Registry Procedures Manual PDF

# Registry Procedures Manual ## Foreword to the 2001 Edition of the Registry Procedures Manual - Today, we live in an information era where information is a key resource in all places, from homes to work places. - It is estimated that 80% of office employees are information handlers. - Efficient an...

# Registry Procedures Manual ## Foreword to the 2001 Edition of the Registry Procedures Manual - Today, we live in an information era where information is a key resource in all places, from homes to work places. - It is estimated that 80% of office employees are information handlers. - Efficient and effective management of information underpins all areas of government. - Documentary evidence provides the framework for accountability, which is the cornerstone of good governance. - The Government of Tanzania has embarked on reforming its public service and seeks to improve the management of records through the Public Service. - Records Management is becoming an important instrument of management of change upon which principles and practices of modern management depend. - The success depends on the extent to which information and records are organized, stored and managed throughout their life cycle. - The Government of Tanzania initiated the Records Management Project in 1997. - One of the tangible successes of the project was the production of a Registry Procedures Manual. - This manual has been developed in the wake of mapping current and emerging best practices and the introduction of a "Keyword" System where file headings reflect functions instead of hierarchical system in which file headings reflect themes. - This manual supersedes the Standard Registry Procedures of 1984. - In conjunction with desk instructions for registry staff, this manual should ensure consistency of practice and sustainability of system's improvements. - With a shared commitment to our common goal of an efficient and accountable government, we look forward to a strong relationship that benefits all citizens of Tanzania. - Jeph A. M. Rugumyamheto PERMANENT SECRETARY (ESTABLISHMENT) ## Section 1: Introduction ### 1.1 The Need for Sound Registry Procedures - No government could survive without written records. - Without them, all organized administration would quickly come to a halt. - Responsibility for the proper management of records rests primarily with the Records and Archives Management Division (RAMD), working closely with its clients, the users of the records. - The effectiveness of this partnership depends upon the degree of understanding and co-operation between them. ### 1.2 The Functions of Registry The essential functions of a Registry are to: - Receive, record and distribute incoming and internally created mail of all kinds (letters, memoranda, faxes). - Attach relevant reference papers and pass the correspondence to officers. - Open, index, build up and control the files upon which users depend for information about the conduct of government business. - Know the location of all officially registered files and be able to produce them quickly by means of effective indexing, classification and tracing procedures. - Provide storage, repository and reference services for all officially registered files and other documentation in their care. - Record and arrange for the efficient and timely despatch of all correspondence produced by the officers they serve. - Review and dispose of all outdated files or other records in accordance with retention periods as agreed between Records and Archives Management Division (RAMD), the ministry or department concerned and other relevant officials. ### 1.3 Management Responsibilities for Registries - Responsibility for the management of Registries is shared between the President's Office-Public Service Management (PSM) and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS). - PO-PO-PSM is responsible for all professional and technical matters relating to the delivery of effective and efficient Registry services. - Ministries are responsible for all matters regarding the welfare, discipline and non-specialist training of Registry staff. - The separate responsibilities of these two management chains must be closely co-ordinated. - The Public Service Management is responsible for developing Registry policy and for introducing it in consultation with senior management in each of the Ministries and departments served. This technical and professional management responsibility includes: - Ensuring, in consultation with managers responsible for Registry staffing, that all Registry staff are adequately trained in the full range of Registry duties. - Ensuring, also in consultation with line managers, that all Registries are fully staffed by suitable staff to approved complement levels. - Giving advice and direction to all Registry staff on their duties, disciplinary matters will be referred to line managers. - Making regular inspections of Registry services and making reports to local line managements. - Providing a source of advice and guidance on all aspects of the management of current records to Registry staff and Registry users. - Ministries are responsible to the Director of Records and Archives Management Division for the following aspects of the management of their individual Registries: - Co-operating in providing all necessary technical and professional training for Registry staff. - Monitoring the good discipline and standards of attendance by