EMAIL CODIFICATION & FILLING SYSTEM

E-MAIL CODIFICATION & FILING SYSTEM - Module #2

14-11-97

To Alpha From: HCP 25/7/01

(The day we first launched our website)

Document Retrieval System

	IN-COMING	OUT-GOING
	Corporates	Executives
	Members	Non-Members
Suggestions	$\checkmark$
Instructions	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Resumes	$\checkmark$
Difficulties/Q.	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Request-Terms	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Request-Resumes	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Confirm-Terms	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Credit Advice (Cre. Note Fees)	$\checkmark$
Send Terms & Send Resumes	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Acknowledgements	$\checkmark$	$\checkmark$
Interest Letters	$\checkmark$
Invoices	$\checkmark$
Information (All letters)	$\checkmark$
Outline Statement	$\checkmark$
Interview Confirmation	$\checkmark$

 

Module #2

14-11-97

[Diagram with "E-MAIL" in the center, connected to four boxes:]

• MASTER FILE
• Chronological Date / Month / Year Wise SEARCH
• FOLLOW-UP FILE
• "Search" by "Person Responsible" e.g. HCP - NM - CMT - Ummila - Michelle - Kaushik etc.
• SUBJECT/TOPIC FILE
• SEARCH by Subject / Topic / File-name / Person-name (Cross-Reference)
• SOURCE/DESTINATION FILE
• SEARCH by (From) - Incoming (Source) OR (To) - Outgoing (Destination)

 

ESSENTIAL FEATURES/ATTRIBUTES of an E-MAIL FILING / STORAGE SYSTEM

"Access Control"	MENU DRIVEN	VOLUME OF TRANSACTIONS	AUTO-DELETION
Need-to-know basis	Drop-down lists of Subjects / Topics / Cross-Ref.	- High Volume (Medium)	Attaching a period (Say 3 mon / 6 mon / 12 mon / 2 yr / 5 yr) at the end of which file gets automatically deleted.
Password Control:		- Low (Slow moving)
		- No Volume (In-Active)
		- Moth-ball
		- Drop-Dead

 

would

• Type everything (never pass messages by phoning or handwriting)
• Make 4 copies of everything they type and mark to all-and-sundry (so that every Manager in every Organisation can demand a secretary)
• insist on a xerox machine so that they could make-out 4 copies of all incoming mail and mark to 4 other "secretaries" in the Organisation

OR

file

a) Original Copy in "Originals" file

b) Master-copy in "Master-File"

c) one copy in "follow-up" file

d) one copy in "Subject" file

• never destroy anything that is typed (even if they are unlikely to refer to that paper in the next 20 years!)

Sometimes I feel this entire "conspiracy" has been hatched by manufacturers of "filing-cabinets"!

Soon filing-cabinets would be made obsolete by manufacturers of

• MEMORY CABINETS (alias Electronic Filing Systems)

The Competition is to store "more and more" in "less and less".

A CD will store all the volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

• and before long, a thumb-nail size memory-chip (RAM) will store all the books of the British Library!

True, this will - and should - usher us into a "paper-less" office. We would have more space for people and less for papers.

But because

• Storing information will take less and less "space"

• and it will get faster and faster (& thru Scanners),

There is a real danger that people will store all kinds of information, including garbage / junk mail / everything!

Second danger is that if all of these gets stored / filed without a proper filing System, people will end up spending hours in front of a monitor-screen, trying to search / locate the

• "Needle in the haystack".

And if they ever succeed in locating the "Lost Empire", they would have, by then, forgotten why they were looking for it in the first-place!

I call this

THE 21$^{ST}$ CENTURY NIGHTMARE!

To escape this, a few simple rules must be observed, viz:

Before "scanning" any piece of paper into the computer memory, ask the questions

• Q-1: What would happen to me, if this info. was irretrievably lost? How much damage would it do to my business?
• Q-2: Would I be able to get this (retrieve this) from the Sender's computer-memory? How long will that take?
• Q-3: If I must store it in my own System's memory, will I be able to recall/retrieve it within a few seconds? (- in 21$^{st}$ Century, a few "minutes" would be an intolerably long period of time)
• Q-4: Can I tag to this piece of paper, a "DROP DEAD DATE" tag, so that system will automatically erase it from the memory on the stipulated date?

