Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

7-1

Chapter 7

BSBCMN206A—Process and maintain workplace information

7-2 Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

Contents

• Process and maintain information– Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01)

– Process information (BSBCMN206A/02)

– Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03)

• Summary

7-3 Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01)

What is business information?• Client documents (email, letters, contracts)• Internal memos• Departmental reports• Sales reports• Invoices and customer statements• Personnel staff files• Internal telephone directory• Customer databases• Legal documents

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Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01) cont.

Data collection methods• Centralised data collection

– Usually through a single mainframe computer– Relies heavily upon hard or paper copies– Centralised filing system with an army of clerks

• Decentralised data collection– Small computers are networked and often physically

remote from each other– Primary documents are processed by individuals at point of

origin– Electronic file management systems are extensively used

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Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01) cont.

Business use of information• Primary use

– Make decisions– Provide information on decisions made previously– Record transactions with clients and customers– Provide a basis for management planning– Provide a source of material for research into better

products or service– Satisfy all legal and taxation requirements

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Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01) cont.

Business use of information• Secondary use

– Statistical analysis for decision making and future plans– Input to providing administrative services– Maintaining stock levels and supplies, equipment

maintenance and purchasing– For use in management reports

• Tertiary use– Internal audit – Evaluation of management system itself

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Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01) cont.

Business use of information• Electronic filing systems

– Advantages Customer details are immediately available Easier to search than manual systems

– Disadvantages Power failure renders the system inoperative Virus can destroy data banks Staff can intentionally or otherwise delete important files

• Paper-based filing– Being used as a backup in many organisations– Most businesses run dual systems in case of emergency

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Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01) cont.

Effective information systems should:• Be simple and easy to use

– Must provide for search functions and ease of access

• Be readily accessible to authorised staff– Only staff at appropriate authority levels will have access

to sensitive information, e.g. profit margins

• Have a high retrieval speed– Staff should be able to obtain data from the corporate

databases and open them immediately on their desktops

• Be safe and secure– Passwords will be delegated to authority levels– Passwords should be changed on a regular basis

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Collect information (BSBCMN206A/01) cont.

The record life cycle• Either external or internal creation

– External, e.g. customer transactions– Internal, e.g. memo relating to policy changes

• File or data is utilised for communication or decision-making purposes

• Correct storage/back-up procedures are followed• When files are saved to a computer network, daily

back-up procedures are critical• Staff dealing with ongoing issues may keep hard

copy in a secure filing cabinet

7-10 Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

Process information (BSBCMN206A/02)

Filing procedures• Corporate styles can apply depending on the

documents• Systems of classification and type of information

allow documents to be stored in similar categories• Organisational procedures must be followed in

allocating file names and storage• All documents should have a ‘use-by’ date for

either review or destruction• Files can be allocated specific levels of

confidentiality

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Process information (BSBCMN206A/02) cont.

Files may be sorted by any of the following classifications:

• Alphabetical• Geographic• Numeric• Subject• Alpha-numeric• Chronological

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Process information (BSBCMN206A/02) cont.

Rules for alphabetical filing1. Strict alphabetical

• A, B, C, etc.

2. Nothing comes before something• J. then J. A. then Jim’s Greek Tavern

3. Single letters• KB Stout, IBM

4. Last name first• Davis J., Jim Davis Productions

5. First name of business title• Fancy That Ball Gowns

6. Numbers• 21 Metro Club

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Process information (BSBCMN206A/02) cont.

Other filing categories• Geographic is based on location, by state or region

within a state; ideal for national sales• Subject classification, e.g. taxation, sales, clients,

professional development• Chronological files are kept in date/time order• Numeric classifications are used when the there is

a sequence of numbers, e.g. tax file numbers or car registrations

• Alpha-numeric is a combination of numbers and letters

7-14 Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03)

Filing supplies and equipment• Vertical files are most common for most office

environments• Lateral files can be used in a card index system

where data is written directly on the cards• Electronic filing systems can range from standard

3.5” floppy disks, USB memory sticks, RW-CDs/DVDs or networked hard drives

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Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03) cont.

Filing methodology• Direct and indirect

– Documents are filed based on, e.g., customer name– Indirect systems allow for a primary number or

classification which in turn points to a client name or subject

• Cross-referencing allows for files to be accessed from more than one location where a common number is used

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Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03) cont.

Good filing practice• Filing should be done daily• A miscellaneous category can be used when the document

doesn’t initially fall into existing categories• A hard copy of your electronic files can help staff who find

computer filing systems challenging• When filing hard copy care should be taken not to overload

either cabinets or lever-arch folders• If the preferred filing system is electronic, then at regular

intervals documents can be downloaded onto a R-CD and filed in an appropriate storage box

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Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03) cont.

What to do when a file has gone missing!• For hard copy, check the files on either side of the missing

document• Check the bottom of the filing cabinet, for files have a habit of

slipping from their folders• Check your desk (again), then move on to your supervisor’s

desk. It is not uncommon for a supervisor to grab a file only to answer a telephone call and then not replace it

• All electronic files can be found by using your computer’s search function and wild card characters, e.g., S*.doc will find all Word documents starting with ‘s’

• Another trick is to search for files created or modified within a specific time frame, e.g. search for ‘July 2006’

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Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03) cont.

Setting up new files• Should not be done without consultation with all

stakeholders• Try to maintain a consistency of classification• Information retention and disposal

– Active files are those which are used regularly– Semi-active files are used less regularly– Inactive records are those which are not in current use– Long-term records must be kept for a period of time for

legal reasons– Archived records are those that are kept by virtue of their

historical interest

7-19 Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

Maintain information (BSBCMN206A/03) cont.

Records disposal• All files go through a life cycle from ‘creation’ to

‘disposal’• Regular checks of file usage (easily done if kept

electronically) to determine if a file can be moved from the active list to a lower order of classification

• If files have been approved for disposal they should be shredded and the remnants dispatched to the recycle bin. Computer files, once deleted, are generally gone forever so take care when making the decision to delete

7-20 Copyright 2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Office Skills: A Practical Approach 4e by Horsfall and TurnerSlides prepared by David Plowman

Summary• A records management system performs three

functions for the business:1. Creation, care and storage of essential information

2. Provision of information for statistical analysis

3. Internal audits

• Preparation of documents includes inspecting, indexing and coding.

• Cross referencing is a valuable method of finding related information.

• All files go through a life cycle, active, semi-active, inactive, long term and archive.