The verdict in three sentences
In a public body in Dublin receiving 900 letters a month, a paper register and signature folders no longer tell you who holds a file or for how long. A correspondence management application (registration, scanning, assignment, approval routes, reply tracking) costs between EUR 17,000 and 37,000 in 2026 for 3 to 5 months of rollout. Organisations that adopt it cut overdue correspondence by about 60 %, because every document has an owner, a deadline and an alert.
From paper register to digital workflow
The corporate secretariat receives letters from government departments, partners, suppliers and citizens. Today they are logged by hand, photocopied, then passed in folders between divisions. When a reply is due within 15 working days, nobody knows it is late until the sender chases it.
| Step | Paper process | Digital process |
|---|---|---|
| Receipt and registration | Handwritten register, 5 to 8 min per letter | Scanning and automatic reference number, 2 min |
| Indexing | Subject summarised by hand | Sender, subject, type, keywords, full-text search |
| Assignment | Secretary general's note on the document | Digital assignment to a division with deadline |
| Approval route | Physical folder, 3 to 10 days | Online approval, 1 to 3 days, from a phone |
| Deadline tracking | None | Dashboard, alerts 3 days before and when overdue |
| Outgoing mail | Copy kept in a binder | Reply linked to incoming letter, archived |
| Finding a file | 15 min to several hours | A few seconds |
2026 budget and timeline
| Item | 2026 range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping, route mapping | EUR 2,000 to 3,700 | 3 weeks |
| Incoming and outgoing mail app, assignment, approval | EUR 9,000 to 20,000 | 8 to 12 weeks |
| Dashboards and alerts (email, SMS) | EUR 2,000 to 4,600 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Hardware: 2 production scanners | EUR 2,300 to 4,600 | purchase |
| Training for secretariats and divisions | EUR 1,400 to 3,700 | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Total | EUR 17,000 to 37,000 | 3 to 5 months |
| Hosting and maintenance | EUR 280 to 830/month | ongoing |
For hosting, two options exist. Sovereign or on-premise hosting, on the body's own servers or with an Irish data centre, keeps data in the country under the body's direct control. Cloud hosting in an EU region (Dublin hosts AWS and Microsoft Azure regions) provides 99.9 % availability, provided it fits internal policy, GDPR and the Freedom of Information and records management obligations that apply to public bodies.
Conditions for success
- A formal instruction making the application the official route: without it, paper returns within 3 months.
- One champion per division, trained first and responsible for assignment.
- A clean cut-over on a fixed date, scanning only open correspondence, not historical archives.
Mini case study
Siobhan, corporate secretary of a public body in Dublin, handles 900 letters a month, about 300 of which require a reply. Today 35 % of those replies go out late, 105 letters a month, and 2 staff members spend their days logging and searching for files.
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With a EUR 26,000 application and EUR 550/month maintenance, registration time falls from 6 to 2 minutes: 900 x 4 minutes = 60 hours saved a month. Delays drop by 60 %, to 42 letters a month. At a loaded cost of EUR 40/hour, time savings alone are worth EUR 2,400 a month, so the project pays back in about 14 months, while response times to ministers, auditors and citizens improve markedly.
FAQ
Do we have to scan all the archives?
No. We scan correspondence from the cut-over date and open files, typically 2,000 to 5,000 pages. Scanning historical archives is a separate project, priced at around EUR 0.05 to 0.10 per page.
Does the app work for remote and hybrid staff?
Yes. The interface works in any browser over a standard connection, and approvals can be done on a phone, which matters for staff working from home 2 to 3 days a week.
Is an electronic signature valid in Ireland?
The eIDAS Regulation and the Electronic Commerce Act 2000 recognise electronic signatures; for certain formal instruments a qualified or handwritten signature may still be required, and the digital route then handles approval and tracking.
Who owns the system?
The public body owns the source code, the data and admin access, which avoids vendor lock-in and makes audits easier.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your monthly mail volume and approval routes: we price an application rolled out in 3 to 5 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
