served or written be harsh, impolite and rusty. It therefore devalues the importance of the letter and the person writing it.

Maintenance of Official Correspondence:

Maintenance of the office correspondence starts either with receiving the official letter and filing them in the proper file, or sending a letter out of office, or sending a letter to some other department, and maintaining a copy of it in the file.

This is best explained thus:

Incoming letters are also known as incoming mails and the outward letters are known as outgoing mails. We shall discuss the procedure of handling inward mails and outward mails.

Procedure for Handling Inward Mails in Office Correspondence:

Inward mail forms the basis on which the organization works and exists. Much of the efficiency of the organization is reflected through a proper handling of inward mail.

Listed is the procedure of handling an inward mail:

1. Receiving and Collecting the Mails:

An ordinary ‘dak’ or ‘mail’ is brought to the office either by a courier or by a post-man once or twice in a day in most of our cities in India. At once, the number of letter received should be counted. An office, as it is, will receive about 25 to 30 letters in a day and may be 10 to 12 letters at a time.

All such letters after receiving should be stamped. A proper example of stamp is shown:

Here the stamp reflects the name of the office. It is office at Kolkata. The stamp reflects other information as letter number, date of receipt, and the direction of the letter to whom it has to be handed. Suppose this is the 10^th letter that the office has received on 10/10/10, then the figure 10 and the date 10/10/10 should be posted at the appropriate place.

Lastly, if the letter is marked to the accounts department, then “accounts” should be written in the appropriate place. However, this step will take place only after opening the mail.

2. Opening Mail:

Letters may be opened either by hand or by letter opening machines. Opening letters by hand with the help of a paper knife is the most common method of opening letters even in a very large organization.

After opening the letter it should be noted whether the contents of the letter written are in a single page, or more than a page. If it is more than one page, the entire pages should be numbered.

After numbering the pages, the contents of the letter should be read and a greater importance should be laid on the subject matter of the letter.

It is the subject matter which, at a glance, tells us about the entire contents.

Now it is here that the ‘letter referred to’ comes into foreplay as inscribed on the stamp. Once the entire letter is read, one would come to know about the department where the letter has to be directed. It should be written on the space provided.

3. Recording of the Mail:

Most of the organizations like to keep a permanent record for all inward mail. For this purpose, the “inward mail register”, ‘dak received register’ or ‘letter received book’ is maintained. This register records all the particulars of letter received. It is better to have such a register in almost all offices to check the records of the letter received and also check whether a letter has been returned for filing.

An example of how the inward mail register should be is best illustrated:

4. Sorting and Distribution of Inward Mail:

Once the entire stamping and entire recording is over, the letters should be sorted out. For example, all letters to be directed to accounts must be separated and grouped together so that every letter belonging to the Accounts Department are sent to Accounts.

Similarly every letter directed to Administration may be send to Administration Department. Thus process of putting all the letters belonging to the Accounts Department are sent to the accounts. Similarly every letter directed to Administration may be sent to Administration.

This process of putting all the letters to one department, in series and directing it to the concerned department for action is known as “sorting”. Once the letters are sorted and recorded, the letters are sent to the respective departments to receive. This process is known as distribution.

5. Follow Up:

Efficient reply back to incoming correspondence is the index of the efficiency of the organization and to improve its image. The executives and the various departmental heads should see to it that letters received during the days are attended to on the same day and replies are prepared on the same day, and then the duplicate copies of it are filed properly.

The original letters should be given the file name and should be dispatched properly.

Outgoing or Outward Mail in Office Correspondence:

Mails are sent outside by every department, by every organization.

There is a procedure of sending the mail out:

1. Read the entire contents of the letter which has to be sent out.

2. Take out the file in which the second copy of the letter will be filed. The file will have a file number. This file number has to be given to the letter.

3. See in the outward register what the serial number of the last letter is. The next number will be the serial number of this letter.

4. Put the date of dispatch on the letter. The same date will have to be put on the letter.

5. After making all the entries of the letter in the outward dak register, send the letters to the dispatch section. The dispatch section will affix the stamps etc., will write the address on the envelope and then post the letter making an entry in the register maintained by them. This is the simplest and easiest method of dispatching a letter from the office.