Registry staff and ensuring that absences are fully covered by suitable substitutes. - Making provision for the welfare, career development and annual leave arrangements for all Registry staff. - Dealing with all non-specialist general administrative matters pertaining to Registries. - The head of the Registry has immediate responsibility for day-to-day control of the Registry. - He/she must manage the staff, monitor and control the workflow and Registry systems to ensure an efficient service. - He/she reports to the line manager responsible for the Registry on the performance of the Registry and on any problems where support is required. - He/she liaises with DRAM through Director Administration and Personnel (DAP) of the responsible ministry on any technical records management or procedural matters. ### 1.4 Responsibilities of Registry Staff Towards Users - Registries exist in order to provide a service to the officers who need to use the records. - Users are always shown the maximum possible courtesy and co-operation. - Efficient Registry staff will take every opportunity to learn the particular needs and requirements of their agency. - The Registry staff will react promptly to complaints by users. - Suggestions for improvements from users are warmly received and actively encouraged and are implemented wherever possible. ### 1.5 Responsibilities of Users. - Well-run Registries depend upon an active partnership between Registry staff and users. - Registry staffs rely upon users to: - Deal with files promptly and return them to the Registry when they are no longer required. - Use the Bring-Up system when action on a file needs to be temporarily suspended. - Keep files free of unnecessary material such as duplicates, drafts etc. - Include the relevant file and letter reference on all outgoing correspondence. - Give clear guidance on how they wish their mail to be indexed. - Provide the Registry with a completed file movement slip whenever they pass a file to another officer or elsewhere other than the Registry. - Co-operate fully with all necessary record checks, including censuses and searches conducted by Registry staff. ### 1.6 The Registry and the Life Cycle of Records. - Registries are, for the most part, concerned with files, which are in active use. - Files usually go through a number of phases between their creation and their eventual destruction, or their transfer to the Records Centre or Archives Section of RAMD. - The life cycle approach to records management is based on the idea that each file may be regarded as having a 'life', beginning with its creation (or "birth') and ending with its destruction (or 'death'). - The relatively small number of files that are permanently retained in RAMD may be regarded as having achieved a kind of 'immortality'. - Registries are concerned with files in the earlier 'operational' phases of their lives during which the files are used for the purposes for which they were created. - It is important however that Registries know not only how and when to pass files on to subsequent stages of their life cycle but that they understand the significance of those stages. - The RAMD manages all phases of the life cycle in order to ensure that Tanzania's information requirements are met efficiently. - In addition to its responsibilities for Registries, it manages the Interim Records Store and the Archives Section. - Records Centre provide a central storage and retrieval service for semi-current records. - These are records which are no longer needed for day-to-day use, but which must be kept because they are used occasionally or because they have legal and financial value. - These records are not available to the public, nor are they available to ministries or departments other than the ones that created them. - Records Centre are a vital link between the Registries and the Archives Section. - By making regular use of the Tanzania Interim Records Store or their own Ministry's semi-current storage location, Registry staff will be able to provide a valuable service to users. - This will also achieve improvements in their own working conditions, as they will keep the Registries clear of files which are not needed for current work. - The role of a Records Centre is described in greater detail in section 10. - The Archives Section of RAMD preserves records which are of permanent historical value to the nation. - Once these records become 30 years old they are normally open to the public for purposes of research. ## Section 2: Incoming Correspondence ### 2.1 Types of Correspondence - Registry staff must deal promptly and accurately with different kinds of correspondence. - Incoming correspondence may reach the Registry in a number of ways - by mail, by hand, and by fax. - There will also be differences in the way in which items are addressed. - Some will be addressed to the Ministry or department, some to individuals either by name or by title of office. - Other items may be either inadequately or illegibly addressed. - Some items will bear security or privacy markings, such as 'Confidential or 'Personal. - Some mail may contain cheques, money or other valuable items, which will need to be carefully recorded and accounted for in the Registry. ### 2.2 Opening Mail - All mail received in the Registry must be opened as soon as it is received by a designated officer (normally the head of the Registry) in the presence of another officer. - This protects the officers involved