How to track letters we send out?
December 14, 2011 1:13 AM Subscribe
So I've been tasked to find some sort of 'document repository & tracking system' for use in the non-profit I work for. I could really use your help.
Senior Management needs a way to track letters and documents that we send out. This was how it was explained to me:
For eg, Dept A will send out its letters with a tracking number; its tracking number will start with '100'. Dept B's letters will have tracking numbers that start with 200. And so on and so forth.
So if I'm from Dept A and I'm sending out a letter, I'll include a number that starts with the '100'.
After mailing, I will log on to the 'document repository & tracking system' and record that number in the system and write the topic for my letter.
This way, I can track a letter by the number and see what it was about.
I'm not familiar with such a system and I haven't heard of it either. I could really use your help! I need something with a easy UI and preferably web-based, coz no one in the non-profit is tech-savvy and we need a very easy to use system!
Thanks!
Senior Management needs a way to track letters and documents that we send out. This was how it was explained to me:
For eg, Dept A will send out its letters with a tracking number; its tracking number will start with '100'. Dept B's letters will have tracking numbers that start with 200. And so on and so forth.
So if I'm from Dept A and I'm sending out a letter, I'll include a number that starts with the '100'.
After mailing, I will log on to the 'document repository & tracking system' and record that number in the system and write the topic for my letter.
This way, I can track a letter by the number and see what it was about.
I'm not familiar with such a system and I haven't heard of it either. I could really use your help! I need something with a easy UI and preferably web-based, coz no one in the non-profit is tech-savvy and we need a very easy to use system!
Thanks!
From what you describe there, yeah, I would agree with drjimmy11 that a Google Docs spreadsheet is probably the best option.
A way, way, more complicated system that would actually store the documents themselves and do all sorts of other things would be a Document Management System. A free and mature product in that category is Alfresco but you would need a pretty capable computer guy to set something like that up.
However, that sort of thing is usually for tracking internal documents. If all of the activity you're tracking has to do with clients or other organizations in general, another more sophisticated solution might be a Customer Relationship Management system, which usually let you track what emails and letters and other communications your organization has had with outsiders and who was involved in that communication. A free solution in that category that I'm familiar with and like is SugarCRM but as with a DMS you'd need a capable computer guy to set that up. There are software-as-a-service CRM systems provided over the internet that you just pay a monthly fee for available, however.
posted by XMLicious at 1:57 AM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
A way, way, more complicated system that would actually store the documents themselves and do all sorts of other things would be a Document Management System. A free and mature product in that category is Alfresco but you would need a pretty capable computer guy to set something like that up.
However, that sort of thing is usually for tracking internal documents. If all of the activity you're tracking has to do with clients or other organizations in general, another more sophisticated solution might be a Customer Relationship Management system, which usually let you track what emails and letters and other communications your organization has had with outsiders and who was involved in that communication. A free solution in that category that I'm familiar with and like is SugarCRM but as with a DMS you'd need a capable computer guy to set that up. There are software-as-a-service CRM systems provided over the internet that you just pay a monthly fee for available, however.
posted by XMLicious at 1:57 AM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: thanks folks! I thought about Google Docs, but I'm not sure how they'd respond to it. I suppose they're looking for something more...dedicated?
@drjimmy11: they want to store just the topic of each letter for now but looking to store the text of each letter 'in the near future'.
@XMLicious: yeah I'm afraid of presenting something to them that might be just overkill. how's KnowledgeTree for this use? I signed up for the free trial, but can't seem to log in after that!
anyway, thanks for your help guys! really appreciate your input!
posted by mordecai at 3:03 AM on December 14, 2011
@drjimmy11: they want to store just the topic of each letter for now but looking to store the text of each letter 'in the near future'.
@XMLicious: yeah I'm afraid of presenting something to them that might be just overkill. how's KnowledgeTree for this use? I signed up for the free trial, but can't seem to log in after that!
anyway, thanks for your help guys! really appreciate your input!
posted by mordecai at 3:03 AM on December 14, 2011
Nthing Google Docs, but do it by creating a form so most people aren't touching the spreadsheet backend. To make it "dedicated," try getting your non-profit enrolled with Google Apps for free so that you can assign accounts to everyone distinct from their personal accounts. To make the form look more permanent, embed it in a private area of your web site.
If by chance you go the CRM route for coordinating messages sent by different groups, CiviCRM is a free open source solution aimed at non-profits.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:05 AM on December 14, 2011
If by chance you go the CRM route for coordinating messages sent by different groups, CiviCRM is a free open source solution aimed at non-profits.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:05 AM on December 14, 2011
I would pay someone to create a simple web app for this that has a decent interface and the filters/reports management will need available with one click.
posted by michaelh at 6:13 AM on December 14, 2011
posted by michaelh at 6:13 AM on December 14, 2011
After mailing, I will log on to the 'document repository & tracking system' and record that number in the system and write the topic for my letter.
This workflow smells of DOOM to me.
