• 5.1 Office Equipment, Facilities and Supplies
• 5.1.1 Office Equipment
• 5.1.2 Supplies
• 5.1.3 Email Services
• 5.1.4 CAI-Asia Center Intranet
• 5.2 Transportation
• 5.2.1 Land Transport
• 5.2.2 Air Transport
• 5.2.3 Standard flight service class
• 5.2.4 Per Diem and Related Travel Allowances
• 5.2.5 Security
• 5.2.6 Seal and Logo Usage
• 5.3 Records Management
• 5.3.1 Frequency
• 5.3.2 Retention Period
• 5.3.3 Records Protection Program
• 5.3.4 Confidentiality and Access
• 5.3.5 Electronic Filing
• 5.3.6 Paper Filing
• Division Master File
• 5.3.7 Email correspondence

The CAI-Asia Center, Inc. shall, as far as possible, ensure that appropriate office furniture and equipment and facilities are available for the staff of the Center. All fixed assets purchased by the Center for operational purposes shall remain the property of the CAI-Asia Center, Inc. An inventory of all property shall be kept by FAS and property checks undertaken every 12 months.

• FAS will ensure that the annual budget shall include sufficient allocation for the purchase and maintenance of additional standard office equipment including: furniture, desktop and notebook computers, accessories, photocopiers, air conditioners, telephones and filing cabinets.
• Management and maintenance of the office equipment shall be the responsibility of the FAS. Request for repairs shall similarly be coursed through, and organized by, the FAS.

Each Divisions/Units shall maintain a limited amount of required consumable office supplies that it will issue to each staff on an ‘as needed’ basis.

• Email services are provided by the CAI-Asia Center in support of the operational and administrative functions of the Center.
• Permanent staff members of the CAI-Asia Center are automatically granted email ID and privileges while non-permanent staff (project staff and consultants) can request temporary use of the services subject to the approval of the Division Manager concerned.
• The Knowledge Management Division serves as the "E-mail Administrator" of the CAI-Asia Center which is responsible for setting-up, running and maintaining the electronic mail system. All requests for use of the email and IT services shall be forwarded to this Division.
• Email services may be used for personal messages subject to the following conditions:
  - email for personal use should not directly or indirectly interfere with the operations of the CAI-Asia Center;
  - it should not interfere with the user’s employment or other obligations to the CAI-Asia Center; and
  - it should not burden the Center with noticeable incremental cost.

• The CAI-Asia Center maintains an internal internet system for the use of its staff as a channel for broadcasting organization information, enabling easier access to information and internal databases by the CAI-Asia Staff members and to facilitate internal collaboration.
• It contains the following, among others: directory of staff, the CAI-Asia Operations Manual, policies and internal memoranda.
• The Intranet will be maintained by the Knowledge Management Division.

• As a policy and in line with the advocacy of the CAI-Asia Center, it shall promote the use of public transport and will not encourage the purchase of private vehicles for the use of the Center.
• The CAI-Asia Center shall however authorize the reimbursement of the cost of travel and use of public transport that are within duty station and in connection with official business and entitlement travels that include meetings, briefings, consultations, conferences, training courses, field visits and program related missions. The Center shall not reimburse transport expenses in coming to and from the place of residence and the Center.
• Reimbursement receipts shall be submitted by the staff concerned to the FAS for processing of reimbursement.

• For domestic and overseas travel that requires the use of air transport, it shall be the policy of the CAI-Asia Center to ensure that the most economical route will be chosen that considers both the travel time and cost of ticket unless otherwise indicated in the Manual.
• The CAI-Asia Center shall fund the cost of transportation that will be charged to the relevant program or activity, based on the following procedures:

i. Preparation and approval of the Travel Authorization (TA) (See Annex 2). TA shall be prepared at least one week in advance of travel by completing a TA, for clearance of the Division Manager and approval of the Deputy Executive Director;

ii. In case a travel advance may be required, the approved TA will be submitted to the FAS for processing of the advance payment.

iii. Preparation and submission of the back-to-the-office-report (BTOR, see Annex 3) within 10 working days following the return to office.

iv. Preparation of travel expense claim for reimbursement or to settle claims made against the travel advance, to be certified by the traveler and submitted to the FAS along with supporting documentations within 30 working days following return to office. Supporting documents include original receipts are required for all expenses that include accommodation, air fare, rental, etc. or a Certification of Payment, in case it is impossible to obtain receipts for certain expenses.