Filings and Method of Filing in Office Correspondence:

The method of filing the office mail whether incoming or outgoing differs from office to office and procedures of filing too differs as different offices have different norms, procedures etc. These come in handy for filing.

The process of filing starts immediately after the recording of the outgoing letter is over. Suppose a letter has come into the office for which no reply has to be given, then that letter is read, noted and filed. But if an incoming letter demands reply, then the incoming letter definitely has to be filed, but before it, the reply has to be drafted.

Once the reply is drafted, noted, coded and send to the dispatch section, for onward process, the letter has to be filed.

There are procedures for filing in office correspondence:

1. First go through the incoming letter and note from where the letter has come, what are the contents of the letter and what does the letter wants. If the letter does not warrant reply, file the letter in corresponding file.

2. Suppose the incoming letter warrants a reply then find out from where the letter has come.

It will be evident from the letter since you would know from where it has come, note the contents of the letter, the subject matter etc… this will give you an idea about the file in which the letter has to be filed, pickup that file.

3. Immediately frame a draft for reply. Get it approved by the competent authority. After getting the approval get the letter typed and get it endorsed by the competent authority.

4. Once the letter is endorsed, give it a proper file number, serial number and date. Once it is done send it to the dispatch clerk for approval.

5. File the letter incoming and the reply letter in the corresponding file and number the pages filed serially. This is a short and a brief method of explanation about filing. However, let an effort be made to explain about various kinds of files and filing, and method of how to give an index or a code number to a file.

Handling of Incoming or Inwards Mail in an Office

This article throws light upon the top seven steps necessary for Handling of Incoming or Inwards Mail in an Office. The Steps are: 1. Receiving and Opening the Mail 2. Scrutiny of Contents 3. Date-Stamping 4. Recording 5. Sorting 6. Distributing 7. Keeping the Track.

Step - 1. Receiving and Opening the Mail:

In a small office the mail is received and opened, by the secretary or the office manager directly.

Mail may be received in any of the following ways:

 (a) Mail delivered by the postman directly from the post office at regular intervals of time;

(b) Mail directly collected by the office from the post office once or twice a day in a Post Bag or loose when a Post Box is main­tained in the post office;

(c) Mail received through messengers under the ‘peon book’ system,

(d) Mail received through ‘courier’ system.

The mail is usually opened by hand but a letter opening machine may be used when the number of letters received is very large. The machine cuts each envelope very finely at its edge without damaging any enclosed material. A machine may open a few hundreds of letters in a minute if it is electrically operated. The letters marked ‘confidential’ or ‘personal’ are not opened and are directly sent to the respective addressees.

Any telegram received shall be immediately sent to the department or person concerned. After opening an envelope it has to be seen that all the contents are taken out. Sometimes the envelope is preserved and pinned up with the contents as an evidence of the date and place of posting as indicated by the postal seal.

Step - 2. Scrutiny of Contents:

The contents of the envelopes have to be scrutinized or verified for the following purposes:

(a) To find out to which department the letter shall be sent;

 (b) To verify whether the enclosures as mentioned in a letter really exist or correspond to the description. The enclosures may include cheques, drafts, etc. The clerk, on verification, shall put a note of receipt on the letter concerned and immediately shall send the cheques or drafts to the cash department for necessary action.

Sometimes a large number of cheques, drafts and postal orders are received through post. In that case it is preferable that the mail opening clerk prepares a list of all such receipts, makes out a total and then sends the list after signing on it to the cashier. This is done as a pro­tection against theft and for the safety of the cashier. This list can also be verified with the bank paying-in slips.

Step - 3. Date-Stamping:

On every article of mail received a rubber stamp is fixed which contains the following:

(a) A serial number for the item received,

 (b) The date of receipt,

(c) The time of receipt,

(d) The initial of the post opener.

The stamping may be done by using ‘Dating’, ‘Numbering’ and ‘Time-Recording’ machines. Such ma­chines have devices for automatic change of figures with every stroke. Some offices make the date-stamp more elaborate having provisions for further entries like the date of sending acknowledgement or reply, the date of filing, etc.

Or, a separate rubber stamp may be used for this purpose, to be used by the department concerned.