against accusations in the event of correspondence, or valuable or important enclosures, going astray. - If there is only one officer in a Registry, arrangements must be made for an officer from elsewhere to be present when the mail is opened. - How the mail is opened is important. Envelopes are slit across the top. - Wherever possible, envelopes are saved for re-use. - Care must be taken to ensure the contents of letters are not damaged when the envelopes are slit. - During the opening and date-stamping of the mail, all letters should be kept in a box file or other suitable container. - Many enclosures are received loose from their covering documents. - It is vital to attach such enclosures, but in so doing care must be taken not to damage cheques, certificates or similar items. - In any event, all attachments must be noted on the covering document. - This is particularly important when the enclosures are valuable or are personal paper. - Certificates, deeds and other legal documents require special care. - It is useful, if possible, to place such documents in separate envelopes, noting the contents and the number of the file on the outside. - These are recorded in a valuables register (sec Section 2.4), stored in a safe place and cross-referenced on the file. ### 2.3 Incoming Correspondence Register (Fig. 1) and 'Mail Box' - After the mail has been opened and all enclosures accounted for, each letter must be registered in the Incoming Correspondence Register. - All columns of the register must always be completed. - The details to be entered initially are: - (1) Date the letter was received: - (2) Date on letter: - (3) From whom the letter was received: - (4) Reference on letter, - (5) Subject of the letter. - Incoming mail is placed in a 'mail box' or folder for preview by a senior officer in the ministry, usually the Principal Secretary or Director of Administration and Personnel. - The number of letters sent for preview is marked on the cover of the file. - Where there is more than one preview of mail each day, correspondence delivered after the mail box has been dispatched should be held over and included in the subsequent batch, except for any that are marked 'urgent' which must be delivered immediately. - In Registries receiving mail once a day only, it may still be necessary to have a second preview to deal with letters delivered by hand from other ministries or departments or from elsewhere. - When the mail box is returned to the Registry the documents are immediately placed on the appropriate files. - If an appropriate file does not already exist, a new file must be opened. - The procedures for opening new files are described in Section 4. - Before the files are passed to the nominated officers (either direct to the appropriate action officer, or to a senior member of staff for distribution to action officers), a member of the Registry staff will note on the relevant file transit sheet (see Section 6.2) the name of the officer and the date of transit. - At this time the following information will be recorded in the Incoming Correspondence Register: - (6) Reference number of the file on which the letter was placed, and - (7) Date the letter was filed and passed to the officer responsible, and initials of the officer's post. - The files must be passed to the relevant officers without delay. ### 2.4 Mail Containing Valuables - Letters containing, or likely to contain, cheques, money orders or other valuable items must be carefully safeguarded from the time they are received. - Mail must always be opened promptly, wherever possible by officers working under direct supervision or in pairs. - These pairs should be changed frequently. - A written record of all cheques and money orders received each day must be prepared (in addition to the Incoming Correspondence Register) and signed by the post opener(s) (see Figure 2). - The following information is recorded in the Valuables Register by Registry staff: - (1) Date received: - (2) From whom; - (3) To whom; - (4) Whether by registered mail or by despatch, with register number where appropriate; - (5) Amount: - (6) Cheque or money order number; - (7) Signature of receiving officer; and - (8) Signature of Accounts Section officer. - Each sheet of the register must be serially numbered. - Cash received is counted and noted in the register as well as on the accompanying document by the post-opener and a supervising officer. - Any uncrossed cheques/postal orders are crossed. - Erasure and pencil entries must not be made in the register. - A wrong entry may only be cancelled by ruling it through and correcting it with a new entry that leaves the original entry legible. - The post-opener and the supervising officer must initial all such alterations jointly. - The completed Valuables Register together with the cheques, money orders and other monetary items are taken to the Accounts Section where they are signed for in the final column (8) of the Register by an officer of the Accounts Section. - The Accounts Section is responsible for examining cheques and money orders to ensure that: - The amount agrees with that on the remittance advice slip or other accompanying document. - The amounts in words and figures agree. - They are correctly completed as to date and payee, and - They are signed (excluding postal and payable orders). - If the purpose for which a remittance was sent cannot be identified, it is included other valuable items. - Action will