• Amendments on the TA – The TA shall be modified and approved when there are changes in the itinerary. A note to explain discrepancies shall be made on the travel claim.
• Donor Preference- In general the policies of the CAI-Asia Center, Inc. on travel shall be followed, except in cases where there is conflict with the policies of the donors, in which case the latter shall apply.

• Staff of the CAI-Asia Center, Inc. shall travel in the economy class.
• In case the travel is paid for by another organization, a business class may be allowed.
• Upgrading to a higher class or travel by alternative routes may be authorized at the expense of the traveling staff.
• On frequent flyer and related programs, mileage points accumulated shall accrue to the traveler.

• The CAI-Asia Center shall pay per diem for foreign travel on official business in lieu of reimbursement for actual subsistence expenses involving more than 12 hours away from home The full rate of per diem will be paid on the day of departure, irrespective of time; however, no per diem will be given on the day of return.
• The fixed per diem for official business shall be based on the rates applied by other international organizations, notably those of the UN organization and for which the submission of receipts shall not be required. FAS shall regularly update the schedule of per diem.
• The Center shall also pay per diem and other travel allowances to consultants on official business travel, which may be different from those paid to staff.
• In addition to providing transportation, the CAI-Asia Center will also provide a miscellaneous travel expense (MTE) equivalent to [US $ 150], which will be updated by FAS. The MTE will cover incidental expenses incurred in connection with the official travel such as visa application, in-country transportation, airport terminal fees, porter charges, etc. and will not require submission of receipts
• The CAI-Asia Center shall also bear the cost of basic travel accident and baggage insurance for staff.
• Any reimbursement in addition to the per diem and MTE shall be approved on a case to case basis by the Executive Director.
• Consultants and contractors on official travel shall be reimbursed on official travel-related expenses.

The CAI-Asia Center shall take steps necessary to ensure the safety of its staff in the event of security threat, civil disorder, and warfare. It shall alert the staff on any security issues and shall maintain regular contact with the United Nations Security Office.

As part of Office Security, the Staff shall abide by the following:

• The Staff shall familiarize themselves with exit routes from the building and assembly points outside the building;
• Familiarize themselves with emergency telephone numbers and fire drill procedures on the safety posters that are displayed in the building;
• The staff is advised to take the necessary precautions with personal valuables and equipment at the CAI-Asia Center; and
• Any theft must be reported to the Security as soon as possible after discovery.

FAS shall coordinate the conduct of safety training as necessary. If required, the CAI-Asia Center shall issue identification cards to its staff.

The CAI-Asia name and logo are the properties of the CAI-Asia Partnership. Members of the CAI-Asia Partnership may use the CAI-Asia Center logo without prior permission from the CAI-Asia Center to show affiliation with the regional CAI entities. The right to use the logo shall however be subject to the CAI-Asia Center logo usage policies:

• The CAI-Asia logo must stand alone and may not be altered in any way: It cannot be modified nor combined with any other design element such as photography, type, borders, nor can it be incorporated into another logo.
• The elements of the CAI-Asia logo must not be recreated, repositioned or redrawn.
• Official partners of the CAI-Asia, endorsed by the Partnership may use the logo for their own communications.
• The CAI-Asia Center does not permit the use of the logo by anyone outside the organization unless it is the sponsor of an event or program. The logo may then be used in conjunction with the event or program provided that the CAI-Asia Center does not object to this use.
• Questions regarding logo approval and permission to use the logo may be emailed to the CAI-Asia Center Finance and Administrative Division (FAS) at email address: fas@cai-asia.org

The records management is in place to ensure the systematic control of the creation, maintenance, use, reproduction and ultimate disposal of records. As much as possible actions promoting an electronic office are to be pursued.

The system applies to any information, regardless of physical form that may emanate from, or received by the Center as part of its official activities, including those that are issued internally within the Center and its Board.