Whereas answers to Q.1 & Q.2 depends upon one's JUDGEMENT of

his situation/his business, the answers to Q.3 & Q.4 are entirely dependent upon our SYSTEM DESIGN!

And whereas judgement could vary from person-to-person and from time-to-time (even for the same person), the SYSTEM DESIGN is both

• Impersonal
• Invariable (with respect to time - unless intentionally altered)

And because of these attributes, we could make filing-system TRANSPARENT.

• It can be MENU-DRIVEN, so that even an uninitiated person can file/retrieve a paper.
• It should be CROSS-REFERENCED so that you don't have to REMEMBER how you have filed a paper (6 months ago) - when you are trying to retrieve it.

e.g.

• Date / chronology of filing
• Subject
• Sub-Subject
• Source & Destination
• Initiator / Signatory

• Letter or Report or Document or Agreement or Organisation Chart or Compensation Package

FILE RETRIEVAL MENU

Category / Subject	Related to	Nature
* Letter $\square$	* Candidates $\square$	* Sent by us $\square$
* Report $\square$	* Client $\square$	* Recd. by us $\square$
* Document $\square$	* Associate $\square$
* Agreement $\square$	* Consultant $\square$
* Offer $\square$	* Experts $\square$	Sent To: $\square$
* Terms $\square$	* Advisor $\square$	Name of Client
* Org. chart $\square$	* Suppliers $\square$	-----
* Comp. package $\square$	* Friends $\square$	Name of Candidate
* Appointment $\square$	* Colleague $\square$	-----
* Tabulation $\square$	* Competitor $\square$
* Summary $\square$	* "Reference" $\square$	Date
* Bio-data $\square$		year
* Regn. Form $\square$		Month

 

In my opinion, SEARCH - HIERARCHY should be:

① Nature

Sent by us / Recd. by us.

② Source / Destination

Sent to $\checkmark$ / Recd from $\checkmark$

	Nature
	Sent by us
Sent To	$\checkmark$
Recd from

'ANCHORS'

③ Supplementary Help

Date / Month / Year. (Not Mandatory - Very low weighting)

④ Related To

⑤ Category / Subject

Clicking the mouse on the Screen (or moving cursor) against each of these 5 Search Parameters, in the Sequence described above,

should enable us to QUICKLY zero-in on the desired document.

If there are more than one documents (at the end of trying out all 5 Search-parameters), then these should be arranged chronologically.

This would take a few additional seconds to locate the right paper.

Till such time ARDIS gets implemented, I suppose that coding (while scanning) each document is a UNAVOIDABLE necessity.

This System (of Search) would imply that each paper being scanned and "filed" in memory must be coded in the same manner - by clicking the mouse against appropriate items.

So the (paper being scanned) must appear on half-screen and the MENU should appear on the other half:

FILE RETRIEVAL MENU	Document
- Sent by
- Sent To
- Recd by
- Recd from
- Date/Month
- Related To
-----
- Category
-----

 

This will enable the person scanning to "codify" each paper properly. In doing so, in fact, he is applying the search-parameters / search-criteria "in reverse".

As a first-step, towards evolving such a system, we should go thru all of our manual files, look at all our papers and create MASTER-LISTS of

• Subjects / Sub-Subjects
• Relations (Related To)

This should take care of 95% of our business-needs. Since we will not be able to envisage the balance 5% (however hard we we may try), the System-Design would have to be flexible enough to add more,

• Subjects
• Relations

at later date.

If done with scientific-rigour, we should usher into a PAPER-LESS (not Paperless) OFFICE in Lok Bharati.

14/9/24

ELECTRONIC FILING

When we file (scan) a document/letter, following screen should appear:

3P E-FILE	Date: Automatic	Filed by: - - -
To be filed under	Description	Code
Main Topic / Subject:	- - - - - - /	- - - -
Sub-Topic:	- - - - - -	- - - -
Cross-Reference:	- - - - - -	- - - -

 

IMPORTANT EVENT / DATES /	EXPIRY / DELETION after	HARD-COPY DISPOSAL
To remind for follow-up every
2 wks $\square$	3 months $\square$	Preserve for Yrs
4 " $\square$	12 months $\square$	Then destroy Statutorily
8 " $\square$	2 years $\square$	Recd. For purge $\square$
12 " $\square$	5 years $\square$	Destroy NOW $\square$
		Destroy on $\rightarrow$

 