be taken by the Accounts Section to obtain the necessary information. - In cases in which money apparently has been omitted or differs in amount from that stated on documents received by post, a note must be made on the document jointly by the post-opener and the supervising officer. - The Accounts Section will need to advise the sender that the item has been omitted or the wrong payment has been received. - The remittance may be banked in the meantime. ### 2.5 Faxes and Electronic Mail (E-Mail) - An increasing quantity of mail is received by fax. - Care should be taken to ensure that faxes received concern genuine office business. - There is a growing tendency for routine non-urgent correspondence to be sent by fax. - The unnecessary use of fax should be discouraged. - Faxed material tends to fade if printed on thermal paper. - Once it has been established that a fax concerns urgent official business, the fax should be photocopied and the copy placed in the mail box or on the appropriate file as necessary. - The fax, as received, should then be placed on a fax file. - All incoming faxes on the fax file should be destroyed after six months as a matter of routine. - If the original of the document faxed is received at a later date in the Registry, it should be filed on the appropriate file. - Both the photocopy of the fax and the original document should be retained on the file. - The reason for this is that the photocopy may have had comments written on it by action officers. - More communications will be received by electronic mail, or e-mail, on computers used by action officers. - The use of computers is becoming more widespread and as more computers are networked or linked to the Internet, so e-mail communications will become more common. - E-mail, which is sent or received on a government computer, is an official public record just like paper correspondence and must be managed as such. - The first step to managing electronic mail is to ensure that action officers create electronic folders on their e-mail system. - Creating separate folders which relate to different subjects, and share the same key words as the paper files, allows for linkages between the paper and electronic records and will promote efficient retrieval of messages. - However, e-mail can accumulate rapidly, and it is essential that unimportant messages be removed from the system as soon as possible. - Ephemeral messages such as, general information notices, invitations to events, reminders and personal messages can be deleted as soon as they have been read and are no longer required. - The action officer who sends messages as part of his/her functional responsibility should maintain an electronic copy for at least one month after sending the message, and should also print a copy and file it on the appropriate file. - For example if the public relations officer issues an e-mail invitation to an awards ceremony a copy of the invitation should be printed and placed on file and the electronic copy should be retained in the appropriate electronic folder for a month after the event occurs. - Recipients of this message can delete it once they have noted the particulars in their calendar. - Action officers who receive e-mail will have to determine if the message is directly related to their work and if so to then print a copy and file it on the appropriate file. - A good guideline to printing e-mails is whether or not any action is required, or am regular activity is affected by the e-mail, if the answer is yes to either of these questions the message should be printed and filed. - The registry staff will also need to make sure that files do not contain multiple copies of the same e-mail message. - Unless any notes have been made on the copies, one copy of each message is sufficient. - The final thing to consider is how to manage electronic attachments that are sent along with e-mail. - If these attachments are text documents requiring action it is preferable to print them out and file them, with a copy of the message in the appropriate file. - If the documents are simply for reference they should be stored electronically, or sent to the library. - Non-text attachments, such as hyperlinks, or detailed graphical images, should be copied to the main drive of the computer and maintained in electronic form for as long as they are required. - A copy of the message should be filed and the location of the electronic document noted. ## Section 3: Filing Papers ### 3.1 The Registry File - The registry file is an organised assembly of documents relating to a specific subject, type of transaction or area of business, kept together for use. - The registry file has three components: - A cover to protect the contents and act as a title page and a record of the file's circulation: - The contents; and - Some method of securing the whole together. - File covers (also known as jackets or folders) are usually made of rigid manila paper or board, cut larger than the dimensions of the documents to be filed, and folded to enclose the documents and so minimise damage from handling and use. - The covers are often pre-printed with the name of the ministry or agency and the appropriate division or branch of that agency. - They include a space for the file title, index headings or keywords, security classification, references to previous, subsequent or related files, and file period (the date or year of opening, and closure when known). - They also have a