A separate treatment is required for ‘composite letters’:

A composite letter is that which affects more than one department or individual and must be circulated to each of such department or individual. A different kind of rubber stamp will be used having rooms for naming the departments or individuals through which the letter shall pass successively and it has to be initialed by the respective person.

Finally, the letter is sent for filing. Or, copies are prepared (preferably Xerox copies) and distributed to allied departments.

In some offices every piece of inwards mail is once sent to the secretary for his perusal and initialing.

Step - 4. Recording:

In some offices a register called Inwards Mail Register or Letters Received Book is maintained where the particulars of all the articles received through mail are recorded. This has great value as a source of evidence whenever any doubt or dispute arises in respect of some incoming article.

It is a time-consuming and expen­sive affair and so some offices do not entertain this. Alternatively, a Mail Room List system may be followed. A list is prepared for all the letters and other articles sent to a particular department in a day and the list is signed by the department-in-charge concerned. Such lists are prepared after sorting the mail.

Step - 5. Sorting:

After date-stamping and recording, the mail has to be sorted out for sending them to respective departments or individuals. For the purpose of sorting trays or baskets meant for different depart­ments are laid on the table. In case the number of departments is big, a pigeon-hole (a box containing partitioned apartments like a pigeon­hole) is used.

This is useful when for a large number of individual sorting is to be done. Sorting has to be done very carefully so that there is no wrong placement and the enclosures are not missed. Sometimes it is difficult to ascertain to which department a letter should go. The supervisor of the section will take the decision or it may be sent to the secretary or office manager.

Step - 6. Distributing:

The next step or operation is distributing the mail to respective departments or individuals. The office peons or bearers will do this job. The mail will be handed over against initialing by the receiving officer or clerk on the Register. A Mail Room List may be prepared at this stage. Messages received over Telephone have to be distributed which may not require sorting.

Step -7. Keeping the Track:

Actually the procedure of handling of inwards mail will be complete when necessary action on the respective piece of mail received has been taken. A letter has to be replied or acknowledged. An order has to be acknowledged and executed or refused.

If the matter has no importance then the article is directly filed or even put into the waste paper basket or destroyed. After action has been taken every piece of inward written communication has to be sent for filing.

An office must have a definite routine for the handling of inwards mail and the supervisor of the receiving section shall be responsible for carrying out the routine. If any piece of inwards mail remains un­attended or is lost or is misled, a serious action has to be taken against the person in default.

Handling of Outgoing or Outwards Mail in an Office

Read this article to learn about the Handling of Outgoing or Outwards Mail in an Office.

Preparation of Letters, Notices, Circulars, etc.:

Principles:

Letters of different departments may be prepared by the respective departments on the dictation or guidance of the depart­mental head. Some ‘form paragraphs’ may be used for maintaining the uniformity of style. Or, there may be a team of corres­pondence clerks who will prepare the letters on the guidelines or points given by the departmental heads concerned.

The secretary has overall control on the correspondence clerks.

Notices or circulars may be prepared by different departments, like the marketing department for the customers, agents or dealers. Same is the case of price lists or catalogues. Advertisement materials may be prepared by the publicity department, if any, or the concern may depend on any advertising agency house in this respect.

The top management shall have control on all these materials of issue as they reflect the policies of the organization.

Notices, circulars, reports, etc. have to be sent to the members in case the organization, whether trading or non-trading, are an association. Such things are prepared by the secretary by virtue of his authority and specialized knowledge. There are statutory rules and forms also. Thus, different principles have to be followed in respect of preparation of mail depending on the text of the mail.

The most common variety of outwards mail is a letter. A letter may be again of two types. Either, it is an original letter sent by a sender to an addressee out of his own, or, it may be a reply by an addressee to a letter received by him from a sender. In the latter case the drafting of the reply letter will be corresponding to the letter received.

The procedure of preparing a letter is given below:

(1) Dictation and Draft:

The letter may be dictated by the departmental head or he may indicate the guidelines and points on the basis of which the correspondence clerk will draft the letter. Those letters which involve policy matters are dictated by the chief executive or the secretary or even by people at top level, like the managing director of a company.

Personal letters of important persons may be drafted by their private secretaries who have the competence to do it. When a letter is dictated, the stenographer takes down the notes in short hand and then transcribes it into long hand on a typewriter. This is called a draft. The draft may be prepared by the correspondence clerk directly or by the private secretary.

