Instruction on office management is a mandatory normative act regulating the content and organization of the implementation of office management processes in the company (paragraph seventeenth of paragraph 2 of section І of the Rules of organization of office management and archival storage of documents in state bodies, local governments, enterprises, institutions and organizations, approved by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine from June 18, 2015 ¹ 1000/5 (rada.gov.ua) (hereinafter – Rules ¹ 1000/5)
The main purpose of business management instructions is to establish uniform requirements for the documentation of management information and the procedure for handling all official documents in the company from the moment of their creation or receipt to sending or transfer to archival storage.
There are the following types of office management instructions:
– standard;
– exemplary;
– individual.
Large companies and corporations develop standard and/or exemplary instructions for the network of their enterprises, institutions and organizations (hereinafter – enterprise), as well as their own individual instructions on office management in the company (corporation). The difference between a standard instruction and an example instruction is that:
a standard instruction on office management has a mandatory character, while an example instruction has a recommendatory character.
Regardless of whether there is a standard or exemplary instruction on office management, each company, as well as each enterprise of its network, if it is an independent legal entity, must have an individual instruction on office management.
ALGORITHM FOR PREPARING A MANUAL ON OFFICE MANAGEMENT
STEP 1
Study of national normative legal acts and standards on the organization of office work, as well as constituent and other local regulatory documents of the company.
STEP 2
Development of a draft of a business management instruction by the business management service
STEP 3
Coordination of the draft with all structural subdivisions of the company and its finalization in the presence of received comments and suggestions.
STEP 4
Signing of the final version of the instruction by the head of the office management service
STEP 5
Approval at the meeting of the company’s Expert Committee (hereinafter – EC)
STEP 6
Approval by the expert verification commission (hereinafter – EVC) of the state archive or the EVC of the archive department of the district state administration or city council
STEP 7
Approval by the order on the main activity of the company
STEP 8
Entry into force
STEP 9
Communicating to the structural subdivisions of the company
STEP 10
Introduction of amendments based on the order (if necessary)
DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUCTIONS
Instructions on office management in the company is developed by its office management service (general department, office management department, chancery) or by the person responsible for the tasks and functions of the office management service.
When developing instructions for office management should be guided by the current regulations governing the organization of office work, in particular, Rules № 1000/5 and the National Standard of Ukraine DSTU 4163:2020 “State Unified System of Documentation. Unified system of organizational and administrative documentation. Requirements for the execution of documents”.
When developing a manual on office management should take into account:
– the organizational form of office management introduced in a particular company;
– the structure and number of employees of the company;
– the structure of the office management service and the number of employees providing office management services;
– territorial location of structural, in particular, separate subdivisions of the company – branches, representative offices, departments, divisions, offices that do not have the status of a legal entity and carry out their activities on behalf of the company;
– the composition of the documentary fund formed as a result of the company’s activities;
– degree of automation of office work processes (partial or full implementation of electronic document management, use of qualified electronic signatures and seals);
– availability of an archive in traditional and/or electronic form
DESIGN OF THE INSTRUCTION FOR OFFICE MANAGEMENT
Instructions for office work shall be drawn up on standard A4 sheets of paper (210 mm × 297 mm) (Annex).
When formalizing the instructions for office management should be borne in mind that:
- The instruction is subject to approval by the order of the head of the main activities of the company with the appropriate stamp of approval in the upper right corner of the first sheet of the document;
- The name of the document type should be printed in capital letters in bold font. It is combined with the title to the text of the document, in which the full name of the company in the local case in accordance with the charter, for example: INSTRUCTION TO BUSINESS in the Company “Eurobud”;
- The text of the instruction consists of sections, each of which may be divided into subsections, paragraphs and subparagraphs, which are numbered with Arabic numerals.