If your mail tracking needs are beyond the abilities of a mail client capable of presenting mails in a threaded view, I think you need something that integrates mail sending with tracking and search. I think trying to bolt some kind of half-assed database onto the side of an existing mail service using manual data entry is going to end up causing far more trouble than it prevents.
posted by flabdablet at 7:39 AM on December 14, 2011
This workflow smells of DOOM to me.
If your mail tracking needs are beyond the abilities of a mail client capable of presenting mails in a threaded view, I think you need something that integrates mail sending with tracking and search. I think trying to bolt some kind of half-assed database onto the side of an existing mail service using manual data entry is going to end up causing far more trouble than it prevents.
posted by flabdablet at 7:39 AM on December 14, 2011
Response by poster: @Monsier Caution: creating a form for Google Spreadsheet is a great idea actually...How do I pull up searches then? Anyway, I'll explore that option! CiviCRM looks good too
@flabdablet: are you talking about e-mail? I'm actually talking about snail mail here
@odinsdream: why do you know this?
@michaelh: I was hoping for an off-the-shelf solution :(
posted by mordecai at 6:08 PM on December 14, 2011
@flabdablet: are you talking about e-mail? I'm actually talking about snail mail here
@odinsdream: why do you know this?
@michaelh: I was hoping for an off-the-shelf solution :(
posted by mordecai at 6:08 PM on December 14, 2011
Yes, I was assuming email.
Adding a (hopefully quick and easy) tracking step to snail mail might actually work.
This is mefi... we don't do @here
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 PM on December 14, 2011
Adding a (hopefully quick and easy) tracking step to snail mail might actually work.
This is mefi... we don't do @here
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 PM on December 14, 2011
The thing is, what you're specifically describing is so simple that you probably aren't going to find anything that does only that.
How about this: have you ever used wiki software, like Wikipedia? That would probably be a good fit for this application and would look more substantial to your management team than the Google Docs solution or a custom-made database solution. It could provide the basic functionality you want, a web-based interface to write down the list of document numbers and the notes about them, and then lots of other features that will probably be useful: creating and managing different user accounts, change tracking for everything so that you can see who wrote which notes and how they've been edited over time, an internal search engine, and a bunch of other stuff.
If that sounds good I would recommend JAMWiki, another free solution. I've worked with it for a while and looked through the source code and it's a really well-designed, well-tested, solidly built application. The guy who writes it is smart, a good developer, very quick to fix bugs, and writes good documentation. He's said somewhere that he wants to become the "go-to" corporate solution for wikis.
It can be set up (on a computer on your organization's network) without a "database server" component that most software like this would require (but can be transitioned to use one later, if you end up storing lots and lots of information and it gets slow) and so all you'd need to set it up initially is someone who is familiar with installing Java web applications. After it's set up I would expect that a fairly non-technical person will be able to manage it.
Another nice thing about JAMWiki being set up without a database server is that you can back up everything just by copying the files that make up the web site onto the backup disk or tape or however you doing it, whereas backing up a system with a separate database can be much more complicated.
There are also lots of companies that offer wiki hosting online, see this list for examples, if you wanted to "outsource" it. If you were to look at those, just make sure that the one you pick can provide a private web site that just your users can see. (I assume you wouldn't want this all to be public information.)
posted by XMLicious at 6:53 PM on December 14, 2011
How about this: have you ever used wiki software, like Wikipedia? That would probably be a good fit for this application and would look more substantial to your management team than the Google Docs solution or a custom-made database solution. It could provide the basic functionality you want, a web-based interface to write down the list of document numbers and the notes about them, and then lots of other features that will probably be useful: creating and managing different user accounts, change tracking for everything so that you can see who wrote which notes and how they've been edited over time, an internal search engine, and a bunch of other stuff.
If that sounds good I would recommend JAMWiki, another free solution. I've worked with it for a while and looked through the source code and it's a really well-designed, well-tested, solidly built application. The guy who writes it is smart, a good developer, very quick to fix bugs, and writes good documentation. He's said somewhere that he wants to become the "go-to" corporate solution for wikis.
It can be set up (on a computer on your organization's network) without a "database server" component that most software like this would require (but can be transitioned to use one later, if you end up storing lots and lots of information and it gets slow) and so all you'd need to set it up initially is someone who is familiar with installing Java web applications. After it's set up I would expect that a fairly non-technical person will be able to manage it.
Another nice thing about JAMWiki being set up without a database server is that you can back up everything just by copying the files that make up the web site onto the backup disk or tape or however you doing it, whereas backing up a system with a separate database can be much more complicated.
There are also lots of companies that offer wiki hosting online, see this list for examples, if you wanted to "outsource" it. If you were to look at those, just make sure that the one you pick can provide a private web site that just your users can see. (I assume you wouldn't want this all to be public information.)
posted by XMLicious at 6:53 PM on December 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
If the former, maybe just a bunch of Google docs of the letters, with the topic and code number in the file name?
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:26 AM on December 14, 2011