secrep_extracts
Informing people of amendments
The representative is requested to inform the following people of any changes needed:
For section representatives - what to do with an extract
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Checking data (how much to check)
Informing people of amendments
Losing or gaining contact details
Postal Address (even if email address is used)
Changing Salutation or Addressee
How to address an Association member (outside InTouch)
What is sent in an extract
At regular intervals, section representatives are sent names and contact details of section members, as spreadsheets. Most of the time, this will be the active and inactive section members, but occasionally those known to be dead or retired will also be included, so that their status is not forgotten
Checking data
The representive should NOT circulate the list to the whole section; some contact details may be those of family or friends who are prepared to forward messages from the School or Association but do not want their information spread more widely.
The representative is not expected to go to herculean efforts to check items of which she has no knowledge either way, though it can be helpful to remind members that information about postal addresses and telephone numbers should be kept up-to-date, or even (e.g. every few years or so) ask them to include their current details in their News responses.
If data is known to be incorrect, it should be corrected or cleared by sending an amendment request to the Database Handler.
If the representative has sent amendments to the Database Handler since the previous extract, she should check that her amendments have been incorporated, and if necessary re-send them (while remembering that her amendments may have been superseded by others).
Because the database is a shared database, and members may be contacted by the School, contact details may be changed or cleared by others than the Association.
The above chart shows that all changes should be sent to the Database Handler. If simpler for the secrep, copy the email to Database Handler to both the News Finance and Distribution Officer and, if appropriate, also copy it to the Membership Assistant. The latter two will use what they need and ignore the rest; the Database Handler will amend the database.
Amendments should NOT be sent as a spreadsheet but as a list, consisting of the name and section (as currently on the database) of each person for whom changes are requested, followed by the items being changed for that person.
Losing or gaining contact details
No contact details for "active" member
Section representatives are requested to notice the cases in which there are no longer contact details for a member marked as active (WBA Active = y). If they cannot give current contact details for the member (e.g. from their own knowledge or after asking others, a process that may take a few months), they should seriously consider requesting the Database Handler to mark the member as not active (WBA Active = n).
Contact details added for non-active member
Similarly, if new contact details have been provided by others for someone marked as not active (WBA Active = n) they should ask that the member is marked as active (WBA Active=y) and send her the normal communications.
Correcting WBA Active if in contact
If a member with whom they are in contact, and who they know is happy to receive Association mailings, is marked as not active, they should ask that she is marked as active.
Postal address (even if email addresses are used)
It is desirable that the database holds postal addresses. If an active member’s record has no postal address, and contact is made by email or telephone, the member should be asked for a postal address - her current “longish-term” address. (It is realised that there are a few members that move so frequently that they cannot, or prefer not to, give a postal address.) Telephone numbers are also useful.
Changing Salutation or Addressee
In the version of InTouch that was installed in 2013, Salutation and Addressee were introduced. These were retained when the InTouch database was converted to Excel; in 2016.
Addressee
The default in creating Addressee (the first line on an envelope) is that the member's own initials are used, between the member's title and surname.
Some married women prefer to use their husband's initials, and some with titles should either have given names (e.g. daughters of earls) or no initials (e.g. wives of knights).
Once created, Addressee can be amended as itself (rather than by amending the component parts); desired amendments should be sent to the Database Handler at the School.
Salutation
Salutation (how a letter starts, following the word Dear) may be amended (separately) in the same way.
How to address an Association member (in real life)
The default convention within the Association is that ex-pupils are addressed by given name (by other ex-pupils and ex-Staff, regardless of relative ages), and that ex-Staff are addressed formally (Mrs ... etc) except by those individuals whom they have invited to call them by given name.
last amended 22 February 2020
