Perform office procedures

1
Chapter 3

• Perform office procedures

2
Learning Outcomes

• Process a range of office documents.
• Draft written communication.
• Maintain correct storage and filing systems.

3
What are clerical and administrative tasks?

• Those parts of the job that require us to process
  a range of office documents and maintain document
  filing systems.

4
Documents used in the back office

• Reservation slips/ amendment forms/cancellation
  forms.
• Group reservation forms.
• Guest profiles.
• Telephone message pads.

5
Documents used in the back office

• Operational reports.
• Policies and procedures.
• Guest correspondence.
• Memorandums.
• Agendas and minutes.
• Guest registration forms.

6
Documents used in the front office

• Guest accounts, guest profiles, guest request
  sheets.
• Source documents.
• Front office diary and daily running sheets.
• Wake up call sheets.
• Operational reports.
• Policies and procedures.

7
Documents used in the front office

• Agendas and minutes.
• Guest correspondence.
• Memorandums.
• Vouchers.
• Telephone message pads.

8
Documents used by concierge

• Guest request sheets.
• Wake up call sheets.
• Luggage storage sheets.
• Car key reports.
• Operational reports.

9
Documents used by concierge

• Policies and procedures.
• Agendas and minutes.
• Memorandums.
• Telephone message pads and guest mail.

10
Documents used by Housekeeping

• Room status reports.
• Lost and found records.
• Room allocation sheets.
• Policies and procedures.

11
Documents used by Housekeeping

• Agenda and minutes.
• Memorandums.
• Operational reports.
• Guest request sheets.

12
Internal use documents

• Internal use documents are those documents used
  only within the venue. E.g.
• Memos
• Operational reports
• Reservation slips
• Registration forms
• Guest request slips
• Minutes and agendas.

13
External Use documents

• External use documents are those documents that
  are coming into or being sent out of the venue.
  E.g.
• Guest correspondence
• Confirmation slips
• Vouchers.

14
Office equipment used in accommodation venues

• A range of office equipment is required to help
  us do our job, including
• Switch board
• Facsimile machine
• Photocopier
• Computers
• Printers
• Filing cabinets
• Paging system
• Sundry stationery items.

15
Use equipment safely

• Equipment can represent safety hazards. We are
  responsible for using equipment safely.
• If equipment represents a safety hazard beyond
  our control, report it to a supervisor.
• Dont use equipment that may cause you or others
  harm.

16
Manage malfunctions

• Anything that can go wrong with equipment is
  likely to at some stage of the equipments useful
  life. If the equipment does malfunction
• Stop using it
• Place an out of order sign on it
• Report the problem.

17
What is meant by process documents?

• To process a document means we may need to
• Create
• Collate
• Modify
• Save
• Store
• Bind
• Retrieve and/or
• Distribute each document we handle.

18
What is correspondence?

• Correspondence refers to any written
  communication between the venue and external
  entities.
• It may also be written communication between the
  venue and employees (letters of appointment,
  newsletters, etc.).

19
Letterhead

• Business correspondence is usually written on
  business letterhead.
• Letterhead is pre-printed stationery with the
  companys name, logo and address details.

20
Business letter layout

• There is general uniformity in the way in which
  business letters are formatted (on the page).

21
Business letter layout
22
What is a standard letter?

• A a pre-formatted letter that contains
  essentially the same information.
• To personalise a standard letter, we add the
  addressees personal details, the date and any
  information specific to the addressee.

23
What is a template?

• A blueprint for text, graphics or letter layout,
  or a combination of all three.
• Templates are frequently used for standard letter
  creation and letters that contain essentially the
  same elements.

24
What is mail merge and when is it used?

• Mail merge is a word processing function that
  allows us to merge several guests personal
  details (from a database) with a standard letter.
• The guests personal details are first stored in a
  database in a standardised manner.

25
Writing memorandums

• Memorandums, or memos, are written when we need
  to communicate the same information to several
  people, usually at once.

26
Writing memorandums

• Memos are usually written following a standard
  layout, from a template and include
• Name of the person or people the memo is for
• Who the memo is from
• Date
• The memo subject
• Body of the memo.

27
Writing Reports

• Reports are written to explain an incident or
  event (that is unusual).
• Some reports have standardised proformas.
• Other reports need to be generated on a needs
  basis.

28
Writing faxes

• Facsimiles, or faxes, are usually written in a
  standardised way, on company letterhead and from
  a template. They usually contain
• Name of the person or company receiving the fax
  (or both)
• Fax number of the company receiving the fax
• Date
• Number of pages being faxed
• Name of person sending the fax
• Body of the fax.

29
Writing guest messages

• Apart from telephone messages, which are usually
  hand-written, guest messages are usually typed,
  following a standard format, on business
  letterhead and from a template.

30
Rules of good writing

• Because we need to regularly write documents, it
  is useful to be able to do so, quickly,
  efficiently and in a style appropriate to the
  venue.

31
Rules of good writing

• Therefore when writing
• Keep it simple and use simple words
• Avoid jargon or slang
• Keep the tone appropriate to the expected outcome.

32
Rules of good writing

• Be accurate and clear (logical)
• Check spelling and grammar
• Check sentence structure
• Proofread the document.

33
Proofreading documents

• Proofreading means reading a document looking
  for errors and correcting them.
• It is considered unprofessional to send
  correspondence with spelling and grammatical
  errors.

34
What is filing?

• Filing is the process of arranging and storing
  documents according to a particular
  classification.

35
Active or inactive document

• Documents are filed according to their current
  status active or inactive
• An active document is one that is in current use.
• An inactive document is one that is not in
  current use.

36
Filing methods

• To facilitate filing (and retrieval) of
  documents, there are a number of methods filing
  used
• Alphabetically
• Numerically
• Geographically
• By subject
• Chronologically.

37
Alphabetical filing

• Documents are filed according to the first and
  subsequent letter of the receivers or senders
  name, or according to type of document. E.g.
• Smith, Mr
• Policies
• Memos.

38
Numerical filing

• These documents are filed according to a number
  or other numerical identifier. E.g.
• Room number
• Invoice number
• Employee number.

39
Geographical filing

• These documents are filed according to region or
  location or other geographical identifier. E.g.
• By country
• State
• Town
• Region.

40
Subject filing

• These documents are filed according to their
  subject matter. E.g.
• Enquiries
• Rates
• Menus
• Complaints
• Capital purchases
• Training.

41
Chronological Filing

• These documents are filed according to date or
  time order. E.g.
• Arrival date
• Time of event.

42
Why prepare files before filing?

• Before filing any (manual) documents it is useful
  to first prepare them so that
• All relevant documents are filed together
• The quality of the paperwork is maintained
• Files are cross-referenced when needed
• Files are coded when needed
• Files are correctly sorted to assist the filing
  process.

43
What is electronic filing?

• Electronic filing refers to the filing of
  documents electronically. That is, on a computer
  and/or computer disk. The advantages of
  electronic filing are
• Reduced filing space
• Reduced filing time
• Easy access and document modification
• Document changes readily traced.

44
What is record maintenance?

• Record maintenance refers to upkeep and updating
  of files. This may be necessary when
• A guests personal details change
• A guest departs the venue (update the guest
  profile)
• When a guest changes reservation details.

45
What is record utilisation and transmission?

• Record utilisation is the removal of a document
  from a file to enable use of that document (e.g.
  may need to change details in a file).
• Record transmission refers to the movement of a
  document from one location to another (usually
  for use and then returned).

46
What is archiving?

• Archiving is the practice of removing an active
  file from every day use and storing it in another
  location.