Administrative Coordination and Office Procedures Fundamentals Training Course

Course overview

Administrative coordination depends on consistent routines, accurate records, clear communication, and the ability to keep competing priorities moving without losing detail. When meeting requests, travel arrangements, incoming correspondence, shared files, approvals, and office supplies are handled informally, delays multiply and managers lose visibility of important commitments. This course equips administrative professionals to establish dependable office procedures that support executives, teams, visitors, suppliers, and internal service functions.

Participants learn how to organise administrative work using practical workflow tools, including priority matrices, action trackers, meeting agendas, decision logs, filing structures, correspondence templates, and standard operating procedures. They practise managing calendars and meetings, coordinating travel and events, controlling documents and records, processing routine requests, communicating professionally, and escalating issues with the right information. The course also addresses confidentiality, version control, business etiquette, service standards, and the handover of tasks during absence or changing workloads.

Teaching combines instructor demonstrations with realistic office scenarios, guided use of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and Teams, and peer review of administrative documents. Participants work through a simulated week in a busy corporate office, responding to changing diary requests, preparing a meeting pack, maintaining an action register, and resolving an information-handling problem. Each participant leaves with an Office Administration Procedures Pack containing adaptable templates, a personal workflow map, a priority-management method, and a 30-day application plan for improving procedures in their own workplace.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Design a daily and weekly administrative workflow using priority criteria, deadlines, and escalation points
• Create meeting agendas, briefing packs, minutes, action logs, and follow-up communications
• Manage shared calendars and appointments using Microsoft Outlook scheduling, categories, and reminders
• Develop a controlled filing structure with naming conventions, version control, and retention rules
• Write clear professional emails, memoranda, requests, and status updates for different stakeholders
• Build an Excel action tracker that records owners, due dates, dependencies, and completion status
• Document repeatable office tasks as standard operating procedures with roles, steps, and controls
• Apply confidentiality and records-management practices when handling sensitive business information

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Administrative Assistants — who need reliable systems for coordinating diaries, documents, meetings, and routine requests
• Office Administrators — who manage day-to-day office procedures and need to standardise how work is handled
• Executive Assistants — who support senior leaders with complex schedules, meeting preparation, and follow-through
• Team Coordinators — who track actions, communications, and shared administrative responsibilities across a department
• Reception and Front Office Coordinators — who manage visitors, correspondence, service requests, and office information flows
• Newly Appointed Supervisors — who need to establish clear administrative routines for a small office or support team

Requirements and prerequisites

This is a foundation-level course and is suitable for complete beginners in formal office administration. Participants should be comfortable using a computer, creating and saving files, sending email, and working with basic Microsoft Office functions such as typing in Word and entering simple data in Excel. Familiarity with Outlook calendars or Microsoft Teams is helpful but not essential. No prior administrative qualification, records-management certification, shorthand, project-management training, or supervisory experience is required. Participants should bring examples of non-confidential administrative challenges they would like to improve, such as meeting follow-up, filing, or task tracking.

Training methodology

The instructor uses short demonstrations followed by practical administrative tasks rather than lecture-only delivery. Participants schedule conflicting appointments in Outlook, prepare a meeting pack in Word, build an action tracker in Excel, and organise a controlled document workspace in Teams. Case studies introduce late approvals, confidential correspondence, absent colleagues, and changing manager priorities. Small groups compare service responses and procedure designs, while instructor feedback focuses on accuracy, clarity, and practicality. The final session converts learning into an individual office-improvement plan and a reusable procedures pack.

Course outline

Day 1: Administrative coordination and work control

• The administrative coordinator's role in operational continuity
• Mapping office stakeholders, service expectations, and communication channels
• Applying urgency-impact criteria to competing administrative requests
• Using daily task lists, weekly planners, and time blocks
• Setting response standards and escalation thresholds
• Creating request logs and work-in-progress registers
• Managing interruptions, handovers, and unexpected priority changes

Workshop: Participants map a simulated office workload, prioritise 20 incoming requests, and produce a daily control sheet with escalation notes.

Day 2: Diary, meeting, and event administration

• Configuring Outlook calendar views, categories, reminders, and scheduling assistant
• Assessing meeting purpose, attendee roles, timing, and required decisions
• Preparing agendas, attendee lists, briefing packs, and room requirements
• Recording decisions, actions, owners, and due dates in meeting minutes
• Managing recurring meetings, cancellations, substitutions, and hybrid attendance
• Coordinating travel itineraries, visitor arrangements, and event checklists
• Following up actions through reminders and status reporting

Workshop: Participants schedule a multi-stakeholder meeting, create its agenda and briefing pack, then draft minutes and an action log from a case briefing.

Day 3: Documents, correspondence, and records

• Writing concise business emails with purpose, action, deadline, and context
• Selecting appropriate formats for emails, letters, memoranda, and internal notices
• Using Word styles, templates, tables, and review comments for consistent documents
• Applying file naming conventions, folder structures, and document metadata
• Controlling versions, approvals, and final-document publication
• Applying ISO 15489 records-management principles to office records
• Handling confidential information, restricted access, and secure disposal

Workshop: Participants revise poorly written correspondence and design a controlled filing structure, naming convention, and retention decision for a departmental case.

Day 4: Office procedures and service delivery

• Identifying repetitive administrative processes suitable for standardisation
• Writing standard operating procedures with scope, roles, steps, and controls
• Creating checklists for reception, supplies, onboarding, and routine requests
• Managing incoming mail, couriers, invoices, and supplier communications
• Maintaining office inventory, purchase request, and approval records
• Using Microsoft Teams channels and shared files for coordinated team administration
• Measuring administrative service through turnaround times, error types, and request volumes

Workshop: Participants document a standard operating procedure for a recurring office process and peer-review it against a practical quality checklist.

Day 5: Integrated office coordination practice

• Using Excel tables, filters, and conditional formatting for action tracking
• Building a responsibility matrix for shared administrative activities
• Producing concise status reports for managers and internal clients
• Resolving conflicting requests through evidence-based communication
• Planning absence cover and task handover documentation
• Identifying process risks, bottlenecks, and quick-win improvements
• Creating a 30-day office procedure implementation plan

Workshop: Participants complete a timed office coordination simulation and assemble a personal Office Administration Procedures Pack with templates, workflow improvements, and a 30-day plan.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Teams

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions