Business Services Training Unit of Competency Organise Schedules BSBADM307B Unit Descriptor This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to manage appointments and diaries for personnel within an organisation, using manual and electronic diaries schedules and other appointment systems. No licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of endorsement. Employability Skills The required outcomes described in this unit of competency contain applicable facets of Employability Skills. The Employability Skills Summary for the qualification in which this unit of competency is packaged, will assist in identifying Employability Skills requirements. Pre-requisite Units Nil Application of the Unit This unit applies to individuals employed in a range of work environments who provide administrative support to teams and individuals in the management of diaries, schedules and other appointment mechanisms. Competency Field Administration General Administration
Organise Schedules This book supports BSBADM307A Organise Schedules in the Business Services Training Package BSB01, and BSBADM307B Organise Schedules, in the Business Services Training Package BSB07. Copyright Beverley Weynton, November 2002, October 2007, 2008 This revised edition published 2008 Author: Beverley Weynton Managing Editor: Christine Kent ISBN 1-74123-970-2 Disclaimer All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Software Publications Pty Ltd. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and the authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. These learning materials have been prepared for use as part of a structured vocational education and training course and should only be used within that context. The information contained herein was correct at the time of preparation. Legislation and case law is subject to change and readers need to inform themselves of the current law at the time of reading. Publishers Software Publications Pty Ltd (ABN 75 078 026 150) Head office Sydney Unit 10, 171 Gibbes Street Chatswood NSW 2067 Phone: (02) 9882 1000 Fax (02) 9882 1800 Australia Toll Free Numbers Phone: 1800146542 Fax: 1800146539 i Web address www.softwarepublications.com.au Published and printed in Australia
Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Manage schedules 2.1 Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Identify recurring appointments and deadlines, and schedule these in accordance with individual and organisational requirements. In the first part of this textbook, you learnt about establishing schedule requirements, both organisational and individual, as well as the different types of appointments and priorities that could arise in the course of your job. In this second part, we will explore the management of schedules, deadlines, and appointments, including negotiating alternative arrangements when changes or cancellations are necessary. Recurring appointment A recurring appointment is one which occurs again or occurs on a regular basis. Deadline A deadline is a limit which must not be passed; the latest time for finishing something. Types of Recurring Appointments The types of appointments that would occur on a regular basis could include those made for: board meetings committee meetings sales meetings production meetings financial meetings meetings of a particular division within a company, e.g. children s books or non-fiction, within a large publishing house marketing meetings representatives, e.g. some representatives with an allocated territory would call on their customers on a recurring circuit. These appointments would, generally speaking, be kept regularly, on a particular day and at the same time from month to month or whatever the time period may be. In most cases, the rep would confirm the time and date for her appointment for the next month before leaving the client s premises. Page 52 BSBADM307B Organise Schedules
Manage schedules Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Frequency of Recurring Appointments Frequency Frequency means the number of times that an event occurs within a given period. Some meetings may recur each month, some each week and others every three months (quarterly). Monthly meetings are likely to be: board meetings committee meetings production meetings divisional meetings marketing meetings Weekly meetings are likely to be reps meetings - usually on a Friday, in order to review the past week and plan the next week s activities under the guidance of the sales manager. Quarterly meetings are likely to be: sales meetings financial meetings Generally speaking, to review and assess the performance of a company and its sales force at a formal meeting, it is usual to look at income and expenses on a quarterly basis. Of course, this may differ between companies. Types of Recurring Deadlines Deadlines may be applied for the submission of a regular report by, for example: managers to their divisional heads sales reps to the sales manager sales managers to the financial controller editors to the production manager or publisher order department to marketing manager project managers to the managing director Deadlines may also be set for: the preparation and delivery of a specially requested study of a market segment the compilation and submission of the results of a client survey the completion of a project such as an architect s draft plans for a building the delivery of a commissioned work such as a jingle for a TV commercial or a new concerto for an orchestra The list could be endless. BSBADM307B Organise Schedules Page 53
Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Manage schedules To commission To commission means to give authority or an order for a piece of work, especially a piece of art or writing. Who decides? Recurring deadlines may be set and notified in a variety of ways. They may be: specified in company documents or policies mutually agreed at a staff or team meeting decided by directors at a board meeting and communicated to those concerned by a divisional head or manager To specify To specify means to state or describe something in detail ; to state as a condition. The regularity and time of some recurring meetings will have been set down and adhered to over a period of years. These would be embedded in the requirements or procedures for running the company. For example, the board meeting may be set down for the first Monday of each month at 9 am; the weekly reps sales meeting would be every Friday at 2 pm. Embed To embed means to fix firmly. What Are Organisational Requirements? Organisational requirements are simply methods, rules or systems that have been put in place by the management of a company to ensure that it runs smoothly. They may be formal or informal, complex or simple, recorded in a staff manual or procedural document, or communicated verbally by other staff members. Employees are expected to follow the organisational requirements so that no confusion arises over how a specific task is to be accomplished. If everyone follows the same rules, work should be completed and goals accomplished in a timely and efficient manner. Page 54 BSBADM307B Organise Schedules
Manage schedules Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments It Is Your Responsibility to Find Out It is up to you to find out what the organisational requirements are with regard to recurring appointments and deadlines. If they are not in written form, make notes for yourself and refer to them as necessary. If this topic is covered in the staff manual, read it, and make sure you adhere to the requirements when dealing with recurring appointments and deadlines. If you cannot find any information regarding the requirements, then ask your boss where you may find it, or ask your supervisor or a colleague. Specific Requirements Will Always Apply As we explored in Element 1 of this book Establishing Schedule Requirements there are many different types and sizes of organisations or companies, and each one will have its own requirements with regard to recurring or regular meetings that are effective for its particular line of business. If you feel you would like to review the topic, go back and reread Identify organisational requirements and protocols for diaries and staff planning tools, page 12. If the company is a small one, few recurring appointments or deadlines may be required. A company s requirements will be reflected in the frequency of the various meetings and appointments that are planned. There are no hard and fast rules that can be applied, as often, exceptions will occur for a specific reason. Hard and fast Hard and fast is a phrase which means strongly binding or fixed and not able to be changed. For example, there may be a special project underway with very tight deadlines. An intense focus is required from the production team to complete on time. In this case, to achieve the set goals and closely monitor the team s progress, meetings may recur on a weekly basis until the project is finished. Following the completion of the task, the production team would then return to its regular basis of monthly meetings. Scheduling Recurring Appointments Information regarding recurring appointments could be conveyed to you in a variety of ways: verbally, by email or in memoranda. It may be the regular board meeting every first Monday of the month, or it may be the weekly reps meeting. It could be a newly set up division s monthly production meeting. BSBADM307B Organise Schedules Page 55
Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Manage schedules A memorandum or memo A memorandum or memo (pl. memoranda) is a note sent by one person or department to another within a business. Whatever the purpose of these recurring meetings, if your boss s presence is required there, you must carefully and consistently note the dates, times and locations of the meetings throughout her appointments diary or whatever planning tool she uses. In most cases, any internal or company meetings will take precedence over almost all other external appointments. If there appears that there may be a clash with another important appointment, point this out to your boss, and seek advice on her preferences. Other methods of recording recurring appointments If you were handling the appointments for the members of a team, or a group of company representatives, you may be required to record their recurring appointments on a wall chart or large planning calendar. In this way, members of the team and managers of the division can quickly identify recurring appointments and deadlines for the whole year. This way of recording information becomes a valuable planning tool for the whole division. Whatever the situation, you must make sure that the recording you do is in accordance with the requirements of the company and your boss s instructions and preferences. This important aspect has been covered in detail in Determine personal requirements for diary and schedule items, page 34. Note regular meetings in your own diary It would be helpful for you to note all regular meetings which concern your boss in your own desk diary, so you can see that, for example, on every first Monday of the month she will be attending a board meeting between 9 am and 12 noon. It will also give you an opportunity to show your efficiency by reminding her about appointments in advance, if it is appropriate for you to do so. Recurring client appointments Your boss may have recurring client appointments to attend. For example, he may meet with Jo Birch, the marketing manager of a large department store, every second Wednesday. You would follow the same procedure as described above to record or schedule this regular engagement: it should be written in the appointments diary, always taking care to check that it does not clash with any prior commitments. Even though you know, and your boss knows, that every second Wednesday he meets with Jo Birch, the appointment should be written down. It is easy to forget longstanding, regular appointments when you are trying to find a suitable time in a crowded schedule for an appointment with someone else, if the recurring appointment is not clearly noted in the diary. Page 56 BSBADM307B Organise Schedules