- To the instruction on office management are attached samples of forms, registration and accounting forms, templates of various types of official documents, which are introduced in the company. Such samples, forms, templates, etc. shall be drawn up after the main text of the office management instruction as annexes on separate sheets of paper, and references to these annexes shall be made in the relevant paragraphs of the text. Each appendix shall be marked in the upper right corner of the first sheet of the appendix with a reference to the corresponding paragraph of the text of the office management instruction;
- The head of the office management service (person responsible for office management) signs the office management instruction;
- The deputy(s) of the head of the company and heads of structural subdivisions whose activities are related to the documentation of management information and organization of work with official documents shall sign the draft instruction on office management;
- The draft instruction is subject to approval by the EC of the company and coordination with the EPC of the relevant state archival institution or the EC of the archival department of the district administration (city council), in the area of acquisition of which the company is located, with the obligatory registration of the appropriate stamp of approval and coordination, which are placed at the same level in two columns;
- The instruction on office work comes into force from the date of its approval, unless another date is specified in the text of the order. The approved office management instruction shall be brought to the attention of the company’s structural subdivisions by sending (mailing) paper or electronic copies of the instruction to the structural subdivisions;
- Amendments to the office management instruction or its invalidation shall be made on the basis of a new order on the company’s main activities.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF THE TEXT OF THE INSTRUCTION
The office management instruction should prescribe:
– the rules of paper and/or electronic documentation of the company’s management activities, namely, the requirements for the design of the main types of management documents;
– the rules of document flow (traditional paper or electronic), namely, the movement of documents in the company from the time of their creation or receipt to execution or sending them to their destination;
– rules of storage of paper and electronic documents in the current records management, namely – requirements for systematization of executed documents, formation of documents into paper and electronic files, ensuring safety of these files, preparation of files for transfer to archival storage.
The text of the instruction consists of sections, which, in turn, may be divided into subsections, paragraphs and subparagraphs. The text should be written in the third person. The structure of the text of this document may be as shown in the annex.
In the first section of the instructions on office management always submit general provisions, where it is noted that this instruction establishes a unified system of office management and comply with the provisions of the instruction should all employees of the company. In addition, in the first section:
– list all national regulatory legal acts, normative and methodological documents, as well as internal organizational and legal documents, on the basis of which the instruction is drawn up;
– determine who is responsible for the organization of office work in the company as a whole and in its structural subdivisions in particular;
– present general principles of document management in the company.
The second section is called “Documentation of management information”. It is divided into several subdivisions, in which they outline:
– general requirements for the creation of documents in the company;
– requirements for the production and use of document forms;
– peculiarities of drawing up specific types of company documents – orders, contracts, acts, protocols, certificates, memos, letters, etc;
– requirements to the organization of holding, in particular, protocoling, production meetings, meetings of collegial advisory bodies of the company.
The third section “Organization of document flow and execution of documents” should be divided into two large subsections. In the first subsection describe technological processes and operations for processing and execution of incoming documents, in the second – for preparation and processing of internal and outgoing documents.
The fourth section “Systematization and storage of documents in office management” should be devoted to the issues of systematization of various types of documents and determination of their storage periods, compilation of the nomenclature of cases, storage of documents and cases in current office work.
The last fifth section is usually devoted to the preparation of completed cases for transfer to archival storage.
CHANGES AND ADDITIONS TO THE MANAGEMENT TEAM
At the end of the business year (November through December), it is wise to review the company’s current management team to determine if it needs to be changed. After all, during the year, the company may have experienced
– changes in the charter, structure and staffing of the entire company;
– redistribution of functional responsibilities among the company’s management;
– changes in the structure, name and staffing of the office management service;
– updating the tasks and responsibilities of the office management service and the procedure for its interaction with other structural divisions;
– introduction of new types of documents in the company’s management activities;
– introduction of an electronic document management system;
– updating of document forms, registration and accounting forms, etc.
In addition, amendments to the office management instruction are necessarily made in case of introduction of relevant amendments to national regulations and standards governing the procedure for working with documents and/or establishing requirements for document execution.
The periodicity of making amendments and additions to the instruction is not limited; they may be made as necessary at any period of the working year.
If in the process of revising an existing instruction it becomes necessary to revise it by more than 20 percent, it is more appropriate to prepare, approve and implement a draft of a new instruction.
The implementation of a new manual may require clarification of its provisions through seminars, webinars and individual consultations for the company’s employees. The organization of such events is the responsibility of the records management department with the involvement of document and archive management specialists.