Mail-merging: The Principles

About mail-merging

Mail-merging is the process of merging variable data and fixedtext.

Using mail-merging, you can create individualised letters,envelopes, labels and other documents without having tolaboriously create each individual one.

Mail-merging naturally fulfils one of the DfES's conditions ofreducing the administrative burden on teachers, namely thatwhen data is inputted into a computer system it should beright first time. One of the aspects of this principle is thatcomputer data should not have to be re-entered in order togenerate a different view of it.

Examples of mail-merging

The "right first time" principle can be illustrated by thenumber of different kinds of document that you could createusing one set of data consisting of school names and addressesand Head teachers' names:

Notification of funding allocations for anew financial year.

Invitation to a meeting.

Attendance registers for courses/conferences.

End-of-term letter.

Labels for conference packs.

Address labels for the envelopes.You can even use the same set of data (if set up properlyinitially) to send different letters to (for example):

Primary schools/secondary schools.

Schools that have/have not submitted their ICT Strategy.

Head teachers that are invited to a meeting on Monday, andthose invited to the meeting on Tuesday.Advantages of mail-merging

It can save a lot of time over the long term.

Recipients often feel as if they have been given individualattention.Disadvantages of mail-merging

It can take a long time to set up initially, and so may not beworth it for a one-off job.

Recipients often feel as if they have been given individualattention. This is not always a good idea.

Terry Freedman runs the website http://www.ictineducation.org, on which he sells the Big Database, consisting of 1008 records and 23 fields -- ideal for practising mail-merging!