ACTION BY (Name)	Other Remarks
1.	Pl. attend to $\square$
2.	Pl. reply $\square$
3.	Pl. follow up $\square$
4.	Pl. visit / report $\square$
5.	Send offer $\square$
3 - I am taking Action

IN CASE OF A BIO-DATA: CODING DETAILS (To be done at a separate work-station based on Search-n-parameter check filled up by an Experts)

CODING DETAILS
1. Industry	- - - - - -
2. Function	- - - - - -
3. Level	- - - - - -
4. Location (existing) (Pref.)	- - - - - -
5. Edu. Qualif.	- - - - - -
6. Birth-Date	- - - - - -
7. Salary (Rs/yr)	- - - - - -

Send R/F $\square$

X-Convert & send To

EXPLANATIONS

"To be Filed under"

As mentioned earlier, we must prepare an exhaustive list of

• Main Topics
• Sub-Topics
• Cross-References

(Can we avoid giving code no? What about drop-down lists?)

and either give numeric code no. or Alphabetic code no. to each or to topics.

In future, everytime we want to search / find a filed document, all we have to do is to key-in the most likely TOPIC or Sub-Topic or Cross-Reference Topic (To eliminate by use of drop-down lists).

And the software should show us on the screen, in chronological order all documents filed under that code.

When we find the one which we are looking for, we just $\checkmark$ click the mouse and the document shall appear on the screen.

"ACCESS-LEVEL" will define who can access it. We may not want all documents to be seen by everyone.

Important Event / Dates

Once we say that the software shall remind us to follow-up every 4 weeks, the software shall ensure that, when we open, every morning,

"THE FOLLOW-UP SCREEN"

• this document will appear on the screen with the message
• "You wanted this followed up every 4 weeks".
• We should be able to change the interval.

EXPIRY / DELETION

Except for the message of Bhagvad-Gita, nothing in this world is immortal and everything else MUST die sometime or other.

This Screen enables us to choose that date, as far as this document is concerned. It is based on our judgement of

• "How long will this document continue to remain useful to me in conducting my business?"

We can have 2 periods, one for deletion and other for expiry (total extinction).

HARD-COPY DISPOSAL

These instructions will appear on the screen of the filing-clerk. Accordingly he shall destroy or preserve the original hard-copy for a given period.

Every day, he shall see on his screen a message

"Hard Copies of following documents are to be destroyed TO-DAY & confirmation (that you have done so) to be entered on this screen"

Document Details	Action Taken	Hard-copy lying in
1.		- - - - - -
2.		- - - - - -
3.		- - - - - -

• Income Tax / S. Tax related documents / Original Purchase Orders recd by us etc. need to be preserved for 7 / 15 years (ask Solid).
• Especially those where COURTS insist on originals - only.

ACTION-BY

All incoming-messages

• either need to be stored in memory for future recall
• OR
• they are telling us that the sender wants us to DO something (action)

Once the reader has reached a conclusion as to

• WHAT needs to be done
• WHO should do it,

he shall enter this part of the screen. Over the internal E: MAIL, this will get automatically transferred to the E: MAIL BOX of the chosen executive.

On his screen, everyday, as he opens the MAIL BOX, a message will appear

"Mr. - - - -

Pl. study following documents and take appropriate action."

Document	Action to be Taken	Confirmation of Action Taken
1.
2.
3.

 

By "reversing" the FOLLOW-UP screen, NHH / VHP / HCP should be able to see the ACTION-BY SCREEN of each executive (to whom action was assigned) and look at the last column viz

"Confirmation of Action Taken".

This becomes an "Internal follow-up" to ensure that nothing remains pending beyond 1 / 2 days.

If something has remained "unacted" for long, NHH / VHP can talk over the phone with the concerned executive and expedite.

Such ACTION-BY SCREEN need not be confined only to "EXTERNAL MESSAGES / COMMUNICATIONS RECD".

It could / should equally apply to "INTERNAL MESSAGES" from VHP / NHH / HCP to various executives.

*In this case, steno-secretary or even VHP / NHH / HCP can type-out the message on the screen itself. NO hardcopy.

*Electronically, the message shall get lumped in relevant MAIL BOX - however follow up format should remain same.

---

📄 Scan_0019.jpg

BIO-DATAS

Major part of our SCANNING will be bio-datas - may be 95% of the total load.

Perhaps for this application (as distinct from incoming correspondence), we need to create a separate SCREEN.