Dictation can be given in many ways:

(a) Directly to the steno­grapher;

(b) Through a dicta-phone machine where it is recorded and then subsequently heard by the typist for typing out;

 (c) Directly to a stenographer who does not write with a pencil on a writing pad but he operates a ‘stenotype’ machine.

A senior executive very often dictates a number of letters at a time, preferably at the early part of office hours, and then the steno-typists transcribe them serially one by one. When there is a stenographic pool then any one of the stenographers presently available is called by the executive who takes the dictation. There may be departmental stenographers and typists instead of a centralized pool.

(2) Correction and Final Typing:

The draft is presented to the person who dictated it or under whose direction or guidance it has been drafted. He will go over it and may make some corrections for improvement. The draft may be sent to some other executives for their suggestions, if any, or for additions. For examples, some figures may have to be added by the accounts department to a draft prepared on the dictation of the marketing manager.

Now, the matter will be sent for final typing or duplicating, as the case may be. In the latter case a duplicating machine will have to be used. Together with the final typing of the text of the letter, copies of other documents for en­closure may have to be typed. Two to five copies may have to be typed depending on the number of departments or individuals are concerned with the letter.

The envelopes, wrappers, etc. to be used for dispatching shall be typed out simultaneously. If ‘window envelope’ is used no typing on the envelope is necessary. The envelope has a cut out so that the inside address typed on the letter itself can be seen. (Proper folding of the letter is, however, necessary). Typing of the address is not necessary if addressograph machine is used.

(3) Signature:

This is an important operation because valuable letters must be signed by persons having the authority to sign. The secretary has the authority to sign letters on behalf of the organization. A junior officer may sign ‘for’ his superior if he is so authorized. Form letters’ are generally signed by junior officers.

A private secretary may sign on behalf of his boss. Letters having legal implication are signed by people at the top level of authority or by the secretary having the power of attorney.

Such letters may have to be processed through Law Department, if any, or through the legal adviser. The secretary himself is competent enough for the pur­pose. The signatory signs on the original copy in full and may put his initials on the office copy or departmental copies. The signature must be made distinctly (preferably with ink) and legibly.

It shall be accom­panied with the designation of the signatory. No signature is required on the duplicate copy of the text, but under the accompanying for­warding note, if the duplicate copy is to be sent to another person for reference.

If it is a circular or any kind of letter which has to be dup­licated and sent to a number of persons then the letter or circular or notice has to be typed on a stencil paper and the signature will be made by a stylus pen. In some concerns there is a special officer or a Supervisor of the Correspondence Department who checks every letter at its final stage, initials on it and gets it passed.

(4) Referencing:

Every letter must have a reference number which is symbolic and functions as a code. From the inner meaning of the code, the characteristics of a letter can be known. It is expected that the addressee, while replying to the letter, shall refer to this reference number. The reference number may be put by the department concerned to make it meaningful.

Again, reference number may be added by the dispatch clerk at the time of dispatching it but that number is nothing but the serial number of dispatch. This is not scientific. In big concerns symbolic reference number is added at the time of preparing the letter and in addition, a serial dispatch number is stamped on it by the dispatch clerk. This is a complete procedure.

Dispatching:

Significance:

Mail must reach the correct addressees within reasonable time. Dispatching has great significance because of the following reasons: There may be commercial or legal complications, complaints may crop up, reputation may be at stake, expected response may not be forthcoming, and even financial loss may have to be incurred if there is irregularity or inaccuracy in the process.

There is a central Dispatching Section to carry out the operations. A ‘dead-line’ is fixed, i.e. a final time is fixed, say 4-15 p.m. after which no mail will be received by the section for posting on that day.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The procedure of dispatching mail is given below:

(1) Collating:

Together with a letter some enclosures, including cheques, drafts, postal orders, bills, copies of other letters or state­ments, etc. are very often sent. Sometimes a circular consists of several cyclostyled pages. A notice is accompanied with reports.

All these related papers have to be assembled or collated and joined to­gether by stapling or by using pins, clips, tags, etc. Collating has to be done very carefully, watching that no piece of enclosure is missed or if there are pages, they are assembled serially. For Collating a large table is requited and a stapling machine. A collating machine may be used.

