8003 Guidelines for Written Correspondence and Suspended Items | ADMINISTRATION-5600-MANUAL

Georgia Division of Aging Services
Administrative Manual

Chapter:

8000 Communications

Effective Date:

Section Title:

Guidelines for Written Correspondence and Suspended Items

Reviewed or Updated in:

2022-01

Section Number:

8003

Previous Update:

Summary Statement

The Division of Aging Services (DAS) staff will format and route for signature correspondence in a manner that is consistent with the Department of Human Services (DHS) standards.

The Division of Aging Services adheres to MAN 1501, Marketing, PR Stylebook and Policy Guide.

Written Correspondence

Signature

These items of correspondence must bear the Division Director’s signature:

Cover memoranda transmitting policy/procedures
Letters or memoranda informing the recipient of an official action
- Deficiency
- Area plan/budget approval
- Grant award
- Waiver of policy or procedure
Letters or memoranda requiring some official action by the recipient
- Corrective action
- Written response
Letters or memoranda to federal agencies or other Departments of state government
Letters or memoranda to elected officials, the Commissioner of DHS or other Division/Office Directors
Letters responding to a Client/Constituent complaint or inquiry which has been forward to the Division from the Commissioner’s Office, the Governor’s Office or any federal official
Letters of support for grant opportunities

Items may be delegated to the Deputy Director at the discretion of the Director.

The following does not require a “Pink Sheet”:

Regular procurement
Items receiving approval via alternative method, such as grant spend plans
ODIS documents follow the OSPI process DHS Esign. Review of material follows DAS Process below prior to entry into DHS Esign
Contracts follow the eCat process or non-standard contract process
Informational documents that do not require approval

Other types of correspondence may be signed by the Section Manager or other appropriate staff. However, a copy of any such correspondence must go to the Division Director if it involves a matter that may have possible future political or policy implications.

Formatting Outgoing Correspondence

Refer to the DHS MAN 1501, Marketing, PR Stylebook and Policy Guide.

Letters and memoranda must use official DHS letterhead, which are found on the DHS intranet.

Routing Correspondence for Review

Initial routing for review may be via email with reviewers using the “track changes” feature of WORD or manually via a “Correspondence Routing Memorandum”, or “pink sheet”.

Authors should save a copy of the correspondence in an appropriate folder on the shared drive (J-drive).

Authors should allow sufficient time for the review process:

Section review by Team Lead or Supervisor(s), if applicable, and Section manager
3 days for email review to all reviewers
1 day for delinquent reviewers
Esign review – allow 1 day per required reviewer.

Step 1	Author drafts document.
Step 2	Author sends document to Team Lead (or follows supervisory chain of command) for review.
Step 3	Reviewer makes edits. Section manager is final review at this step and assures Style Guide is followed, proper grammar is used, etc.
Step 4	Section manager returns to author for revisions or to submit for legal, budget, business operation, Deputy Director, etc. review. The Business Operations Section manager must review all documents relating to grants, purchasing, compliance and contracts, including waivers from policy/procedures. The Office of Budget Administration must review all documents relating to the budget. The Associate General Counsel for DAS must review all documents containing legal citations, that reference federal or state laws or regulations, that are regarding waiver from policy/procedure, or that involve current litigation or could be involved in future litigation The author/initiator also may designate any other reviewers
Step 5	Author emails all reviewers. Section manager is copied. Email subject states “Pink Sheet/Descriptor of item for review”.
Step 6	If any reviewer responds with an away message, the author will forward to the reviewer’s back up, which should be included in the reviewer’s away message. Reviewers shall review within 3 work days of receipt and shall either: Reply all; o.k., not changes or Reply all with comments and/or edits.
Step 7	After the 3 review days, the author will confirm that all reviewers have responded. If a reviewer has not responded, the author will email the unresponsive reviewer and copy the reviewer’s supervisor.
Step 8	After the 4^th review day, the author shall make revisions and prepare final document for Esign review (or final manual review).
Step 9	The author will obtain final approval via the manual or Esign process below:

Manual Process

Manual process: When final edits are completed, the author will provide a final document to the Deputy Director with a “pink sheet” attached, upon which the signatures of individuals whose review is required preceding the Deputy Director are affixed. The Deputy Director will then:

initial and route to the Director for signature or
return for corrections if necessary

DAS Esign

Esign process: DAS Esign is to be used when obtaining final signatures manually is not an option.

