How to manage incoming and outgoing correspondence in the company?

Regardless of whether you manage the office of a large law firm, a small foundation, the secretary’s office of a school, sports club or joint-stock company, one of the processes for which you are responsible is correspondence management. To someone, this may seem as simple as lacing a shoe … But did you know that the Internet lists at least 42 ways to tie a shoe laces?

Coming back to the correspondence – managing it may be considered trivial … Until it says: “Ms. Beata, I need information about the date of submitting the contract to the legal department from …” or a request for sending the tender application, because someone says that nothing he did not get from you …. All correspondence must be properly recorded, classified, assigned and stored. How to bite on this topic?
How do we divide correspondence?

Due to the scope of circulation

External Correspondence – documents exchanged between our company and other institutions. All companies, regardless of their size, deal with this type of correspondence.

Internal correspondence – documents circulating inside the company. This circulation is most common in large companies that are divided into departments and / or divisions.

Whether we are the sender or the addressee

Incoming Correspondence – documents that are sent to us – contracts, official letters, applications, applications and more. What about invoices? It depends. In practice, invoices are most often placed in a separate register.

Outgoing correspondence – documents that we send to our contractors and institutions with whom we cooperate.
How to manage correspondence?

For internal and external correspondence, the rules will be similar. Therefore, it is worth focusing on incoming correspondence vs. outgoing.

Incoming Correspondence

Mandatory items

Whenever you register incoming correspondence, you absolutely must perform a number of steps. Below is a checklist that you can print and stick on the monitor. It will be useful, especially if you are just starting to manage the correspondence flow in the company. Remember to:

give the document another number in your database (your register)
note the individual number of the document given by the sender
enter the date of receipt of the document by the company
note the date of the document - it is especially important in the case of tender documents or official letters. The deadline for the answer is sometimes counted from the date of generating the document.

If you are using abc Correspondence Books, you will find the Document Number and Document Date fields on the Document tab in the new entry entry window.

enter a response time
enter the sender
record the assignment

If you use correspondence book software, you will be able to indicate the sender directly from the database. Just like the employee to whom you are redirecting correspondence. This will significantly speed up and facilitate your work.

write down where the original is kept

For electronic correspondence books, make sure you have the option to scan documents into the database.

note the subject of the correspondence - to quickly recall what the letter was about.

Additional items

If you keep a correspondence book in the form of a traditional notebook or .xls file, limit yourself to the mandatory points. However, if you use a solution specially created for this, you can also note:

parcel parameters
comments on the document or actions to be taken in the company in connection with their arrival
date of reply - to make sure that the reply was given on time.

It is worth checking whether the program you are testing can adapt to your needs. This is important because although the correspondence handling process is universal in nature, you may have your own habits or work according to the rules specific to the industry in which you operate. Unfortunately, not every solution allows you to modify, e.g. adding more fields, attributes, tabs, reports. It’s like with bread – like everyone eats, but one wholemeal, the second is rye, the third is gluten-free, and there are also those who only eat heels …

Outgoing correspondence

Mandatory items

Whenever you register incoming correspondence, you absolutely must perform a number of steps. Below is a checklist that you can print and stick on the monitor. It will be useful, especially if you are just starting to manage the correspondence flow in the company.

Remember to:

give the document another number in your database (your register)
note the individual number of the document given to it by the sender
enter the date of receipt of the document by the company
enter a recipient
write down where the original is kept

For electronic correspondence books, make sure you have the option to scan documents into the database.

note the subject of the correspondence - to quickly recall what the letter was about
record the delivery status along with

date of the operation – thanks to this, you will immediately provide an answer to the request for confirmation of receipt of the document.

Additional items

If you keep a correspondence book in the form of a traditional notebook or z.xls file, limit yourself to the mandatory points. However, if you use a solution specially created for this, you can also note:

parcel parameters
comments on the document or actions to be taken in the company in connection with their arrival
time for response and / or deadline for response
the date of the reply

Correspondence book keeping methods

We have the big three among the methods of keeping a correspondence book. We’ll briefly describe each method so you can choose the one that’s right for you. When making your selection, consider:

number of people with access to the correspondence book
the number of entries you make
the place where you would like to store the data

Paper book

Contrary to the inevitable digitization towards which we are all heading, there are still companies that use old school correspondence books like Cactus Ice Cream, Frugo Drink, and Donald Gum. This method will work under two conditions:

Your entries are limited to literally a few per month

and / or

you have a lot of room in the office for storing bloated correspondence logs and someone who can calmly wipe the dust off them.

Excel file

A slightly more modern method – such a fabia vintage 2019 in a rich version – like a new car, and somehow does not arouse widespread envy at Biedronka.

Of course, the Excel file dominates the paper correspondence book in many ways:

you can easily enter and edit the entry
you will quickly filter and find the appropriate results
you can easily format the data display to suit your preferences
you can easily back up your data
you can easily share data with other employees

The word “easy” is the key in this case. Besides, I do not believe that there is an assistant in the world (as well as an assistant) who do not know how to use Excel – even at a basic level.

Correspondence book management software

Just as secretaries are increasingly replaced by assistants, professional software designed specifically to manage correspondence degrades paper correspondence books and Excel sheets. It is not just about changing the medium or the method of data recording. It’s as if you were always eating sausages for dinner on a paper plate, and suddenly someone serves you pork tenderloin in mushroom sauce on an exceptionally elegant platter from Bolesławiec.

The greatest advantages of electronic correspondence books are the possibilities they give you:

you will quickly check the documentation

If you have abcKrespondence books, in the case of a new contractor, you will only enter their NIP number, and the address data will be obtained from the CEIDG / GUS database. In the case of contractors already entered into the database, it is enough to select them – you do not have to re-enter their data.

entries are always legible

Always, because no matter how many times you correct the entry and what is important, it keeps the history of changes.

you will quickly find the data you need

Using an intelligent search engine and / or filters.

not only can you easily edit the entry, you will also see when and who made changes
you will print envelopes and labels, thanks to which the correspondence you generate will become a showcase of your company
correspondence assignment will be extremely easy
you will add notes and attachments to the post
you will print the outgoing book
you can handle any number of numbering systems and you will not get lost in them, because the program will look after the numbers for you.

Most importantly – correspondence book software is more than a nice looking electronic notebook.

Each record entered into the database creates a relationship with another. Thanks to this, you have the ability to quickly prepare a variety of reports.

Adapting the software to the GDPR requirements

When managing correspondence in the company, remember to protect personal data. If you use a program that replaces the traditional correspondence book and .xls files, make sure you have the option to protect the data of your contractors. After all, in the correspondence books we often find more than the address data of a given institution … And the original letters also need to be stored somewhere.

Correspondence handling in the company is an important process that must be dealt with with the utmost care. Mistakes can really cost us a lot. Fortunately, they can be minimized by equipping employees with the right tools. To paraphrase the inscription I once saw on my friend’s T-shirt: “I am an assistant, what is your superpower?”