Your organization must decide what type of complaints it will accept. Will there be limits on the nature of the complaints you will review? If so, these limits must be identified in the written material you provide to the public in order to ensure that complainants have appropriate and realistic expectations of your process. For example, some agencies do not have the legal authority to reconsider the merits of the decisions they have made. However, these agencies can consider and respond to complaints about other aspects of service delivery, such as delay or rudeness. A description of any statutory appeal or other review options that may be available should also be provided in your written material.

Your agency must also decide what forms of communication activate your internal complaint mechanism (ICM). For example, must all complaints be in writing? Must the complainant use a special form? Must the complaint be addressed to a particular person? The written material that your agency produces to describe the ICM should include these points. If your agency responds differently to oral complaints than to written complaints, an explanation outlining the differences must be included in your written material.