Clerk duties: operations, despatch and transport

1. DUTIES OF A CLERK IN
THE OPERATIONS,
DESPATCH AND
TRANSPORT OFFICES
Ayanna Charles-Ford
Section 12
Objective 2

2. Role of a clerk in the operations
office
 A clerk in the operations office is responsible
for the routine office activities that are carried
out in most offices, together with specific tasks
relating to the factory as assigned by the
factory manager.
 Documents are prepared to assign workers to
shifts, jobs and machinery. As work
progresses, a factory clerk has to prepare the
various reports, forms and documents used in
works control.

3. Duties of a clerk in
the operations
office

4. Operations clerk duties:
 Preparation of a shift roster and hourly roster.
 Preparation of daily production reports.
 Preparation of documents used in
production. A clerk should be able to
complete the following forms that are used in
the factory office.
 Job cards
 Job cost cards
 Cost analysis
 Planning master
 Cost cards
 Time cards

5. What is a shift roster?
List of who is working when.
Shifts are periods of the day
when different groups of
workers do the same job in
relay.

6. The purpose of a shift roster
To make sure that you have
enough staff working when
they are required.

7. 1. Shift Roster
Employee
Monday
13
Tuesday
14
Wednesd
ay 15
Thursday
16
Friday
17
W. O’Grady 9-5 9-5 9-5 2-5 9-12
H. Distin 9-5 9-5 9-5 9-5 9-5
M. Alibu 12-4 12-4 12-4 12-4 12-4
SHIFT ROSTER
Period: Monday 13 November – Friday 17 November 2017

8. Hourly Roster
Employee 9-10 10-11 11-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5
W. O’Grady        
H. Distin        
M. Alibu    
HOURLY ROSTER
Day: Monday 13 November 2017

9. 2. Daily production reports
 Production planners set daily
production targets for different parts
of the factory.
 The reports tell how well production is
going. The clerk creates a report
summarizing performance.

10. 3. Preparation of documents
used in production
Complete the following forms:
a. Job cards
b. Job cost cards
c. Cost analysis
d. Planning master
e. Time cards

11. a. Job card
A job card sets out the details of
a job that needs to be completed.
A jobs is a one-off task of work,
such as making a production run
of shoes or dresses, or the
manufacture of a shipment of
cars.

12. b. Job cost card
These are used for costing
purposes, to identify how much it
costs to make particular
products. They contain all
planned costs associated with
manufacturing a product.

13. c. Cost analysis
The cost analysis is largely the
work of the Accounts Office, but
information about the costs of
various jobs may be supplied by
the Production office. This
involves identifying the various
costs that go into a particular job.

14. d. Planning master
This is a plan setting out all the
jobs that will be carried out in a
factory unit in a given week. It
shows which job will be done on
each machine and by each
operator.

15. e. Time cards
These can be used to identify
what tasks particular employees
should be doing at particular
times of the week. The data on
the time card can also be used
for working out the cost of doing
a particular job.

16. Duties of a clerk in
the despatch office

17. Despatch clerk duties:
 Completing the necessary forms or preparing
documents for the despatch of goods. For
example
 Packing notes, delivery notes, advice notes.
 Verifying that the right goods are sent.
 Creating and maintaining a database of
couriers, transport contractors and agents.
 Allocating loads to available vehicles.
 Adhering to special legal requirements in
packing and transporting goods.

18.  Filing and retrieving records, including those
on computer, used in the despatch and
transport office.
 Monitoring the despatch and transport of
goods.
 Liaising with the sales department, carrier
organisation, agents, port authority and
customers concerning the despatch, transport
and tracking of goods.

19. Duties of a clerk in
the transport office

20. Transport clerk duties:
 Preparing and maintaining records for
transporting goods
 For example: bill of lading, consignment notes.
 Preparing and maintaining delivery notes and
destination sheets.
 Liaising with customers concerning the
delivery of goods.
 Preparing a maintenance schedule for the
servicing and repairing of vehicles.

21. REFERENCES
 Carysforth, C. et al (2012), Office
Administration for CSEC – A Caribbean
Examinations Council Study Guide,
Nelson Thornes UK.
 Jacob, A. (2014), Office Administration for
CSEC, Nelson Thornes, UK.
 Ramtahal, F. (2013). Office Administration,
(2nd ed.) Caribbean Educational
Publishers Trinidad.