Business Documents and File Management

Posted on Oct 16, 2024 in Computers

Types of Business Documents

Sales/Purchase Documents

  • Offer
  • Order
  • Contract
  • Statement
  • Bill of Lading
  • Invoice
  • Proforma Invoice
  • Receipt
  • Bills
  • Notes
  • Check

General Documents

  • Internal Communications
  • Reports
  • Minutes
  • Announcements
  • Memos
  • Resource Instance
  • Officiates
  • Affidavit
  • Certificate

Internal Communications

Notices and internal communications share common characteristics:

  • Short and informal
  • No specific protocol
  • Dated and signed

Reports

Generally prepared by specialists in a third-person, impersonal style, using specialized language (sometimes scientific), narrating events chronologically.

Reports contain information to aid decision-making, assist management, and must meet two requirements: objectivity and confidentiality.

Classification of Reports

  • Content: Personal, Commercial
  • Scope: Internal (own personnel), External (by an outsider)
  • Degree of Involvement: Expository, Evaluative (Interpretive)
  • Method: Report (pure), Letter-report

Required elements: Title, introduction, exposition, conclusion, date, signature, attachments (if any).

Meetings

A call for people to gather, containing the agenda or matters to be discussed in a programmed sequence.

Content: Convener data, document date, meeting date, time, and place, issues to be addressed, details of proposals.

Most meeting calls include:

  • Reading and approval of previous meeting minutes
  • Preparation of current meeting minutes
  • Question and answer session

Minutes

A written record of what transpired in a meeting, detailing the agreements reached.

Content: Meeting details (place, date, time, duration, etc.), participant identities, issues discussed, decisions made, discussion outcomes, floor interventions, signatures.

Memos

An extensive document, a special kind of report to account for certain activities or results.

Some reports are included in annual accounts and those related to shareholder meetings.

Formal Communications

Features

  • Governed by protocol (substance and form)
  • Formal language
  • Use of formal address
  • Impersonal tone

Class

  • Individual to Administration: Resource Instance
  • Administration to Individual: Office
  • Administration to Administration: Office
  • Proof of Fact/Circumstance: Certified Statement

Resource Instance Structure

  • Heading: Applicant data
  • Body: Arguments, Application
  • Closing: Location, date, applicant signature, addressee

Appeal Structure

  • Header: Appeal expression, applicant data
  • Body: Appeal statement, arguments, request
  • Closing: Location, date, appellant signature, recipient

Declaration Structure

  • Header: Declaration expression, reporting data
  • Body: Sworn or stated fact
  • Closing: Location, date, respondent signature

Office Structure

  • Header: Issuing authority data, identification code, reference, file, etc.
  • Body: Communication content
  • Closing: Location, date, signature (responsible person), recipient

Certificate Structure

  • Header: Issuer details, individual’s data, certification expression
  • Body: Certified facts or circumstances
  • Closing: Location, date, signature, approval signature

Commercial Correspondence

Voluminous, ongoing, involves many tasks, time-consuming, and requires physical space.

Requires handling incoming and outgoing mail, archiving, and preservation.

Mail

Public service, universal postal service.

The law of the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Data Protection

Special Rights Regarding Personal Information

  • Collected only when necessary
  • Interested parties should be informed
  • Not used for other purposes
  • Retained according to rules
  • Canceled when no longer needed
  • Responsible party ensures proper conservation and use
  • Accessible by authorized persons
  • Right to access, rectification, opposition, and cancellation guaranteed
  • Requires consent of affected party
  • Cannot be used for unsolicited communications

Regulated by Data Protection Act (Law 15/199)

File Management

What is a file?

A physically ordered set of documents.

Why do files exist?

By law and for the company’s own interests. The file is the company’s memory.

File Functions

  • Save, preserve, and safeguard documentation
  • Facilitate quick and efficient document retrieval
  • Establish an information center
  • Comply with laws

Guidelines for Organizing Files

  • Customized organization
  • Planning and method
  • Adequacy and effectiveness
  • Transparency with stakeholders
  • Simultaneous organization with documentation creation
  • Consistency

Types of Files

Centralization
  • Centralized
  • Decentralized
  • Mixed
Frequency of Use
  • Active
  • Semi-active
  • Inactive

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