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Is there a right way to document procedures?
(c) Shirley Dalton – Dalton Business Systems 2008
www.daltonbusinesssystems.com.au

The short answer is yes. The right way is YOUR way.

Depending on the size of your organisation and the skills of your employees, documented procedures can be as simple as a checklist or as complex as a ten thousand page manual.

Procedures can be written in plain English or they can be full of jargon or techno speak.

Don’t let anyone tell you there is one way to write a procedure.

What is important is that you have something written down or recorded somewhere.

Why is it so important to have something written?

It’s not important for you and the current staff, especially if they know what they are doing. But, it is vitally important if your staff leave and there is no-one to teach the new staff.

This happened to me. I found myself in a position that had been vacant for a couple of months. There were no documented procedures.

There were no records and I floundered. Everything was hard. I had to continually ask my supervisor and in many instances I ended up reconstructing the history and the records.

Because there were few records I had to rely on the memory of other staff and I wasted valuable time and productivity because I had to continually piece things together.

So, what is the answer?

The easiest way to document procedures is to create checklists or forms or to create simple tables in Microsoft Word or Excel.

For example, let’s imagine yours is a service business. If we look at your sales process, there will be a number of steps you complete before the customer agrees to buy.

These steps can be made into a checklist that the salesperson ticks, dates or signs to record that they have been completed.

The checklist also acts as a reminder in case the salesperson forgets some of the process.

The checklist also enables new employees to carry out the work with minimal training and the system also helps to manage the quality of the work of the employee.

Does it have to be on paper?

No. The checklist can be created electronically. Many organisations make use of Microsoft Excel or customer relationship management programs such as ACT or Goldmine to record their sales process.

For example, I worked with one client to create formulas in Microsoft Excel which automatically calculated the dates that certain steps needed to be completed. The manager was able to access the spreadsheet at any given time and see where the sales were up to. He was also able to monitor the progress of the salespeople and to provide support and training when needed. He was also able to monitor whether the company standards were being followed. In this case, quotes were to be provided to potential customers within 7 days of the first meeting. The date was automatically calculated in the computer and the salesperson entered the actual date below the calculated date. If the date was after the 7 days, the manager and salesperson had a conversation.

But I’ve been told you have to include Purpose, Scope and Background.

You can if you wish, but it’s not necessary. Again, it depends on your organisation and your needs. Certainly if you work for a large corporation or for the Government, it’s likely your procedures will contain the purpose, scope and background.

Purpose provides a brief summary about what the policy or procedure will do. In other words, what is its purpose? For example, “This procedure outlines the steps in the sales process”.

Scope explains the parameters for the policy or procedure. For example, “This procedure applies to all sales executives, including full-time, part-time, and casual”.

Background is included to help put the policy or procedure into context. For example, “This procedure was amended to ensure all prospective client details are recorded in the company sales spreadsheet created in March 2007”.

The important thing to remember is that whatever format you choose to use, it must suit you and your organisation or the outcome you desire.

Another client I worked with contacted me because his company needed to be able to demonstrate that they had procedures that were documented and followed by employees to ensure their customers received a consistent standard of product and service. He wanted to win contracts with large organisations and needed to be able to demonstrate to them that his company had document procedures which were followed by the staff.

We installed TKO Business Modeller Software. This is a database program that was especially written in Australia for companies to be able to easily document their procedures and create manuals. The software allows for sections of the manual to be printed separately and also to be accessed directly from employee computer desktops.

Imagine you’re running a business that is open Saturday mornings and your regular receptionist has rung in sick. All of your other staff are already engaged in their work and you have no option but to engage a temporary assistant. With TKO the temporary assistant can double click on the icon on the desktop of the computer and immediately access the procedures and any forms or checklists required to carry out the duties. As an example, she may be required to answer the phone. She can read the telephone script on her computer as she talks with the caller and she can print or access any associated forms or electronic files. The result – minimal training is required resulting in minimal loss of productivity. This example, of course, assumes that you have a telephone technique or script for answering the phone and that you have enquiry forms etc. to record prospective customer details.
If you don’t, this is one area you could improve today. In my experience business owners know why they do and say what they do. They have learned the hard way what works and what doesn’t. Many of them however have never written it down nor formalised it into telephone scripts or enquiry forms.

Think about your business and if you haven’t already developed one, write down or record the what you would say or ask a potential customer on the initial enquiry.

What information do you need to be able to help the potential customer?

Just documenting your telephone technique and training your staff could improve your sales dramatically.

And, if you don’t want to or can’t write the script, have an employee sit with you when you take an enquiry and have her write it up or record it and write it up later.

It really doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you do it.

And one more thing, if you don’t document your procedures and train your staff you are stuck with doing the work. Documenting your procedures frees you to delegate so you can focus on the important task of growing your business.

If you would like more information on documenting your procedures contact Dalton Business Systems on 02 4920 9808 or visit www.daltonbusinesssystems.com.au

TKO Software http://www.daltonbusinesssystems.com.au/services.html#twelth