grid (or ladder) for recording the file's circulation when in use. - See Figure 3 A and 3B for an example of a file cover. - Individual documents within a file must be secured so that they do not become misplaced or lost. - The 'Treasury tag' is still the cheapest and easiest system of securing documents within a file. - The tag is inserted through a hole punched in the top left-hand corners of the folded file cover and of each document within it, thus minimising the risk of losing information when the hole is punched. - Maintaining the order of documents within the file is a vital requirement of filing. - This establishes the context within which decisions and actions were taken, and the sequence of those decisions and actions. - Papers should be filed in the same order as the transactions of which they form part. - This is not the same as saying that the individual papers are filed in their date order. - In practice, papers are normally placed within a file in the order in which they are received in the Registry for filing. - For example, an outgoing letter dated 29 May 1998 will be filed before an incoming letter dated 26 May if the outgoing letter is sent out and a copy filed before the incoming letter was received. ### 3.2 Identifying the Subject of a Paper - Mail is received in the Registry after registration or on return from circulation and is placed on files as soon as possible. - Many letters returned from circulation will already have directions for filing written on them. - If no directions on filing have been given by action officers and if the letter does not quote a reference to a file in the Registry, the officer responsible for filing must read the letter carefully to determine its subject. - The keyword index is then consulted to select the two keywords which most accurately describe the subject of the letter. - The Registry staff must try to find the most appropriate keyword and must never use a broader keyword when a narrower term relates to the same concept. - For instance, United Nations Development Programme would be used in preference to United Nations, and they would never be used together. - The keyword index is then checked under each of the keywords selected. - If there is already a file with the combination of keywords identified, and if the letter clearly relates to the title of this file, the letter is marked in pencil with the same file reference. - If no appropriate file is listed in the index, the number codes associated with the selected keywords will form the basis of a new file reference. - The procedures for opening a new file and assigning it a reference number are discussed in Section 4. ### 3.3 The Split File System - The split file system is the standard method of maintaining papers on registered files. - In this system, papers are divided thus: - Incoming letters, copies of outgoing letters, memoranda, notes of meetings and similar documents are placed on the right-hand side of the file and secured by the treasury tag. - On the left-hand side of the file is a series of sheets headed 'Minute Sheets'. secured on the other end of the treasury tag. The purpose of these sheets is to enable officers and Registry staff to record each document placed on the right-hand side of the file and to bring attention to particular action points, e.g. a particular point to be made in a reply, a request for additional papers or a Bring-Up date. - Instructions or notes on minute sheets should be short and to the point, as shown in the example in Figure 4. ### 3.4 Cross-referencing and Removing Papers from Files - If a single letter or other item of correspondence relates to more than one file, the original should be placed on the file for which it has most relevance and photocopies placed on the other files. - The original letter should note the file numbers on which additional copies have been placed. - Similarly, a note of the location of the original should be made on each copy placed on other files. - Alternatively, if a photocopier is not available or copying is considered to be too costly, the original may be placed on the file for which is has most relevance and a note placed on each of the other files to which the letter relates giving the date of the letter, its subject and the file on which it can be found. - If a letter is received which refers to an earlier letter, the folio number of that earlier letter is cross-referenced on the new letter and the new letter is placed on the same file as the as the earlier letter. - Papers may only be removed from files in exceptional circumstances instruction of the head of the Registry or his/her line manager. - When papers are removed, a temporary note must be placed on the file at the point from which the paper(s) have been extracted. - This will indicate the subject of the paper(s) and where may be found. - It must be signed by the member of staff responsible for the removal. ### 3.5 Filing Checklist The following questions must be asked regularly: - Does the document belong on the file selected? - Does the file number on the document agree with the reference number of the file? (It should, unless it is a copy being used for cross-referencing.) - Are all pages of a multiple page document present? - Are all attachments present? - Records staff should not file: - Spare copies of letters, old drafts, etc, unless there is likelihood that they will be significant in the foreseeable future. Such documents should either be