Templates for Administrative Processes

Editable Templates For School Administration

Many legal guardians and schools shop around before they decide where they want to send their children to school. The purchase process begins long before prospective customers contact the institution to enquire about its offerings. Some of the spaces where potential customers find information on schools include; websites, brochures, flyers, and prospectuses.  

A key responsibility of school administrations is to productively maintain its assets which include its workforce, customers, capital and intellectual investments, business processes, and safeguard them against risk.  Administrations thus require appropriate, comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date records to facilitate decision-making and proper management of the institution. 

Branding And Administration

The approach to the acquisition, presentation, and maintenance of information is therefore extremely important because it influences customers’ perceptions of an institution, and how they engage with it. It impacts their level of confidence, trust, and the value that they attach to the institution and its offerings. 

Institutions need to put some thought into branding themselves appropriately in information and communication management to help customers to easily recognize them, connect with them, and want to be associated with them.  An institution’s brand is its promise to the customer. Differentiation is key.

Incompetence in information management and communication has resulted in many underperforming or failed administrations in institutions of learning. Many administrators have limited know-how and capacity to formulate and efficiently execute information management resources and tools. Despite their institutions having great facilities many, due to lack of exposure, remain ignorant about how proper information management can contribute to the positive development of their institutions.  

In this blog, we explore the use of some select document templates and share editable document templates to help alleviate the challenge of developing official documents from scratch.  These can be downloaded and edited to suit the users’ unique needs. We have endeavored to keep the templates as simple as possible and yet detailed for completeness and ease of application.  

What is a document template? 

A document template is a pre-formatted model of a document designed to guide and facilitate the quick generation of a similar record. It is especially useful in instances of common and frequently used information. 

Benefits of using document templates

Appropriately standardized and clearly defined documentation helps to;

• facilitate completeness and quality of output hence productivity
• accelerate delivery of process goals 
• simplify processes and lessen the effort applied towards creating new documents from scratch every single time
• provide clarity, focus, and support attention to detail 

• promote the efficient application of resources including time, money, labor, and materials as they can be applied to other productive processes
• foster consistency, shared understanding, and fair application of standards thereby alleviating conflict situations
• project a professional image to stakeholders and the general public.

Editable templates

In the administration process, institutions maintain and deal with different kinds of information including; stakeholder data, operational and functional reports, policies, processes, and correspondences among others.  These are presented in different layouts and formats.  

Some routinely used documents whose ease of execution can be enhanced by adopting the use of document templates include: 

• Checklists
• Contracts
• Forms
• Business correspondences
• Policies.

The above documents are considered in greater detail below, as are preformatted samples.    

Checklists

Checklists are working aids that are used as a benchmark or guide to ensure that important actions are not forgotten during implementation and are completed in an organized and logical manner.  

The basic format of a checklist consists of an itemized list of descriptions of tasks to be completed presented in one column, with appropriate spaces in corresponding columns used to check off the completeness of each task.  Other columns may be used to append notes on supplementary information or considerations. 

Information covered in a checklist is specific to the mission being completed. Templates must therefore be customized accordingly.  

Elements of a good checklist

• It is structured in its design and presentation 
• It has a logical flow
• Deliverables/actions are clearly defined
• It specifies the parties responsible for the execution of the tasks
• It provides the criteria for success/expected outcomes
• It has space for signing off tasks and providing appropriate updates
• Clear language and appropriate detail are applied to minimize the risk of misinterpretation.

Benefits of checklists

• They lessen the likelihood of omission of important steps of a process which can lead to compromised results
• They assist in alleviating distractions by keeping users focused on target deliverables
• Defined action steps help to minimize errors hence savings in resources such as time and effort
• They promote discipline and consistency, and aid in standardization of supported processes
• They contribute to improved productivity motivated by clarity of obligations, and the satisfaction of ticking off completed tasks
• They support training of users and delegation of responsibilities
• They advance peace of mind for users who don’t have to memorize the different steps in processes or fear missing a step.
• They act as evidence in instances of process related disputes.  

Access checklist templates here.

Contracts and agreements

A contract is an agreement between two or more people, where one party makes an offer and another accepts the offer in exchange for something of value. It defines the parties in the contractual engagement, their rights and obligations, guiding terms and conditions, and the contract execution processes.

