ORGANIZATION OF FILES AND DIRECTIVES

In the Navy, both files and directives are organized according to the Standard Subject Identification Code System, using Standard Subject Identification Codes (SSICs). The reference manual used to assign codes for specific subjects is SECNAVINST 5210.11, Standard Subject Identification Codes (SSIC), often referred to as the SSIC Manual. Instructions are provided to help you assign a code for any subject you are concerned with. The instruction specifically states that all Navy and Marine Corps letters, messages, directives, forms, and reports should be assigned an SSIC (by the originator). The SSICs are used as the basis for filing all information received or originated as letters, messages, directives, forms, or reports.

There are thirteen major subject groups in the SSIC system, each designated by the thousands digit(s) in a four- or five-number code, as follows:

Each major subject category is broken down into primary subjects, as identified by the hundreds digit of the code. The primary subjects are broken down into secondary subjects, as identified by the tens digit in the code. The last digit in the code, the ones digit, reflects a tertiary subject. The SSIC Manual assigns codes through the secondary subjects in all cases, and through the tertiary subjects in many cases. Codes may be assigned locally, using numbers following a decimal point, to further break down or classify a subject. As an example, the code used for NAVOCEANCOMINST 3142.1 represents the major subject group 3000, for Geophysical and Hydrographic or Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy Support, General data collection. NAVOCEANCOM assigned the decimal code .1 to identify Pilot

Weather Reports (PIREPS). As an AG2, you will rarely be required to assign an SSIC to a subject. All incoming Naval message traffic and most Naval correspondence will contain an SSIC. In message traffic, the SSIC is the five-digit number in solidi following the message classification. You have certainly seen observations before that have contained the classification line U N C L A S //N03142//. The N means a Navy SSIC follows, and the 3142 is the SSIC. In naval messages, the code is always expressed as a five-digit number, and only codes down to the tertiary subject-level are used.

All Naval letters and some memoranda will contain SSICs. Naval letters will contain a four-or five-digit SSIC as the first entry in the Reply/Refer to: block on the right side of the page following the letterhead. Of the four Naval memorandum formats, the two formats that may be used for inter-command memoranda are the letterhead memorandum, printed on the commands letterhead paper, and the memoran-dum- for, also printed on the commands letter-head. Both of these formal memoranda formats must contain an SSIC in the same manner as the Naval letter. You may use these assigned SSICs as the basis for filing the material, if filing is required.

The two informal memoranda formats used only for intra-command (inter-office) memos, normally do not contain SSICs. Often, the informal memoranda contain information of little continuing value, and rarely require filing. Usually, informal memoranda (in the Navy geophysics community) are hung on clipboards until the event listed in the memo passes, then the memo is trashed or burned.

The SSIC manual should be used as the basic guide for assigning codes to subjects, when SSICs have not previously been assigned, For convenience of use, the SSIC Manual is broken down into a numerical, code-to-subject, section as well as an alphabetical, subject-to-code, section. However, the manual often does not assign codes in sufficient detail to cover every subject. Using the group, primary subject, secondary subject, and (if provided) tertiary subject codes the manual yields as guide, refer to the index of Naval Oceanography Command instructions or your commands instruction index to locate instructions with the same SSIC code (through the tertiary code) for the subject you are attempting to classify. You will often find a notice or an instruction dealing with the subject, and these directives will have a subject specific SSIC.

It is not uncommon to find many subdivisions of a tertiary code using decimal codes from .11 to .99. At least once a year, Naval Oceanography Command issues a notice, NAVOCEANCOM-NOTE 5215, that lists all the current Naval Oceanography Command instructions. This notice may be used as an index for the instruc-tions.

Another directive, NAVPUBINST 5215.1, updated annually, lists not only effective Naval Oceanography Command instructions, but instructions for all of the major Naval commands, called Washington-headquartered commands. It contains five sections of listings: (1) a consolidated subject index; (2) an alphabetical listing of instruc-tion subjects, by command; (3) a numerical listing of instructions, by command; (4) a cancellation listing, by command; and (5) a DOD imple-mentation listing. Of these, the consolidated subject listing is an excellent source to research subjects and SSICs. The alphabetical and numerical listings both provide listings of Naval Oceanography Command instructions.

Learning Objectives: Define the terms cutoff date, retention period, transfer date, and disposal date. Identify the tasks involved with maintenance of files.

Privacy Statement - Press Release - Copyright Information. - Contact Us - Support Integrated Publishing