destroyed or, if there is a genuine need to keep them, stored away from the file. - Ephemeral material such as announcements of parties, events that have no relevance to the work of the ministry - Published material and bulky reports. Much of the published material received in the Registry has no relevance to the work of the ministry. - With the agreement of the line manager this material should be destroyed. Bulky published material or reports, which are relevant, should be marked with a file and folio number and stored separately. - The covering letter must also be marked to indicate where the material is stored. ## Section 4: Creating a New File ### 4.1 Opening a New File - When a document comes into the Registry, the Registry staff must decide whether an appropriate file already exists, as described in Section 3.2, by checking the keyword index under each heading that may be relevant. - If no appropriate file exists, it will be necessary to create a new file and to give it a number and a title. - No new file may be opened before there is correspondence to go on it. - Opening files in the expectation of future correspondence leads to waste of effort, waste of valuable file covers and, most damaging of all, confusion in the keyword index. - If there is any doubt at all about whether a new file is required, the head of the Registry will ask the relevant user for advice. - Users are also encouraged to indicate their need for files. - If a new file is required, the Registry staff will have to think carefully about what it will contain and how it will grow. - The important point to remember is that each file should relate to a single subject, a well-defined area of business or a particular type of transaction. Files relating to specific subjects or areas of business should tell their own discrete story. - As long as a file tells a story in its own right, and no more, it is immaterial whether the file remains thin or develops into several parts. - If the scope of the file is too narrow and specific, it may only tell part of the story. - Too many small files of this sort make it difficult for users to understand what is going on, and they cannot be certain that they have the whole story. - Files which are too narrow in scope will also cause filing and retrieval problems as uncertainties arise about the correct file on which documents should be placed or found. - A file which covers too many issues is also hard to use. - The user will have to search through a mass of paper to get to the story and the story may well become fragmented by the inter-filing of papers on other subjects. - Moreover, the file will grow quickly and new volumes will have to be opened frequently making the problem worse. - When a file grows very quickly, or when a file is used for seemingly unrelated papers, this is usually a sign that the file title is too broad and that there is a need to break the file down into more specifically titled files. - On the other hand, files accumulate documents at different rates and certain files which cover well defined areas of business may still expand rapidly. - It is essential, therefore, that the Registry staff take the time to find the right balance. - Not all papers need to be placed on registered files. - The aim is to keep ephemeral papers off files altogether (see Section 3.5) or on files that can be destroyed early. - However, it is essential that files destined for early destruction contain only papers that have a short-term life or a short-term potential value. - Further information about file disposition is included in Section 10. ### 4.2 Security Classification of Files - A circular issued by the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Management, contains all details on the security classification of files. - It can be supplied on request by PO-PSM. - It covers: top secret, secret and confidential files; Cabinet papers; custody of classified documents and their handling; and the destruction and disposal of classified waste. - This circular is the authority on the subject and must be consulted. - Separate file covers have been designed for open and classified files. - Classified files are clearly marked with the appropriate classification and should contain handling instructions printed or pasted inside the front cover of the file. ### 4.3 Giving Files Titles - It is important to choose a clear and precise title for each file. - The title should be as descriptive as possible to provide adequate details of the file's actual and likely contents. - It ought to trigger in the users' minds what the file contains. - At the same time it ought to be specific enough that the Registry staff do not use the file to cover different aspects or developments of the original story that really should be the subjects of several files. - File titles thus describe the contents of a file and help to limit the scope of the material placed on it. - However, file titles need play no direct part in finding the file. - That is the function of the keywords which are chosen to index the file (see Section 4.6). - Titles do not even need to include the keywords unless that is useful. - Titles must be as concise and as brief as possible, while accurately reflecting the contents of the file. - When adding new papers to a file, care must be taken to ensure that the file title continues to reflect the contents accurately. - At the same time, it is unwise to change the title of a file unless absolutely