Receive and register correspondence¶

After finding or registering a record, use review record files and processing to inspect saved versions, add supporting evidence and follow its process. Use record activity to interpret saved updates and their limits.

Use this guide to understand the intended Records journey and its current limits. The steps follow the inspected final designs; the frontend remains in progress and its sample success states do not establish a saved record. Public submission and status tracking need a verified connected rollout before they can be relied on. Your organization provides the actual intake address and access arrangements.

Prepare a submission¶

Have a clear subject, a useful description and one main document. Add only the supporting files needed to explain or verify the submission. The current maximum is nine supporting files, making ten files including the main document. Check the allowed formats and per-file size shown by the active intake page; do not assume every document type is accepted.

External submitters also prepare their name, email, role, organization and intended addressee. These describe the source and intended recipient of the correspondence. They do not select the organization's internal processing destination or assign a member of staff.

For example, a supplier could submit a signed letter about a delayed response as the main document, with a delivery acknowledgement as a supporting file. Use a subject that helps staff recognize the matter later. Avoid sending the same file twice as both main and supporting material.

Submit through public intake¶

1. Open the intake address supplied by the receiving organization and check that you are sending to the right organization.
2. On Submit a record, enter Sender name, Sender email, Sender role, Organization, Addressee and Subject.
3. Enter a Description explaining what happened and what the registry needs to understand. A description is required by the current system even though the inspected design does not mark this field with an asterisk.
4. Choose Attach main document and finish the upload. Use Add supporting documents for any supporting files. File selection alone is not evidence that an upload has finished or that the submission has been saved.
5. Check the recipient organization, details and document selection, then choose Submit record.
6. Treat the submission as received only when you obtain its receipt. Save the Submission reference, select Copy status key, and keep the full key and its expiry somewhere private.

The receipt confirms intake, not formal registration or a favorable decision. The official reference is issued later. The final design offers Check status and Start another submission after receipt. Start another submission only for a different matter, or after the registry confirms that the previous attempt did not create a record.

If the page times out, do not repeatedly submit the same matter as new work. Preserve any reference already shown, the approximate submission time and the error message. Ask the registry to check whether it received the item. Receipt recovery after a repeated request is an identified implementation gap, so a later screen response is not sufficient proof that the key matches the original record.

Check a public submission¶

The intended design supports checking progress without signing in. There is an unresolved backend connection issue in this path; if it cannot display your submission, contact the registry rather than assuming the record was lost.

1. Choose Check status from the receipt, or Check existing status from the submission page.
2. Paste the complete Status key from your receipt.
3. Choose Check status.
4. Read the current status, submission reference, official reference when issued, and the submitted and last-updated times.

Not every submission passes through every status. The page is view-only: it does not amend the submission, replace a file, approve work or withdraw the record. Its last-updated time reflects saved record changes and is not a promise that a new response is waiting. No automatic acknowledgement email is established by the intake path inspected for this guide.

If the key is missing, incomplete, expired, invalid or belongs to another organization, use the registry's support channel. Share your submission reference and enough context to identify the matter; do not post the status key in a public message. The inspected default lifetime is 180 days, but the receipt's actual expiry is the value to use.

Capture correspondence at the registry desk¶

Registry capture requires access to manage records in the correct workspace. Use it for received letters, complaints and other incoming correspondence that did not start as a public submission.

1. Open Records and choose Capture correspondence from the intake or registry view.
2. On Capture incoming correspondence, enter Sender organization and Subject.
3. Complete Summary. This supplies the required description of what was received and what the next office needs to know.
4. Choose Add main document, finish the upload, and add optional files through Add supporting documents.
5. Review the details and choose Add to registry. Use Cancel if you are not ready to create the record.
6. Confirm that the record is available for registry review before proceeding to registration.

The category is incoming correspondence. The newer design chooses the receiving office and destination during registration. Older frontend preview controls for classification, retention, mailbox automation, named ownership or suggested folders do not establish those behaviors for registry capture.

Find the record to work on¶

Open Records and select the appropriate list described in the Records overview.

In Intake queue, search by a record reference, public submission reference or subject, then choose Review record. In Registry review, choose Review record for an item under registry control. In All records, use the search and category control, then choose Open record. In progress offers View progress, while Awaiting filing offers Open record.

The detail design has Overview, Process, Documents and Activity tabs. For registration and destination changes, start with Overview and verify the record's current state. The inspected design currently shows these actions on an in-progress example; the backend does not permit them there. Only proceed when the action is valid for the actual record and your access.

The lists can overlap, and a list position is not an assignment to you. General Records excludes personnel records. If a record is absent, check the workspace and search terms, then ask an authorized owner to verify its location and your access. An empty result should not be treated as proof that the underlying record was deleted.

Register an eligible record¶

Registration requires record-management access and an unregistered item still in intake or registry review. Your organization needs valid classification and numbering configuration and a current organization structure.

1. Open the record's Overview and choose Register record when it is available for that record.
2. Confirm the selected record. Its official number will be generated; you do not type one into this form.
3. Choose Receiving office, then Recipient role from that office. The recipient is an organizational role, not a named-person assignment.
4. Under Where should work begin?, choose Office, Role or Shared queue, then select the Destination. It must belong to the receiving office.
5. Check the displayed registration path. Add a short Routing note if the receiving team needs handling instructions.
6. Choose Register record and confirm the returned official reference and saved record details.

Registration records the responsible office and role and requests the incoming-correspondence process. It does not guarantee that the process has started at the time the response arrives. If the record remains registered without a process, ask the responsible team to check the handoff.

If a choice is missing, refresh the options and ask an administrator to verify the organization structure and access. A dependency failure can also leave choices empty. Do not select an unrelated office merely to get past the form. If the record has already been registered, open its saved details instead of trying to issue another number.

Change a registered record's destination¶

This action requires record-management access and the Registered stage. It is unavailable after the record moves into processing, filing or a later stage.

1. From the record's Overview, choose Change destination when eligible.
2. Review Current destination and the original receiving office and recipient role.
3. Choose an Office, Role or Shared queue, then the New destination. It may belong to another office, but it must resolve in the current organization structure and differ from the original registration destination.
4. Enter Reason for change with the operational reason for changing responsibility.
5. Review the destination change and choose Change destination.
6. Reopen the record and confirm the saved destination, responsible office, role and reason.

The original receiving office and recipient role stay on the record. A destination change does not change its filing folder, retention policy or a running process assignment. If the record advanced while you were editing, refresh and ask the process owner about the correct next action.

Recover without creating extra records¶

To group existing records about one matter, follow the dossier guide. Creating or linking a dossier does not register, file or change the process state of those records.

For records created before your organization adopted Zerohive, use the pre-system file guide. It explains file-detail and ZIP submissions, their history and recovery. Import preserves historical context; it does not issue a new official number or perform ordinary registration.

Recording completed retrieval, review, compliance or stewardship work is a separate capability from intake and registration. Read completed record work for its evidence, attribution, correction and availability limits. It does not automatically register, file or complete processing of the record.

For help, provide the workspace or receiving organization, the record/submission reference if available, approximate time, intended action and error text. Keep confidential documents and private status keys in the organization's approved support channel.