Manage schedules Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Scheduling Recurring Deadlines Your boss might be part of a team with a recurring deadline to adhere to, or he may be the one who has set the recurring deadline for other staff members to meet. In either case, you will need to record the information carefully, including the details as well as the due date. For example, entered in the space allocated to the last Friday of each month you may write: Submit Production Report for Board Meeting. Alternatively, you may write: Reports from Sales and Marketing divisions due in. As with recurring appointments, you must make sure that your notations in your boss s diary or appointments book conform to the company s requirements and your boss s preferences. Using an Electronic Diary the Outlook Calendar Using the Outlook Calendar is another way of keeping track of and scheduling appointments. The Microsoft Outlook Calendar is a tool for viewing, managing and sharing calendars efficiently. It helps users maintain their own calendars or diaries, to schedule meetings and appointments for others and to maintain other users diaries. The Outlook Calendar is the scheduling component of Outlook. It is not a separate program but resides within Microsoft Outlook and is fully integrated with e-mail and other features. For example, calendars may be shared with people both inside and outside an organisation. Just as you would write an appointment in a desk diary, the user of Outlook can click on any time slot in the Calendar and just start typing. You can also set reminders, all-day events such as business trips, and personal dates such as birthdays or anniversaries. Various views can be accessed, for example, a single day, a week, a month or even the entire year. Using the work week view, your boss can see at a glance how busy her week is going to be. Another view can provide a list of all upcoming appointments. Organising meetings Integrating the Outlook Calendar with e-mail makes organising a meeting easy. If your boss asked you to arrange a meeting with a certain group of employees, but with no specific date in mind, you would simply select a time on the calendar, say 10 am, create an appointment, and then select the names of the people your boss wants to attend. Outlook will help you find the earliest time at which all the people are free. Once the meeting notice is sent to the others via e-mail, they will receive meeting requests in their In boxes. Alternatively, you could e-mail an intended date and time to the selected employees, and when the users opened their meeting request, Outlook would notify them if the meeting conflicts with an existing appointment on their calendars. They can then respond by clicking a single button: Accept, Tentative or Decline. You can see immediately who has accepted or declined simply by opening the meeting window. BSBADM307B Organise Schedules Page 57
Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Manage schedules The delegate feature There is a delegate feature on some versions of Outlook Calendar. This allows you to keep track of your boss s schedule or those of several people you may be working for from within Outlook on your own computer. This feature supports the typical assistant-manager relationship where the assistant or secretary is taking care of a manager s appointments diary or schedule. After you have been designated as a delegate, all meeting requests sent to the manager also appear in your Inbox. This allows you to accept meetings, enter appointments and organise meetings on your boss s behalf. All changes made are reflected immediately in your boss s Outlook Calendar. If you were away, or unavailable, your boss could check and adjust his calendar from his own computer. It also allows you to see any new appointments your boss may have entered into his electronic diary without letting you know. For calendar sharing, Outlook in Internet Mail Only mode allows you to publish the free and busy times from your boss s calendar to an Internet site so others can know when your boss is available. Exercise 16 1 Explain your understanding of the word recurring. 2 What is one word for the number of times an event occurs within a given period? 3 What does quarterly mean? 4 Name three types of monthly meetings. Page 58 BSBADM307B Organise Schedules
Manage schedules Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments 5 Give an example of a weekly meeting. 6 Give an example of a deadline YOU have to meet. 7 Give two reasons why following organisational requirements is a good idea. 8 In the context of scheduling recurring appointments, which are more important internal or external appointments? 9 Why would it be a good idea to note your boss s regular meetings in your own desk diary? 10 If you were handling the appointments for a group of your company s representatives, what sort of planning tool might you use instead of a desk diary? 11 What would be some of the advantages of using this type of planning tool? BSBADM307B Organise Schedules Page 59
Identify and Schedule Recurring Appointments Manage schedules 12 Describe why using the Outlook Calendar could streamline your task of managing your boss s schedule and appointments diary. Which manual methods (as opposed to electronic) described in the previous few pages would change, and how would they change? Page 60 BSBADM307B Organise Schedules