Administration & ITQ&A by dot point

The meaning of customer care, the difference between internal and external customers, the features of good customer service (a customer-care policy, service standards, handling complaints), and the benefits of good customer care and the consequences of poor customer care for an organisation.

The main health and safety legislation affecting an office (the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act and the Display Screen Equipment Regulations), the responsibilities of employers and employees, and common office hazards and ways to reduce them.

The tasks involved in organising and supporting an event (planning the budget, venue, date and attendees, arranging travel, accommodation, catering and equipment, preparing documents), the support given during the event, and the follow-up tasks afterwards.

Methods of keeping people, property and information secure in an organisation (visitor sign-in, ID badges, CCTV, alarms, passwords, backups and access rights), and the main requirements of data protection legislation for handling personal information.

The skills (such as IT, communication, numeracy and organisational skills), qualities and personal attributes (such as accuracy, reliability, confidentiality, working to deadlines and good time management) of an effective administrator, and how each contributes to the smooth running of an organisation.

The range of tasks carried out by an administrator (managing diaries and appointments, arranging meetings and travel, handling mail and records, supporting events), and the use of time-management and task-management techniques such as to-do lists, prioritising, e-diaries and gathering resources in advance.

The main methods of electronic communication used in administration (email, intranet, internet, video conferencing, instant messaging and shared documents), their advantages and disadvantages, and how to choose the most suitable method for a given purpose and audience.

The methods of gathering information (the internet, books and journals, surveys and questionnaires, observation, internal records), the difference between primary and secondary sources, and how to judge the reliability of a source so that decisions are based on trustworthy information.

An overview of the National 5 Administration and IT course assessment: the question paper (testing knowledge and skills across the course) and the practical assignment (an integrated IT and problem-solving task completed under supervision), how they are graded, and how to prepare for each.

The database features used to store and manage information (fields and records, data types, sorting on one or more fields, searches and queries using criteria, and reports), and choosing the right feature for a given task.

Good electronic file-management practice (clear folder structures, sensible file naming, version control, regular backups) and the use of an electronic diary (e-diary) to schedule appointments, set reminders and manage time.

The spreadsheet features used to process and present numerical information (formulae and functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN and IF, formatting, sorting and filtering, charts and graphs), and choosing the right feature for a given task.

The word-processing and desktop-publishing features used to create and edit business documents (house style, templates, mail merge, tables, headers and footers, page numbering, find and replace, spellcheck), and choosing the right feature for a given task.