Send an official letter to Records¶
Sending a letter to Records creates a separately numbered official record with a link back to the correspondence. This helps registry staff preserve the selected document and identify its origin. Issuing a letter, delivering it, registering a record and filing that record are separate steps; success at one does not prove completion of the others.
Availability: This draft follows the inspected WorkOS Final Screens confirmation for Send to records. The service implements requests and completion handling, while the application actions remain sample previews. Background processing can fail to identify the person who requested the handoff, and connected use has not been verified. Treat the steps below as the intended journey, with the current limits stated explicitly.
Start with finding and reading a letter, preparing its contents and attachments, and issuing it. This guide covers the letter-to-Records handoff. The wider Records guide explains how registry staff inspect and manage records afterward.
Before you start¶
You need permission to manage official letters and separate permission to read the result. Being the author or a recipient does not by itself grant those permissions. Access to the resulting record is governed separately by Records; a letter link does not grant access to its contents.
The letter must have been issued, must have at least one trusted attachment, and must not already have a completed Records link. Successful delivery is not a prerequisite for the manual request. A previously issued letter can still qualify after recall or archive, so check whether preservation is appropriate and make its current status clear to the registry team. Sending it to Records does not reinstate a recalled letter or prove delivery.
A pending request normally prevents another immediate request. Check the letter's existing Records links and pending state before confirming. If the result is uncertain, use the recovery guidance below rather than submitting repeatedly.
Check which document will be preserved¶
The current handoff selects the letter's earliest attached file as the record's primary document. The confirmation does not offer a file chooser. It does not automatically collect every attachment, include delivery evidence, generate a signed letterhead PDF, or create a package containing the body and all supporting files.
Review the saved attachments before requesting promotion. For example, if a supporting spreadsheet was attached before the final signed letter, the spreadsheet can be the selected file. There is no documented tie-breaker for files with the same attachment time. Ask the correspondence or registry owner to resolve an incorrect or uncertain selection; do not assume the visible letter preview is the file being preserved.
The request also carries the subject, body text and original letter reference as record metadata. These do not replace the selected primary file. The resulting record has its own number, separate from the letter's reference. Use both references when following up.
Understand the filing policy¶
The policy saved while preparing the letter controls whether a later event requests a record automatically. The manual Send to records action requests promotion immediately using the selected policy; selecting an event-based policy in this confirmation does not postpone that manual request until the named event. It also does not change the policy previously saved on the letter.
| Policy purpose | Automatic behavior when saved on the letter |
|---|---|
| When requested | No automatic request; an authorized person initiates the handoff. |
| On issue | Issue can request an official correspondence record. |
| After successful dispatch | A qualifying reported Dispatched or Delivered outcome can request the record. This does not establish that a person read the letter. |
| After delivery evidence | Recording delivery evidence can request the record, including evidence whose outcome is not successful delivery. |
| HR query on issue | Issue can request an HR case document through the personnel-case process. |
The design currently shows Send to official correspondence register. That wording does not establish a chooser for arbitrary registers or a guarantee that the resulting record is filed. Records uses the organization's active classification and numbering configuration. The policy choices and their labels still need reconciliation in the connected interface.
Use the HR-query policy only within the appropriate personnel-case process. Choosing it on an ordinary letter does not establish the staff, case or dossier relationships needed for that process. HR-query notices explains the background issue/delivery/preservation handoff. The complete case action journey and confidential-access verification remain unfinished.
Request the Records handoff¶
- Open the letter from Correspondence → Official letters. Review its issue history, current status, selected file and any existing Records link.
- In Letter actions, choose Send to records when available.
- In Send this letter to records?, choose Records filing policy. Confirm its intended meaning with the registry owner if the displayed label differs from the policies above.
- Enter a short Records remark explaining the handoff. The inspected design labels this optional, but the service requires it. Keep it within 512 characters because the input and processing limits still need alignment.
- Choose Keep viewing to cancel the confirmation, or Send to records to submit it.
- Refresh the letter's operations. Look for a pending request and then a Records link with its record reference and reported result.
- If you have access, inspect the resulting record through Records. Verify its primary document, source letter, current stage and filing details. Otherwise, ask an authorized registry colleague to confirm those facts.
The action first accepts a request for background processing. It does not return an immediately usable record identity or guarantee that registration has completed. The inspected confirmation also does not establish a complete success, failure or retry interaction. A connected frontend must provide that follow-up before these steps can be accepted as a working user journey.
Interpret the result¶
| What you see | Meaning and next check |
|---|---|
| Request accepted or pending | Correspondence has requested the handoff. No completed record is established yet. Refresh and follow up if it remains pending. |
| Records link with Registered result | Records reported a record identity and number. Inspect the actual record to establish its current stage and contents. |
| Registered record that is not filed | This is the ordinary letter-promotion result. Registry staff still need to complete the applicable filing work. |
| Filed record in a personnel dossier | The special personnel-case path can file and attach a record when the required dossier and staff relationship is present. This does not prove the wider HR case is complete. |
| Existing link returned again | Recovery can reuse the record already associated with the letter. It does not refresh the stored file, move it to another dossier or repeat filing. |
An ordinary promotion creates a registered record under registry control with a primary document and source reference. It does not automatically file that record, create a dossier, assign an office destination, or start a Records workflow for the ordinary letter policies. The organization must decide and perform any subsequent registry work.
The completion message currently says Registered even when the special personnel path has filed the record, or when recovery returns a record whose stage changed earlier. Read the live record rather than treating the letter's reported promotion result as a continuously synchronized Records status.
A completed link prevents another ordinary manual promotion request for the letter. It is not a “replace record document” action. Corrections to an existing record require the appropriate Records process and permissions.
Recover when the result is uncertain¶
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| The confirmation times out | Refresh the letter and check pending state and existing links. Ask support to reconcile the original request before creating another request. A timeout does not prove failure. |
| The request remains pending | Ask the correspondence and registry owners to check whether the record exists and whether its completion returned. The background service's requester-identification issue can prevent a first promotion from finishing. |
| More than 15 minutes have passed | The service can permit a deliberate follow-up request after this interval, but it does not automatically retry. The current availability check keeps the action hidden while pending. Ask support to reconcile the request; do not assume a retry button will appear. |
| No trusted attachment exists, or the wrong file would be selected | Resolve the source-document issue with the owner. A letter body or preview is not a substitute for the selected trusted attachment. |
| Records cannot resolve the file or filing configuration | Ask the registry administrator to check the document and active classification configuration. Repeated confirmation does not repair those dependencies. |
| A record exists but the letter still looks pending | Ask support to reconcile the completion and link. Creating another letter or changing its policy is not an established repair. |
| A link shows an unexpected result, number or dossier | Check the actual record and preserve the original references for support. Do not infer that replay will update the existing record's contents or placement. |
| The action is absent or rejected | Check management permission, prior issue, completed links and pending state. A design example or role title does not override these checks. |
When requesting help, provide the letter reference, time of the request, policy selected, visible pending/result state and any record reference. Use the organization's approved support channel; include document contents only when necessary and authorized.
What managers and registry owners should verify¶
Agree who owns the handoff, which file must be retained, whether registration alone is enough, and who completes filing. A delivery confirmation, a request acknowledgment and a Records link answer different questions. Check the actual record before treating the preservation step as complete.
This handoff does not establish a statutory retention period, compliance certification, guaranteed processing time or complete archive of the correspondence. Apply the organization's approved Records policies and verify their effect in the resulting record. No additional price or usage guarantee is established by this guide.