Describe Factors To Be Considered When Using Office Equipment

The purpose of confirming instructions and requirements for business travel and accommodation is to ensure that those travelling know exactly where they need to be, what they need to bring and when they need to be there. This helps to ensure they won’t miss any trains/planes/boats etc. by allowing time for travel. It also ensures that they don’t forget something important like a passport or a document needed for the meeting which could also cause delays and embarrassment. Telling them where they are accommodated lets them know what to expect when they are staying overnight, so they can manage there expectations around room quality and service appropriately.

Q.2.3 Explain the purpose of keeping records of business travel and accommodation

A. The purpose of keeping records of business travel and accommodation is mostly for Expenses, budget monitoring and internal audit.

Keeping accurate records of these costs

allows you to report on things like the costings of these trips and helps to identify areas to reduce cost, such as teleconferencing instead of regularly attending overnight meetings in Germany. You can also see if a particular member of staff is receiving more in mileage for travel for work, and potentially identify fraudulent claims in mileage if checked against records such as Card reader data from when you swipe into a particular office.
Aside from that it is also helpful to identify the cheapest methods of transport, and if one is slowly raising in price and it may be time to switch to a different mode of transport.

Understand how to use office equipment
Q.

4.3 Describe factors to be considered when selecting office equipment to complete tasks

A. When considering what piece of equipment to use for a job, you should consider what the task is, what tools you have to hand and which tool can be used most safely, appropriately and efficiently.

If I wanted to cut a piece of paper that had three invoice slips on it into separate pieces, I would first look for a pair of scissors, as they are relatively safe and appropriate for the task. However if there are no scissors available, I may instead opt to use a ruler to tear the paper instead, as although it is not the most appropriate tool for the task, in the situation it would be time and cost effective. It also doesn’t matter too much if the edges are jagged on an invoice slip. If I had to cut something in a more presentable way I may have to take the less efficient option and check with another department to see if they had scissors I could use.

Q. 4.4 Describe how to keep waste to a minimum when using office

equipment
A. In order to keep waste to a minimum, the first thing you can do is switch paperless systems for all your office functions where you are able, this cuts down on the amount of paper used and so clears up a great deal of literal waste. If you have to print something, ensure it is correct and you have set the printer correctly regarding number of sides, pages and page orientation. Other forms of waste include waste of time, time can be wasted by not being diligent and making small errors, such as stapling the wrong pages in a booklet together, you then have to unpick the staple, rearrange the pages and do it again, wasting council time and taxpayers money.

Understand how to prepare business documents
1.1 Q . Explain the requirements for language, tone, image and presentation for different
A. Depending on whom the document is intended for, the requirements around language, tone and presentation can differ. For example when producing a report on sickness absence for the head of HR, I had to ensure the document was presented formally and clearly defined where statements were based purely based facts and data, and where they were opinions drawn from my interpretation of the data. The document was written in full sentences and used some technical terms that I knew the target audience was aware of. Data was provided in bar charts to save on space and provide headlines for the document. The document was also kept concise as I am aware that the target audience is often very busy and may not have the time to read a much longer document.

1.2 Q. Explain how to integrate images into documents
A. Integrating images into documents is as simple as either copy and pasting an image or importing it from a file. When including multi-media in documents it is important that there is a clear purpose for having is and that it meshes with the rest of the document, so as not to break the flow of reading if it is used in a report for example. The image or video must also be relevant and easy to understand. Using an image that is too big, too small or too blurry is a waste of page space and adds nothing to a document, aside from making it look unprofessional.

1.3 Q. Describe how corporate identity impacts upon document production
A. Corporate identity impacts on document production by standardising the look and feel of a document to make it consistent with other documents produced by the council. This ensures that people will know that the document was produced by the council before even reading the documents. This can sometimes restrict you when you are trying to produce something that isn’t normally done by the council as it may require agreement from others before you are able to publish it, some may also find that the corporate style is too dull or uninteresting and that may impact on how it is received by customers.