• Records management shall also be implemented by the CAI-Asia Center Branches and Subsidiaries.
• The implementation of the CAI-Asia Center records management policies is the responsibility of all CAI-Asia Center Staff including CAI-Asia Center Branch and Subsidiary offices. The FAS is however the focal unit on records management which will:
  (i) serve as the receiving unit of all outgoing and incoming communication; and
  (ii) implement the prescribed retention period for different types of files, transfer files for external archiving and implement the records protection program.
• Records audit shall be periodically undertaken to ensure adherence to the CAI-Asia Center records management policies. Findings of the records audit shall be submitted for the information of the CAI-Asia Center Board of Trustee through the Executive Director.
• The filing system integral to the CAI-Asia Center, Inc. records management, a system that applies to both paper and electronic filing that are discussed in separate sections below (sections 5.3.5and Error! Reference source not found.) and is generally defined by the types of records (i.e,. Master files and subject files) is to be maintained.

• To avoid unnecessary accumulation of papers and to ensure that files are current at all times, filing should be done daily.
• Incoming correspondence should be filed according to the date indicated in the correspondence and not the date received, with the most recent date at the top of the file.
• File retirement that includes the practice of purging files through disposing of duplicate copies, drafts and any unnecessary documents should be done at least once per calendar year to prevent an unnecessary build-up of records in a limited office space.

• Retention Period refers to the maximum and minimum length of time that the records must be kept.
• The CAI-Asia Center will adopt several different retention period that will indicate which records can be kept until the scheduled retention period (minimum) but not longer (maximum) and are dependent on the usage factors and legal requirements such as audit.
• The retention period or on-site record keeping designations for each type of records are indicated in the table below:. Otherwise only important documents are to be scanned and electronically filed:

The records management system integrates the records protection and dispersal program that provides for digital imaging of vital records and off-site storage of these to ensure that the CAI-Asia Center operations will not be disrupted during emergencies or calamities. Also see additional guidelines in Section 5.3.5 on electronic filing.

External archiving shall apply to non-current files, semi-active files and rarely used files which shall be retired outside the office of the CAI-Asia Center, Inc.

Confidential correspondence sent by the CAI-Asia Center shall be filed separately by the Division or Office concerned in a locked cabinet, while incoming correspondence may be filed in a classified file, with an optional cross-reference to the subject file or declassified and filed in the regular files.

Records created in electronic form are subject to electronic filing. These may include, but not limited to, financial transactions, databases and records created as part of research activities. Electronic filing system is configured according to the type of records and filing system discussed in 5.3.5.

The Knowledge Management division in coordination with FAS shall develop guidelines for the design and structure of the CAI-Asia Center electronic filing system including the creation of a system backup and procedure to protect data from accidental erasure, disaster, or system malfunctions. These procedures shall form part of this OM.

Electronic records systems that have continuing utility and value is to be actively maintained by the Division that created it.

Types of records and filing practices:
CAI-Asia Center Master Files. Daily chronological file shall be maintained by the CAI-Asia Center that shall sort records according to the "date sent."

CAI-Asia Center Division Files. Each division shall be responsible for filing the following types of records related to the Division’s work:

• All Divisions shall maintain chronological files of all incoming and outgoing correspondence.
• Each staff within the Division shall be responsible for ensuring that copies of correspondence received and sent are filed in the Division Master File.
• To eliminate the need for duplicate filing, (i.e. creating extra copy for the division master file) general, routine files or those that are cross-cutting and common to the members of the division shall be filed in the Division master file and those that pertain to a specific program/project shall be filed in the Division file.

Division Subject File

• The respective divisions shall develop its own subject filing system that reflects the nature of the activities under that Division.
• If necessary, each division shall assign subheading and tertiary headings to categorize the files.

• For email correspondence, the message trail which accompanies an email message should be retained and a system should be put in place that prevents, as much as possible, any alteration of the electronic message.
• Electronic copies of email correspondence that are regarded as official and that provides a record of actions taken by the CAI-Asia Center shall be filed following the type of records filing system (master/subject file/activity) to establish a proper paper trail system.
• When documentary records of Internal memoranda that are normally circulated through email will be required, these should be scanned and filed accordingly.
• The KM and Capacity-Building Division shall develop the system for email archiving.