(2) Folding:

The next operation is folding. Folding of papers is an art. It has to be done in a tidy manner. In case of inland letters, folding has to be done according to the given direction. If window envelope is used then folding has to be done in such a manner that the typed inside address be visible.

In a large concern folding machine is used which can fold letters at a high speed and in a uniform manner. After folding, the papers shall be inserted inside the envelopes, if any. A number of letters written to the same party from different departments may be inserted together.

(3) Address Writing:

In many offices, the system is that the dispatch clerk will write the address. It is not a good system. It is desirable that the typist while typing the letter shall also type the address. But the dispatch clerk may use addressograph machine.

This machine is useful when communication has to be frequently made to some fixed addressees. For example, circulars or notices to the members of an association, electric or telephone bills to the subscribers, etc.

(4) Sealing and Stamping:

The envelopes have to be sealed which is a monotonous work. Big offices use sealing machines for the purpose. All envelopes may not have to be sealed. For example, letters sent by ‘book post’. The next operation is stamping.

Stamping or fixing of postage stamps is another tedious, dirty and risky operation. It is dirty because one has to use gum which is sticky. It is risky because there may be pilferage of postage stamps. A Post Book may be maintained like an Impress Cash Book.

The dispatch clerk gets an impress amount to buy stamps which he has to consume by keeping record of the number of letters dispatched and correspon­dingly stamps consumed. Stamps of different value have to be fixed on mails of different weight and the different types of postal service enjoyed. For example, ordinary post, book post, under certificate of posting, registered post and insured post.

It is preferable that a postal guide book is kept in the office for ready reference. A franking machine may be used to overcome all the difficulties of manually fixing of stamps. Pilferage can be totally checked by this machine. All types of mail do not require stamping, e.g. letters sent by messengers. Entries are made in the peon book.

(5) Recording:

When all the above operations are over, the mail is actually ready for dispatch. Most concerns maintain an ‘Outwards Mail Register’ or ‘Dispatch Register’ for the purpose. It consists of several columns giving full particulars of the out­wards mail.

The dispatch clerk shall fill in the particulars of every article of dispatch and shall put his initials at the left hand corner of the article dispatched. Sometimes a rubber stamp bearing the name of the dispatch section is affixed on which the initials are made by the dispatch clerk. This is more common in the Government’s departments.

(6) Posting:

Now the mail shall be posted. If the mail is: to be sent by messenger then posting is not necessary. The messenger will carry the articles and reach them directly to the addressees against acknowledgement signed in the peon book. This is possible only for local communication. Otherwise, the mail has to be posted.

The articles may be dropped in the Post Box. The registered articles or letters to be posted under certificate of posting, have to be carried to the Post Office directly for registration and recording. An office may maintain a Post Bag in which all the outwards mail can be carried to the Post Office, a number of times in a day.

Post Bags are locked and so there is no chance of missing of any postal article. Some urgent letters may have to be directly posted in the R.M.S. compartment attached to a particular train. There may be a regular time table for an office stating when mail shall be carried for posting. ‘Posting’ is not required under the courier service system.

Procedures for Handling Incoming and Outgoing Mails

This article throws light upon the three main procedures for Handling Incoming and Outgoing Mails. The Procedures are: 1. Post Box 2. Post Bag 3. Courier Service System.

Procedure # 1. Post Box:

Every big post office keeps such boxes of standard size to be rented out to users. Any individual or an association or a company can take such box on hire. The purpose is that all the un­registered, fully pre-paid postal articles of standard size addressed to the hirer shall be kept inside the box.

The hirer can take delivery of the same himself or through his agent directly from the box at regular intervals during the postal working hours.

The rules for hiring a Post Box are as follows:

(a) The hirer has to pay a rent either on quarterly or yearly basis and he has to keep a deposit.

(b) The post office gives a key (duplicate of which is retained by the post office), a token number, and a delivery ticket bearing that number.

(c) The hirer has to produce the ticket whenever he wants to open the box by the key.

 (d) The key and the ticket have to be returned when the box is released by the hirer.

(e) The rent is payable in advance and the renewal has to be made before the expiry of the period.

(f) If renewal is not made within 20 days of the date of expiry, the deposit money is forfeited.

(g) The hirer can use the token number as a short postal address.