This is because, in case of a bio-data, following screens are irrelevant:

1. To be Filed Under.
2. Code
3. Access Level.
4. Reminder Interval.
5. Expiry / Deletion.
6. Hardcopy disposal (we want to destroy all and now).
7. Action By. etc. etc.

So only the bottom-part plus few other things may be relevant, e.g.

	To steno-secretary.
1. Call to meet me. $\square$
2. Take dictation. $\square$
3. Let me talk to him on phone. $\square$
4. He may be suitable for pending ESR Nos / client.	To Mktg. Manager.
a - - - - -
b - - - - -
c - - - - -

 

16/3/90

3-P Consultants

FILING SYSTEM.

$\checkmark$ 1. Correspondence

Alphabetical - Client Company wise.

$\checkmark$ 2. Correspondence

Applicants / candidates.

Alphabetical by Surname.

$\checkmark$ 3. Correspondence

Trade / Industry Associations

Chambers of Commerce

Management Associations

$\checkmark$ 4. Correspondence

Trade Unions / Union - Leaders.

$\checkmark$ 5. Correspondence

Govt / Semi-Govt Agencies

e.g. Ministry of Labour / HRD

NPC / BPC.

MOPEC.

$\checkmark$ 6. Correspondence

Consultants / Firms.

$\checkmark$ 7. Master-File (Bills/Invoices Received for payment)

$\checkmark$ 8. Master-File

Bills/Invoices raised on clients

$\checkmark$ 9. Customer-Outstanding

Bills/Invoices raised on clients but arranged alphabetically - client company-wise.

$\checkmark$ 10. "Quotations / Offers-Made" file

a. Serially (Master-File) chronologically (date-wise)

b. Customer-wise (alphabetically).

$\checkmark$ 11. "Customer-Advances" Received

$\checkmark$ 12. "Customer-Orders" Received

$\checkmark$ 13. Income-Tax Matters

a) Correspondence

b) Quarterly / Annual Returns

c) Advanced Tax Payments.

$\checkmark$ 14. Assets Register

• Fixed assets / Value / Pur. date
• Depreciated value.

$\checkmark$ 15. Expense-Voucher File

• Rent / Salaries / Phone-bills / Other-bills
• Petty expenses

3P FILING SYSTEM

4-7-93.

MFG/PRODUCTION RELATED	Marketing Related	Finance/A/C Related	Personnel Related	"Associates" Related
- Mailing Lists	- ESR forms	- Expense Vouchers	- Attendance Register	- Correspondence
- Membership Lists	- Client Corresp.	- Ledgers	- Appt. Letters	- Tax matters (I-Tax, S. Tax)
- College - Profrs	- Client Org charts	- Bills (Suppliers)	- D-time
- Bio-datas	- Client Comp. $\eta$	- Appt. Letters
- Regn. Forms	- (Invoice files) $\rightarrow$
- Org. change updates
- Candidate correspondence.
- Printed Mailers
- - -

 

WHY ELECTRONIC FILING?

20/4/94

[Bar Chart with X-axis 'Year' (1994 $\rightarrow$ 2004) and Y-axis 'VOLUME' (50% $\rightarrow$ 100%)]

1994:

• $\sim$100% Volume: Bio-datas / Regn-Forms
• Client correspondence ($\sim$0%)
• Candidate correspondence ($\sim$0%)
• Misc Corresp. ($\sim$0%)

2004:

• $\sim$50% Volume: Bio-datas / Regn-Forms
• $\sim$50% Volume: Client correspondence
• $\sim$20% Volume: Candidate correspondence
• $\sim$10% Volume: Misc Corresp.

Question may arise,

Why do we need an elaborate system of hundreds of

• Subjects / Topics
• Sub-Topics
• Cross References

If 90% of our current INCOMING mail comprise of Bio-datas and Regn-Forms? These are Simply to be filed as such - Bio-datas & Regn-forms.

Of course, before filing (electronically), these will be given PEN (Perm. Exec. No.) & coded for INDUSTRY / FUNCTION / DESIGNATION / EDU / LOCATION. (COMPANY?)

Subsequent SEARCH (at any time) is a SIMPLE matter of remembering - and keying-in

either

• Surname / Name / Initials (easiest way)

OR

• Name of Company where working
• CIf that is how you remember)
• Computer will show on screen, alphabetically all executives who have registered with us from that co.

