Outbox

The Outbox means a work process within the communications logistics of companies and organizations with the task, the documents to be sent to the individual departments for / the postal service to work. The “product” of this process is the outgoing mail. Based on this process, a folder in e-mail programs, into which the e-mails to be sent or successfully sent are pushed, is called "outbox".

The paper-based workflow in the outbox of companies

This workflow developed during the time when the documents were created in paper-based form by hand or with a typewriter . The documents as letters are to be sent and in the working process of the internal mail were collected from the various departments, from the Post Office analyzed in a first step to their shipping orders. Questions are clarified whether the document may be folded, whether it should be bundled with other documents that are sent to the same recipient by other departments, whether enclosures should be added to the document, whether the recipient should receive it by registered mail , etc. The documents are sorted according to the respective specifications and important letters are listed in an outgoing mail book.

In a second step, each document is provided with a shipping envelope ( envelope ). In many companies an inserting machine is used for this. The documents must be sorted according to their number of sheets before the machine can process them.

In the third step, each letter is given the respective postage and franked. Postage stamps are stuck on the envelope or the letter is postmarked with a franking machine .

In a fourth step, the letters are processed for handover to the postal service provider, for example sorted according to size and placed in transport equipment (colloquially known as "post boxes"). In this work step, parts of those services can be provided that normally fall within the scope of the postal service provider and which the postal service provider rewards with a discount on postage. These activities are called partial services and represent a method of postage optimization .

The workflow in outgoing mail with electronic documents

If the documents to be sent are in electronic form and do not require a manual signature, the task in the outbox is handled by a significantly changed workflow. The documents are transported to the post office via data line and can be processed with special software and printed out on paper. The documents can be sorted beforehand according to various specifications such as recipients, letter types, postcodes, etc. An identifier can be placed on the document for the inserting machine, with which it is controlled and the complete and correct inserting is monitored. With IT franking , the separate step of franking is no longer necessary. Much of the work that would otherwise have to be done manually by the post office or postal company can be carried out electronically in seconds. The subsequent printing and enveloping of the documents can be combined to form a self-monitoring system.

With the full use of electronic processing in outgoing mail, the content of a letter, its delivery to a postal service provider and its delivery to the recipient can be proven. At the same time, the documents or parts of them can be sent to the recipient or additional recipients in parallel with the letter dispatch by e-mail, fax , SMS or other web media .

Other options include handover to a mailroom or feeding into a hybrid mail .