Advantages:

(a) Mail can be received according to convenience and more frequently than the usual time of delivery by the post office.

(b) The allotted token number can be used as a short postal address which has some kind of secrecy.

(c) There is little chance of mis­-delivery or loss in transit of the mail which is not uncommon in the hands of the postman.

Disadvantages:

(a) No benefit in case of registered or not fully paid postal articles or when they are of non-standard size.

(b) There is an extra expense.

(c) A reliable person is required to bring the delivery of articles. Use of post bag removes this disadvantage.

Procedure # 2. Post Bag:

A Post Bag is a special type of bag given on hire by a big post office to a hirer in order to carry the mail from or to the post office. An individual or an association or a company can take a bag on hire from the post office.

All the incoming mail collected in the post office addressed to the hirer are kept by the post office inside the post bag and locked. The hirer or his agent comes to the office at an agreed time to collect the bag on production of the delivery ticket. The bag is taken to the office of the hirer.

Again, the hirer puts all the outgoing mail inside the bag, locks it, and carries the bag to the post office for posting. One can have a post bag with or without having a post box. The rules for hiring a post bag are almost the same as in the case of a post box (see above). The post office gives a key and a delivery ticket to the hirer. Here there is no token number to be used as a short postal address.

Advantages:

(a) The postal articles can be carried safely from and to the post office,

(b) It is an additional advantage to the use of a post box.

(c) During the transit of outwards mail there is no dropping and adhesive postage stamps fixed on articles cannot be removed.

Disadvantages:

(a) It has an additional expense,

(b) The post office may not put the incoming mail inside the bag in time or in full.

Procedure # 3. Courier Service System:

Originally the courier service meant inter-branch messenger service found in big organizations. Nowa­days it has become a specialized business. Private concerns take the responsibility of carrying mails of business houses by individual messen­gers as their employees on payment of charges.

Because of irregula­rities in postal services, the courier service system has become very popular. Even the Government is thinking of ‘privatization’ of postal services.

Equipment for Handling Office Mails: Need and Types

Read this article to learn about the Equipment’s necessary for Handling Office Mail. After reading this article you will learn about: 1. Need for Equipment for Handling Mail 2. Types of Equipment for Handling Mail.

Need for Equipment for Handling Mail:

Handling of Mail is a laborious job. There are so many operations to do. Everyday a large number of postal articles, both incoming and outgoing, have to be handled. The number is very big for a big concern. The number increases as the concern grows in size; and activities are multiplied.

Letters or notices or circulars have to be sent frequently to the same persons and then the same addresses have to be written or typed a number of times.

Many pages or en­closures have to be assembled together. All these are tedious jobs but have to be performed accurately. In order to overcome monotony, to ensure speed and accuracy and to avoid thefts, various machines have been introduced which can be used, provided the volume of work is quite big, to make the system economic.

Types of Equipment for Handling Mail:

The different types of machines used in handling of mail are described below:

(1) Letter-Opening Machine:

This machine is used to open envelopes. Letters are usually opened by hand but a little carelessness may damage inside contents. By this machine an Envelope may be opened by cutting very finely a narrow strip from one edge of an envelope.

The machine is fitted with self-sharpening and revolving cutters or blades. The machine can be hand-operated or electrically operated. An electrically operated machine may open up to 500 envelopes of all sizes within a minute.

(2) Envelope-Sealing Machine:

Sealing of envelopes is a tedious and dirty job. Dirty because gum or glue is used. An envelope- sealing machine, if hand operated, can neatly seal about 150 envelopes in a minute and if electrically operated the number may reach 25,000 an hour.

Water has to be fed in continuously. Envelopes of any reasonable breadth, length, and thickness can be sealed by a standard machine. An electrically operated machine has an additional advantage that water is made hot and hot water makes quick action on the gum.

(3) Collating Machine:

A number of enclosures or sheets of paper may have to be assembled together before they are dispatched. This is a laborious and risky job. Risky because any sheet of paper may be missed or there may be wasteful duplication of the same page. It is time-consuming too. A collating machine solves all the problems.

Such a machine is of many types and sizes. A big machine not only collates but also binds the papers. A simple collating machine may be used by a typist which keeps the required number of sheets of paper, interleaved with carbon papers, ready on the table so that time is not wasted to make the papers ready when a number of copies to be typed at a time.

