establishes policy, organization, conduct, method, or procedure. Generally, a directive is issued to do one or more of the following: Regulate or set up essential administration Establish policy Delegate authority or assign responsibility Establish an organizational structure Assign a mission, function, or task Initiate or govern a course of action or conduct Establish a procedure, technique, standard, guide, or method of performing a duty, function, or operation Establish a reporting requirement Change, supersede, or cancel another directive At times, directives are issued that may not fall within the scope of these criteria. These types of directives are issued in the directives issuance system to obtain quick and controlled dissemination. Normally issued as a notice, a directive of this type may include the following: Requests for comments, approval, or in- formation Directions for routinely carrying out established operations, such as matters that pertain to individual personnel actions or special shipments of materials Informative announcements, such as education or promotion opportunities, recreational activities, work improvement plans, suggestions for morale building, or changes in office locations or telephone extensions The Navy-wide use of the directive issuance system is advantageous to those activities that receive directives. It allows every naval activity that receives directives to group directives by subject and combine related subjects. Grouping and combining directives with related subject eases the directive filing process and distinguishes directives that are of a continuing nature from those that are of a brief duration. Another advantage to activities that receive directives is that the directive issuance system allows activities to obtain 2-18 complete sets of instructions upon activation and decommissioning. By using periodic checklists and subject indexes (5215s), an activity can determine the current status of directives, completeness of a set of directives, or directives currently in force. Use of the Navy Directives Issuance System is advantageous to activities that issue directives. The directive issuance system reduces the number of directives in effect by consolidating instructions that cover the same subject matter and eliminates instructions that duplicate, overlap, or conflict. The directive issuance system also improves the adequacy and coverage of instructions, identifies gaps in policy and procedures so other directives may be issued to cover necessary subjects, and ensures that activities are sent only those directives that they need. TYPES OF DIRECTIVES Two types of directives are used in the directives issuance system—instructions and notices. Instructions are directives that contain information of a continuing nature or require continuing action. An instruction has continuing reference value and is effective until the originator cancels or supersedes it. Notices are directives of a onetime nature and usually contain information or action applicable for a brief period (usually 6 months or less, but in no case more than 1 year). A notice has the same force and effect as an instruction but does not have permanent reference value. Therefore, a notice contains provisions for its own self-cancellation. This cancellation date should always be stated. When the exact cancellation date cannot be determined, a specific date for record purposes is set far enough in the future to allow completion of all necessary use of the notice. The AZ uses many different instructions and notices in the performance of daily tasks. Directives are issued by the systems commands, bureaus, type commands, ships, stations, and operating activities. Many of the directives that are used in aircraft maintenance activities are issued by the Headquarters of the Naval Air Systems Command and are known as NAVAIR instructions and notices. Each issuing activity provides a catalog of issued directives by issuing a NOTICE 5215 that lists its current directives. The consolidated index, NAVPUBNOTE 5215, contains a list of major commands’ directives; for example, OPNAV, SECNAV, BUMED, and so forth. Some of these directives are listed and found on the Internet.