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Letter Number

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Module: Administrations · URL: /administrations/letter-number · Responsible role: General Affairs / Admin (general-affairs) · Also used by: Owner/Director (full); nobody else — the page needs administrations.update

Letter Number — two registered numbers: 001/TA/X/2026 "Field research assignment" linked to a Travel Authorization request, and 001/MEMO/X/2026 "Appointment of research coordinators" from Rachel Whitman to all research staff

Screenshot: Lisa Porter (Operations Officer), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data. She holds General Affairs, so she sees the full register.

Why I use this page

This is our outgoing-letter register. Whenever anyone in the institute needs an official number for a letter, memo, assignment letter (Surat Tugas) or travel authorization, I register it here so the number is unique and in sequence. I also use it to close document requests: when I register a number against a request, that request is marked ready for the staff member who asked for it. I open it several times a week, and at month end to check the register against the letters actually sent.

What's on the screen

  • Header — Letter number with a short description, and the orange + button (Register letter number) at the top right.
  • Toolbar — the Type filter (one checkbox per letter prefix, e.g. MEMO, TA), a sort control, and Search subjects… on the right (searches the subject only).
  • Table columns
    • Number — the full generated number, e.g. 001/TA/X/2026 (sequence / prefix code / month in Roman numerals / year). This column stays frozen when the table scrolls sideways.
    • Subject — the subject in bold, with From sender to recipient underneath (or just To recipient when there is no sender).
    • For request — the document type of the linked document request, or —.
    • Type — the prefix code as a pill.
    • Date — the letter date (e.g. "Oct 25, 2026").
    • ⋯ — row menu with Edit and Delete.
  • Footer — row-selection count and paging buttons. Newest letter dates are listed first.

How I …

Register a new letter number

  1. Click +. The Register letter number dialog opens ("The full number is generated by the server from prefix, month, and year."); see Register letter number below.
  2. Fill in Subject, Recipient and Sender — all three are required.
  3. Pick the Prefix (shown as CODE — Label). It defaults to the first prefix in the list.
  4. Check Date (defaults to today), Month (1–12, defaults to this month) and Year (defaults to this year). Month and year go into the number; the date is the letter's own date.
  5. Optionally add Notes.
  6. If the letter answers a staff document request, choose it in Related document request (listed as Document type — Requester; only requests that do not have a letter yet appear).
  7. Click Register. The new number appears at the top of the table. I copy the Number onto the letter before it is signed.

Issue a letter for a document request

  1. Open Documents Request to see what the staff member asked for.
  2. Come back here and register the number as above, selecting that request in Related document request.
  3. On save the server sets the document request's status to Ready, so the requester sees it is done. The register shows the request's document type under For request.

Correct a registered letter

  1. Click ⋯ → Edit on the row. The dialog shows the full number under Edit Letter.
  2. Change Subject, Recipient, Sender, Date or Notes (subject, recipient, sender and date stay required).
  3. Click Save changes.

Find a letter

  1. Type part of the subject in Search subjects….
  2. Narrow with Type to one or more prefixes.

Detail page, forms & dialogs

Register letter number

Register letter number — the Register letter number dialog with Subject, Recipient and Sender (example placeholders such as "e.g. Executive Director"), Prefix (INV — Invitation), Date 26 Oct 2026, Month 10, Year 2026, Notes and Related document request

Screenshot: Lisa Porter (Operations Officer), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data.

+ opens Register letter number: "The full number is generated by the server from prefix, month, and year." Subject, Recipient and Sender are required. Prefix lists the letter types as CODE — Label (here INV — Invitation, MEMO — Executive Memorandum, TA — Travel Authorization) and defaults to the first. Date is the letter's own date; Month and Year go into the number and default to today. Notes is optional. Related document request links the letter to an open staff request (listed as "Document type — Requester"), which then switches to Ready. Register reserves the next number for that prefix and year and adds it to the top of the table.

Edit letter

Edit letter — the Edit Letter dialog for 001/MEMO/X/2026 with Subject, Recipient, Sender, Date and Notes

Screenshot: Lisa Porter (Operations Officer), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data.

⋯ → Edit opens Edit Letter, with the full number (e.g. 001/MEMO/X/2026) under the title. Only Subject, Recipient, Sender, Date and Notes can change; the prefix, month, year and sequence are fixed once registered, so a wrong prefix means registering a new number. Save changes applies the edit. Subject, recipient, sender and date stay required. A letter linked to a document request keeps that link; the request's document type shows under For request in the table. A number registered by mistake can be removed with ⋯ → Delete, but once a number is on a signed letter, correct the record rather than deleting it. Cancel closes without saving.

Access & permissions

  • The menu and URL require administrations.update (lib/domain-routes.ts). In the role matrix that is Owner/Director and General Affairs only; ordinary staff, Finance and HR do not see it.
  • Registering and editing need administrations.update, deleting administrations.delete on the server. The general-affairs role has all of them. This also applies to Issue Letter on Documents Request.
  • Letter types (prefixes) are maintained in Settings → General → Letter Number, which only the organization owner can open.

Caveats

  • Prefix, month and year cannot be changed after registering. The edit dialog only covers content fields, because changing them could break the sequence. If I picked the wrong prefix or month, I delete the entry and register again (see the next point).
  • The sequence runs per prefix per year, not per month. The server takes the highest sequence for that prefix and year and adds one, so 005/MEMO/III/2026 can follow 004/MEMO/II/2026.
  • Deleting is permanent and can reuse a number. Delete asks "Delete letter "number"?" and cannot be undone. If I delete the highest number of a prefix/year, the next registration gets that same number again — only delete numbers that were never sent out. If a delete fails, no message is shown; the row simply stays.
  • If two people register at the same moment, one may get "That letter number was just taken; please submit again." — just click Register again.
  • Register is disabled and the form says "No letter types yet — add one in Settings → General → Letter Number." when the organization has no prefixes.
  • The linked document request cannot be changed or removed with Edit; linking a request marks it Ready immediately and that is not reversed if the letter is deleted.
  • Dates are plain calendar dates; the month in the number comes from the Month field, not from Date, so keep them consistent.

Limitations

  • No file upload: the API accepts a scanned letter file, but the dialog has no upload field (marked TODO in the code), so the signed letter cannot be attached here.
  • No export or print of the register, and no filter by date range or sender.
  • Search covers the subject only, not the number, recipient or sender.
  • Selecting rows offers no bulk action.
  • I cannot add or edit letter types from this page.
  • Documents Request — staff requests that a registered letter fulfils (status becomes Ready).
  • Dashboard — Administrations overview.
  • General settings — Letter Number prefixes (letter types) are defined there by the owner.
  • Announcement and SOP — the other Office menus I maintain.