(4) Paper-Folding Machine:

Folding of papers before inserting them inside envelopes is not as simple job as it appears to be. Folding has to be made in a tidy and elegant manner. There shall not be unnecessary folds causing wastage of time. Folding becomes difficult when a bunch of papers have to be folded together.

Folding must be according to the size of the envelope. In case ‘window envelopes’ are used, folding must be done in such a way that the inside address typed on the letter becomes visible. All these problems can be solved if a paper-folding machine is used.

A composite machine is available which will collate, fold, and insert the papers inside an envelope and finally will seal it. All these can be done at a speed to make 2,500 envelopes ready within an hour. Much depends, however, upon the number of papers to be collated.

(5) Addressing Machine or Addressograph:

The help of such a machine is taken when frequently letters or circulars or notices have to be sent to the same addressees. For example, communication to members of an association or company, electric or telephone bills to subscribers, premium notices to insurance policy holders, etc.

For this machine a master copy for each name and address has to be prepared. This can be done by making embossment on metal plates or stencil cuts on thick papers or plastic sheets, etc. These plates or cards are fed inside the machine. By pressing a lever, one by one a plate or a card is brought to printing position.

The envelope or card is placed on the platform and the embossed plate or card is pressed on it and dry ink passes in between. An imprint is made. By adding some attachments, numbering also can be done simultaneously or a part of the total description may be printed (say, only the name), etc.

All the names may not be wanted at a time. By some automatic device the machine may make the selection. Addresses can be printed from 800 to 1,000 per hour by a hand-driven machine and up to 7,000 per hour by electrically operated one.

Such machine is used even for wages or pay roll sheets, for invoicing, for other form-filling work. It has great advantages:

 (a) It has tremendous speed of operation,

(b) There is no mistake in printing the name and address,

(c) The operation is simple,

(d) It can be used for a number of purposes and in a number of ways,

(e) It leads to economy.

It has disadvantages too:

(a) The metal plates are costly though durable,

(b) It is difficult to make alterations.

(6) Franking Machine:

This is a machine used for printing on envelopes, cards, etc. designs of postage stamps of different denomina­tions, showing the date, amount, the place of stamping, and the registered number of the user. In addition, an advertisement slogan also may be printed.

Commercial houses, educational institutions, Government offices, and various other organizations commonly use such machine instead of using ordinary adhesive postage stamps. This machine has been introduced after the International Postal Convention of 1922. Such a machine can b; purchased or hilled but has to be taken to a post office for registration and a license.

A number is allotted by the post office to the user. There is a meter attached to the machine showing the amount of money consumed by way of postage. An amount, based on the probable consumption has to be estimated and paid in advance to the post office.

Accordingly the post office adjusts the meter up to that limit, locks it and seals it. The user can use the machine until that limit of postage value is reached and after that the machine stops to operate. Again the machine has to be taken to the post office for new adjustment of meter on payment of money in advance.

In order to do the franking the following steps have to be taken:

(1) The letters have to be sorted according to the amount of postage required for them.

(2) The machine is adjusted with one denomina­tion at a time. For example, 25 paise, 35 paise, and so on. Letters requiring 25 paise stamp shall be franked at a time. Then letters requiring 35 paise stamp and so on.

(3) For envelopes or articles of heavy thickness which cannot be entered into the machine, separate sheets are franked and then pasted on the articles.

 (4) If there is any mistake such an envelope is preserved and can be deposited with the post office for refund.

(5) Every day the date printing mechanism has to be adjusted.

(6) The machine must be kept under the charge of a responsible person so that there is no misuse.

Advantages:

(a) The operation makes saving of time. About 2,000 letters can be franked in an hour by a hand-operated and 15,000 by an electrically operated machine.

(b) A stock of postage stamp has not to be maintained.

(c) Pilferage of postage stamps can be avoided.

(d) The Post Book need not be maintained.

(e) The mail is ready for delivery quickly.

(f) Printing of advertising slogans is a cheap method of advertising.

Disadvantages:

(a) There may be wastage through franking of wrong amounts.

(b) The mail has to be carried to the post office every day after franking and cannot be dropped in post box.

(c) There may be misuse of the machine.

(d) Loose stamps still may be necessary for urgent letters which have to be posted immediately but by that time post office has closed.

(e) A good amount of money has to be paid to the post office in advance.

(f) It has operating and maintenance costs. The flow of ink must have to be maintained.

MIS - management information system

MIS is short for management information system or management information services.

Management information system, or MIS, broadly refers to a computer-based system that provides managers with the tools to organize, evaluate and efficiently manage departments within an organization.

In order to provide past, present and prediction information, a management information system can include software that helps in decision making, data resources such as databases, the hardware resources of a system, decision support systems, people management and project management applications, and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently.

How to Organize an Office Filing System

Learning how to organize office filing systems is crucial for any business that handles a lot of invoices, receipts, and other documents. Paperless offices sound great, but the reality is that many small businesses still need to store easily retrievable paper documents.
It's important to know what files are most important, who needs to access them, and how they can be retrieved easily and efficiently.

Receipts and Invoices

Filing receipts and invoices properly is one of the most important things a small business needs to do. A nonexistent or messy filing system can add days of extra effort at income tax time as you don't want to miss out on tax deductions because of missing receipts. If your business is ever subject to an audit and you are unable to produce the required documents in support of your expenses your claims will most likely be rejected and your tax return re-assessed.
As a small business owner, you need to be able to operate at your desk swiftly and easily. Though setting up a paper filing system sounds difficult, it is a relatively easy task that can be made easier through a few filing tips and tricks.

5 Steps to Organize a Filing System

To get yourself and your business on the right track, follow five steps to make sure papers are easily accessible and easily identifiable.

1.     Assess personal and office habits: Think about which employees need access to files, where they work, and what will make the most sense based on their work stations. If you are the person who is most in need of access to papers, think about how you use your workstation. If that filing cabinet to your right instinctively makes sense, that's probably a good starting point. If it is someone else, get their input—what works for one person won't always work for another.

2.    Decide on a filing system: What you do as a business will determine, to a certain extent, whether you choose to file numerically, alphabetically, or some other way. For example, do you search for customer information by name or account number? Do you file paperwork by category, such as expenses, financial, marketing, etc.? This is a critical step, as it will determine how you will lay out your filing system. Do this before you buy anything for your filing system?

3.    Calculate storage needs: If you have a large number of files that you access daily, they should be at your fingertips. If you access them less frequently, you might not need them at your workspace, but you still might need them close by. There may be a combination. Some files might be needed daily while others can be filed in long-term storage further away. Allow for growth when looking at filing cabinets—buy something to accommodate twice the files you think you will have now. This will limit the number of times you will have to reorganize your filing system.

4.    Invest in a good labeling system: Being able to read file labels sounds obvious, but clarity in labeling will save you more filing time than you can imagine. Most companies who make labels provide templates that integrate with the most popular word processing software. You may want to consider one of the small label-making systems that also can print out individual mailing labels. Items that perform double duty are usually a wise investment.

5.    Purchase file folders: The best investment is to purchase colored hanging folders with plastic label tabs and plain manila file folders. Colored hanging folders are easily available and easily recognizable. For example, if you put all of your client files in yellow hanging folders, financial information in blue folders, and anything related to marketing in red folders, you easily can see roughly where you should be searching for a particular file.

Simple Is Best

The KISS principle—Keep It Simple, Sweetheart!—applies to setting up a filing system that is easy to use and easy to grow with. Broad subject categories will allow you to easily add new files as you grow and will eliminate the need to upgrade or reorganize your filing system regularly.
Keeping it simple also will make it easier to integrate your paper and digital files as part of your overall document management system.

Going Paperless

If you are trying to green your business and make the shift to a "paperless office" you can scan expense receipts and store them with your other digital accounting information. Some cloud-based accounting software applications facilitate this by having mobile apps that allow you to take a mobile phone snap of an expense receipt and record it on the fly.

Reviewing Tax Laws

The IRS and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) both accept digital images or paper copies of scanned items including:

• Cash receipts
• Bank statements
• Canceled checks
• Pay stubs
• Credit card statements

The copies must be clear and legible. If not, the IRS or CRA may demand to see the original paper documents during an audit or routine request for documentation, so keep originals for the prescribed period of time.