Unit 224 (B&A 36): Principles of providing administrative services Diary systems

Introduction Consider organising your work around the following without a diary: deadlines for completion of tasks routine and regularly occurring tasks promises and commitments regular meetings one-off meetings appointments – personal or otherwise training courses to be attended special events in the office appraisal interview days off/leave. In order to carry out the tasks expected of you to the required timescale, it is likely that you will be prioritising your work and making use of planning tools available to you. One of the most useful tools available is a diary.

Use of a diary Enables you to plan your work in order to complete it to deadline. Recording reminders and follow-up tasks that have to be completed. Tick off tasks that have been done and carry forward any that remain. Check the diary as the first job of the day to see the tasks and events scheduled and plan your day. Without the use of a diary to record these items, it is unlikely that you would be able to remember all these items and it would be impossible to complete your work. How many times have you written a reminder to do something on a Post-it note and stuck it on the computer screen, only for it to fall off two days later? Far better to write the note into your diary – you are more likely to take notice of it and carry it out.

Maintaining others’ diaries An office diary records staff availability appointments office events and meetings. Easy to see when staff are meant to be in the office in order to arrange meetings and appointments. Avoids wasting time looking for a colleague when they are scheduled to be out of the office. As well as your own personal diary, it is likely that there will be an office diary. You may also be responsible for looking after the manager’s diary for the same reasons.

Types of manual diary system desk diary appointments book wallchart/planner/calendar. There are various different types of diary system, both manual and electronic, and often a combination of both is used.

Desk diary easy to use for all staff contains useful information – bank holidays portable, but often bulky not easy to edit updates or changes made by the manager out of the office will not be known entries need to be neat in order to be understood by all the users.

Appointments book preprinted time slots against each day used on reception to record customer appointments needs to be completed neatly can easily be removed or borrowed, leaving others with no information at all.

Wallchart/planner/calendar Usually wall-mounted and therefore visible to all. Good for planning staff absences and long projects. Usually cover a whole year at a view. Different colours (stickers or pens) to denote different staff or project tasks. One person has responsibility for updating the chart and this can be time-consuming. Too many entries can also result in a colourful and confusing chart.

Electronic systems diary programs, eg Outlook electronic appointments systems PDAs – Personal Digital Assistants.

Electronic diary programs – advantages Entries can be searched, edited, deleted and updated easily. Reminder alarms can be set. Regular occurrences can be made for the whole year with one entry. Rights of access so that others can view the diary and therefore book appointments or meetings. Usually has a feature that prevents double-booking. Can often be accessed out of the office via the Internet, or uploaded onto a PDA. eg Microsoft Outlook - a flexible combination of all three manual systems. Even without full access, blocks of free time are visible to other users, enabling a convenient time to be identified for a meeting and the corresponding invite sent via email.

Electronic diary programs – disadvantages Needs computer access. In order to be effective, all staff need to use the system, and this means access to a computer. In the event of system or power failure, the diary will be completely inaccessible. In this respect, there is the facility to print the day’s entries out.

Electronic appointments systems Electronic version of the appointments book. Easy for searching, editing, deleting bookings. Shared system allows you to view appointments without moving from your desk. Usually has the facility to send an automatic reminder about the appointment to both customer and staff involved.

PDAs – Personal Digital Assistants Portable device suitable for people who are regularly out of the office. Combines scheduling with telephone, address book, memo facilities. Diary entries can be up/downloaded from/to the main office computer diary system. Changes and updates can be made immediately by the user, but will not be known to the rest of the staff until the systems are synchronised. Backup/synchronisation is vital, as the portability and size of these devices mean that they could easily be lost, thus losing important information.