Title: Effective E-mail
Publisher: Xebec McGraw-Hill
Format: CDROM and work book
Price: £21.99 for single person use or £250 for multi-user licence
This CDROM and workbook suggests that it will transform the way that you manage your e-mail communication, but can it live up to its promise? The course is divided up into three sections. The first is concerned with policy and procedures, which as it names suggests is concerned with organisational issues related to the use of e-mail. In particular it emphasises the need for a policy covering such issues such as the use of work facilities for personal messages. This section, the shortest, seems a little out of place in relation to the other sections. Are there organisations without such policies in place?
The following two sections are related more to individual use of e-mail. One section is about sending e-mails, dealing with issues such as when to use e-mail and how to ensure that the e-mails you send actually get the attention they require. The second section covers how to deal with the e-mails that you receive. Issues dealt with in the latter section include controlling, filtering and filing your messages.
Each section has a pre- and a post- test to measure learning. The programme itself is clear and easy to follow. An easily accessible reference document - the Knowledge Bank - provides detailed supporting information, a glossary of terms and an extensive bibliography. The accompanying workbook provides further information and exercises. It is available as a PDF file on the CDROM.
So will it transform the way you manage your e-mail communication? Possibly not, but what it will do is allow you to make some changes to improve your and your organisations use of e-mail. This course is easy to use, likely to be effective and well worth investigating if for any reason you doubt you are getting the best from your email system. It is also an excellent base for e-mail training.
Effective E-mail was reviewed by Patric Devitt, Psynergy Consulting.