necessary. - Users become familiar with titles and changing them leads to confusion. - It is better to create new files for new papers and, if necessary, to make cross-references to the files containing earlier related papers. - If there is any doubt whatsoever about the title of a file, an appropriate user should be consulted. - Users' views on file titles should always be taken seriously. - Where it does seem justified to change the title of a file, the permission of the head of the Registry, or his/her line manager, must be obtained before any change is made. - In exceptional circumstances, a file whose title no longer reflects its contents should be closed and a new file with the correct title opened. - A common practice is to write the title of confidential files on the inside of the front cover. ### 4.4 Assigning Reference Numbers - The complete reference number for a file will comprise a letter code for the series to which the file belongs, two keyword codes and a sequential file number preceded by '0'. - For instance, a file used by the Public Service Management's Policy Development Division dealing with retirement policy for the public service might have the reference 'AB/213/254/01' where: - 'AB' -is the code for the series of files of the Public Service Management relating to Policy Formulation. - '213' -is the code in the keyword index for the keyword 'policy' - '254' -is the code for the keyword 'retirement' - '01" -indicates that the file is the first one in the 213/254 theme. - More information about assigning keyword code numbers is given in Section 4.6. ### 4.5 Identifying the File Series - The first step in assigning a file number is to determine the appropriate file series. - In general, there is a file series for each of a ministry's or department's clearly identifiable principal functions. - If the ministry or department has been organised in self-contained sections which support these functions, there will be a file series for each section. - For instance, file series based on the functional sections within the Public Service Management include the following: - **Policy Development Division:** - Policy Formulation - AB - Policy Implementation and Evaluation - AC - Gender - AD - Library - AE - **Management Services Division:** - Organisational Analysis - BA - Staff Utilisation - BC - Management Systems Development - BD - **Establishment Division:** - Staff Grade - CA - Middle and Common Cadre - CB - Kamus - CD - Payroll Control Unit - CE - **Human Resources Division:** - Staff Development - DA - Management Training - DB - Technical Co-operation - DC - If, for example, a document for which a file is to be created concerns the Organisational Analysis Section, its prefix will be 'BA'. - Where it to concern the Establishment Division's Staff Grade Section, its prefix would be 'CA', and so on. - Note that the double letters, AA, 'BB', 'CC' etc. are avoided. - It may be that one section or unit handles several distinct functions which are best supported by several series. - Alternatively, two sections served by the same Registry may routinely work together on a common function. - In this case it may be most helpful to establish one file series to cover this shared area of work. - However, where sections share some files but in general have different files for their own particular functions, two file series will be required. - In the example of Public Service Management file series listed above, two closely related but distinctive functions - Policy Formulation and Policy Implementation and Evaluation - have separate series but share some files. - The functions of a ministry or department may sometimes be difficult to relate to organisational units. - In such cases, the content and scope of the file series will have to be worked out carefully with the users. ### 4.6 Assigning Keyword Code Numbers - The second element of the reference number, ie, the two numbers following the series code, is produced by combining the code numbers for the two keywords which best describe the subject of the file. - These are selected from the index of keywords kept for a particular Registry. - Two versions of the keyword index are maintained, one in alphabetical order and the other in numerical order. - The numerical version ensures that each new keyword created is assigned the next number in sequence. - The alphabetical index enables registry staff to look up keywords easily when searching for an appropriate keyword or for the number code assigned to a particular keyword. - The number associated with a keyword must never be changed. - The index must never be renumbered, and no number may ever be re-used for a different keyword. - Because it is often difficult to decide which of the two keywords used to describe a file is the more important, the rule adopted is to place the code numbers in numerical order so that the lower number is always first. - The keyword index (see Section 5.3) will draw together files on the same subject by listing under each keyword all the files that have been assigned that keyword. - In exceptional cases, only one keyword may be required to describe a file. - Occurs, the same keyword code is repeated in the file reference. - However, in p: it is nearly always possible to assign files two keywords. - In some cases, Registry staff may decide that three keywords are required-to index a file. - This is dealt with in detail in Section 5.3. ### 4.7 Assigning Sequential Numbers - The