This is "recall" by "association". Associating person with the Company.

OR

• Name of the City (Location) where working.
• This will work well only in case of small towns from each of which a few dozen persons have registered with us.

The ANSWER IS:

• With passage of time, the ratio of incoming mail will change (see diagram). PERCENTAGE wise, bio-datas will decline, although volume-wise, there will be a huge increase.

• % age of "Correspondence" will go up - especially the "MISC" type - maybe from current 1% to 10% (in 10 years).
• And within this, there will be a wide VARIETY (subject-wise)
• From simply "people-related businesses (recruitment), we will move into
• productivity &
• profitability related businesses / consultancies.

This will again call for a wide variety of Subjects / topics.

If left to themselves to devise their own/independent manual filing systems, different departments of the company will evolve widely DIFFERING & UNWIELDY systems and each dept will spend hundreds of hours

• retrieving information (since person who filed a piece of paper is absent or has short-memory)
• keeping Systems up-to-date
• destroying unwanted papers (or ending up with miles of filing-shelves).

So, whereas it may appear that we DO NOT NEED an electronic filing system RIGHT NOW, it is fairly obvious that the more we delay its introduction, the more difficult and complicated and time-consuming it will become to introduce it with each passing week/month.

Ultimately a time may come when the sheer ENORMITY of the task of converting (from manual to electronic filing) would make our hearts sink and force us into continuing with the INEFFICIENT / MANPOWER INTENSIVE system.

This is WHY we must develop an elaborate System NOW when our volumes are still very small. We must get our young Organisation to do things THE 21$^{ST}$ CENTURY WAY, even before the arrival of 2000 AD! We must all get used to electronic filing right from the beginning before BAD HABITS take roots in the Organisation!

Of course, System should be designed so as to be flexible and permit adding / expanding (Subjects / cross-references) as the business grows.

20/4/94

Yogesh

Cyril

13-08-98

Software Development Schedule

I refer to our meeting on 11$^{th}$ inst. when we jointly prepared a time-frame for development of all the 5 Modules which were covered in the diagram accompanying your typed note of 28-4-98.

While preparing this schedule, we have provided sufficient "slack", so it should be possible to "advance" the completion dates if we hold regular review-meetings every Saturday morning. Unless we monitor the progress regularly - and solve unanticipated problems as we go along - we are in the danger of repeating the history!

To minimise unanticipated problems/issues (we can never totally eliminate these), I strongly urge you to send me, for each module, a typed SYSTEM DESIGN DOCUMENT at least 2 weeks before you start writing the code.

Your note of 28-4-98 was one such paper as far as Module #1 is concerned. This enabled me to make some remarks on that note itself $\&$ prepare my handwritten note of

30/4/98. We could also convene a meeting of all consultants to discuss your note & get their feedback.

If we do not prepare such a document in advance (incorporating tentative OUTPUT screens/statements), we cannot ask the users

"Is this what you have in mind? Is this what you want? Have we understood your needs/requirements fairly correctly?"

And then it would appear that the users are:

• changing their minds
• changing "system-specifications"
• constantly asking for "changes"

It is for this reason that in my note dated 4/8/98, I have elaborately listed all the files/folders which you should very carefully read. This list is prepared Module-wise.

Only such a careful reading will enable you to

• understand our "requirements"
• prepare the SYSTEM DESIGN DOCUMENT

At the same time, please remember that

Some of these notes were prepared as far back as 6 / 8 years ago! As such it is obvious that these notes may not reflect

• the vastly changed business scenario
• the availability of HW/SW technologies of today (e.g. the internet)
• the emerging technologies of tomorrow (e.g. multi-media, video-conferencing etc.).
• Voice-Recognition

·         I have tried to cover some of these in my note on "MASTER PLAN OF BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING" dt. 11-8-98.

·         Business-processes will have to keep-on changing all-the-time. Either we overtake the competition OR the competition overtakes us! Our attitude cannot be "we are victims of change". That would be a negative attitude. In every change, we should be able to see an "opportunity" to overtake the competition.

·         Cyril mentioned that he plans to start working on MODULE #2 from 1$^{ST}$ SEPT.

·         May I, therefore, request you to rush to me the SYSTEM DESIGN DOCUMENT for Module #2 latest by 22$^{nd}$ of this month? Enclosed find, most (but not the all) of the notes that you might need to prepare this document.

·         Regards H.C. Parekh