DAS Esign is to be used only for documents in their final form, after review and edits. Any document uploaded to DAS Esign must be ready for the Division Director’s signature.

All persons in the email pink sheet approval flow shall constitute the Esign approval flow. The Business Operations Deputy Director is the final approver before the Director.

Reviewers shall review within 1 business day of receipt. They shall either:

Approve and sign or
Decline to sign and provide a detailed explanation in the comment section.

If an extension is needed, the approver will communicate directly with the document originator.

Originators of Esign documents are expected to monitor the progress of their documents in Esign. If there is a delay, the expectation is that the originator shall remind the approver to review the document. If there is no response or document movement after the initial reminder, the originator will remind the approver again and copy the approver’s supervisor.

Originators must check Esign to determine where the document is stalled before emailing reviewers.

Exceptions to DAS Esign

Exceptions: Manual Transmittal material will use the DHS/ODIS Esign process. Contracts will be routed in accordance with DAS Business Operations and Office of Procurement and Contracts.

Once signed, the document will be returned to the Section Manager. The Section Administrative Support Staff will then mail the original and any copies, including a copy for the Director’s Office.

Suspended Items

The suspense system allows DAS to track incoming items that require action or a response from the Division, so that a timely and appropriate response results.

Items come to the Division Director via email or United States Postal Service mail that require a response. The Director will assign to staff to draft a response via email and copy the Executive Assistant and Section Manager, if applicable. The Director shall specify a deadline for the draft response.

Items that are suspended may include:

Request for a waiver of policy from an Area Agency on Aging – assigned to Regional Coordinators
Request for collaboration or MOU – assigned to Program owner
Request for letters of support – assigned to Program owner
Request for data – assigned to Program Integrity Section Manager
Constituent complaints/inquires – assigned to Executive Assistant to enter into the DHS CSIS system and assign to appropriate program owner
Other Correspondence received at the Director or Deputy Director’s discretion.

Refer to 8004 Constituent Services of this manual for further information and procedures on Constituent inquiries or complaints.

Not every item assigned by the Director’s Office will require a formal, written response on letterhead. A telephone call or returning information via fax or email to the sender may serve the purpose. The Section Manager or designee will document the “green sheet” under Action with the appropriate response. Also, this part of the memorandum is to document when the action has been completed.

When appropriate action on a suspense item consists of something other than a written response, the person completing the action must briefly describe the specific action taken, date, outcome, etc. and any other details to document that the response is complete and that the matter has been resolved. The Executive Assistant will mark the item complete on the official log and file the item. The person completing the action may also retain a paper copy of the material.

The official log of suspended items will be maintained on the J-Drive, Director’s Office folder.

When a suspense item requires a written response for the Director’s signature, use the procedures described above in WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE, substituting the “green sheet” for the “pink sheet”.

Items may be delivered to individuals on staff without first going through the Director’s Office. Each Section must use procedures that allow staff to track incoming items to assure timely and appropriate response to items not needing the Director’s attention.

Commissioner’s Signature

On occasion, the Division Director will initiate correspondence or be delegated a response to correspondence by the Department of Human Services Commissioner. In those instances, the Director may delegate to a Section Manager or other staff person the responsibility for drafting the outgoing letter or memorandum.

Refer to 2011 Grant Submittal Instructions in the manual for Grant Submittal Instruction, which includes Grant Cover Letter for the Commissioner’s signature.

Staff will follow the WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE or SUSPENSE ITEM procedures in this section as appropriate. Additionally, a Correspondence Review for Commissioner’s Signature memorandum (“blue sheet”) is attached to either the green or pink sheet.

Electronic “blue” and “green” sheets are allowed.