Key elements of a legally binding contract

• All the parties must be aware that they are entering into a binding agreement.  Each party to a contract should endeavor to understand the provisions of the contract before assenting to its contents.   
• There must be an offer that outlines the obligations of the parties involved and clearly demonstrates the exchange of value.  
• An acceptance of an offer must be presented explicitly, not ambiguously. Acceptance is usually confirmed by appending the signatures to the document.  It is recommended to have independent parties present to witness the acceptance.  
• A consideration in that the agreed value must be clearly and mutually defined and recognized, leaving no room for misinterpretation.
• Capacity of the parties involved to understand the provisions of the contract including the obligations of the parties, and related implications and consequences before consenting to the contract is important.  Examples of populations that may lack contractual capacity include; minors, persons that are intoxicated, the mentally unsound and people with limited understanding of the language applied in the contract among others.
• Admissibility of the contract in case of litigation, with due appreciation that all agreements are subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which they operate.  The contract should specify the jurisdiction, applicable laws, and the conflict resolution and termination processes.    

The presentation, length, complexity, and provisions of contracts vary from one to another.

Benefits of a contract

• It provides clarity in respect of the obligations and commitments of the parties involved, as well as consequences in case of breach, and motivates the parties to take appropriate action.
• It alleviates conflict and acts as proof of what was agreed on by the parties.  It can be referenced at any time. 
• It enables protection of the parties involved, their assets and intellectual property.
• It enhances trust, peace of mind, and commitment of the parties involved because they have the full understanding of what they are committing to including, of their obligations, of the courses of action available to them in case of disputes or breach, and provisions for termination. 

Access contract templates here.

Forms

A form is a structured document that contains a frame and fixed content (the part of the document that does not change) and spaces (also known as fields or placeholders) in which information can be populated.  

Forms are used in information collection, collation, maintenance, dissemination and evaluation processes.  When completed, forms can reflect either a statement, a request or an order which is a written or stated intention.

Forms are usually tailored to suit a specific purpose. They can be presented and completed either digitally, printed or by hand.  

Basic elements of a form

• A title or heading which must be related to its use.  Some words like ‘application form’ or evaluation form can be applied in the title to convey the specific purpose of the form.
• A short description highlighting the purpose of the form, and how it is to be completed.
• Labels that confirm the specific information that is required in a particular field. It can be a word or multiple words.  They can be presented in statements of question formats. 

• Empty fields, spaces, lines or boxes next to the labels which are to be filled with information.
• Lines or other forms of separators, that show users where to begin and end their writing.
• Open white spaces in the design that make the form easy on the eye and motivate the user to complete it. Overcrowded forms can be a put off and discouraging for users.   

Benefits of forms

• They facilitate collection and presentation of information in a logical and meaningful manner 
• They promote efficiency by simplifying the gathering of information. There is less writing and information is entered in a summarized manner.
• They enable uniformity and standardization of data and are convenient when comparing data.
• Label prompts help the user to given targeted specific information, thus improving focus and relevance
• Information presented in written form can be used for future reference. 

Access templates of various forms here.

Business correspondences

Correspondence refers to the exchange of written communication between two or more parties.  It is the activity of writing and receiving mail.  It can be realized either digitally or handwritten. Examples of business correspondences include letters, emails, memos, text and fax messages, and notes. 

When transacting business, it is recommended to adopt a formal approach in executing correspondences. Formal correspondence is also known as professional correspondence. The way you communicate bears directly on how your customers, both internal and external, perceive you.

Common purposes of professional communication include; passing information, making requests, providing direction, and persuading other parties to act on something.

Many organizations have formal policies and processes that guide official communication and the use of technology for communication.  Enlightened organizations are structured in their design and presentation of correspondences to customers, both internal and external. They maintain official email accounts through which their employees are required to transact official business while observing some set standards. In most cases, stakeholders are required to acknowledge and undertake in writing to abide by the provisions of the communication policies. This enables the organizations to monitor and regulate communications in keeping with set company standards and support realization of the company’s vision.

Elements of a business correspondence

• It observes the accepted standards of formal writing including in its design, presentation and language employed.
• It is short, to the point and uses simple and clear language
• It is complete and specific in its message to enable the reader to act appropriately. It answers comprehensively to the what, why, when, where, how, as applicable.
• It meets the basic standards of good etiquette and respect including; use of appropriate tone, language, timeliness and correctness of information, 

Benefits of business correspondences 

• It helps in building and maintaining good business relationships.
• It is a convenient and inexpensive communication method.
• It is an official record and serves as a reference material for future use.
• The use of formal and logical language helps to alleviate ambiguity and misinterpretation of messages.
• It is an effective mode of publicizing and expanding the organization, its offerings and client base when done properly.

Access templates of various business correspondences here.

Policies