Business Process Documentation

Documenting Business Processes Keeps Costs Down and Quality Up

Business has undergone major changes in the past 12 to 18 months in order to fend off the effects of the recession and to stay relevant and growing through difficult times.  One of the unfortunate impacts of the change has been shifting and reducing staff levels to save money and remain competitive.

Companies risk losing critical “tribal knowledge” with any kind of staffing change or reduction.  It is all too common for critical process knowledge to remain only in employees’ heads as they walk out the door.  Consequently, companies quickly find themselves in a situation where only one person in the department or on the line knows how to complete critical tasks.  These tasks may only be done once every two weeks or every other month.  But that one person has to be available or the entire workflow gets bogged down, making it difficult to allow that key employee to take any vacation time.  Process documentation makes it possible to avoid this single point of failure.

In addition, companies are trying to keep the cost of remaining workers down while maintaining the highest level of quality in order to retain customers.

One manufacturing company in southern California realized that the various languages being spoken in their plant and lack of consistent experience was impacting quality of their high end products.  The company quickly decided that one of the best ways to balance the cost of their workers with maintaining quality was to have less variation in their manufacturing process through clear process documentation in different languages.

Done right, process documentation gives you reliability and accountability in any market conditions.  Plus, it empowers workers to double check their results, as well as to learn and grow, especially on the occasional tasks.

The Value of Process Documentation

Process documentation encompasses everything from a "How-to Manual" for data center operations to developing documentation for complex engineering procedures and manufacturing processes.  This may involve ground-up development if there is no existing documentation.  In other cases, the focus is on consolidating, verifying and streamlining a plethora of "documentation pieces".

Two overarching goals are driving the need to develop and improve process documentation:

1. Minimize the ramp-up time for new or reassigned personnel to become effective at using company standard processes.  More anecdotally, the desire for process documentation seems to be tied to lean staffs and cutbacks in training; good process documentation has become a low-cost form of job training.
2. Reduce the number of errors and omissions associated with those processes.  The major challenge to developing effective process documentation -- documentation that is easily accessible and easily used by the target audience -- is bridging the gap between those that have the required subject matter expertise and those that will be using the documentation.  This can be overcome by getting input from both the users of the process and the respective subject matter experts.

What Makes Effective Process Documentation?

• Minimalist Design - Most process documentation is intended to be used in real time. As such, documentation that requires significant time or effort to review is less likely to be used or will result in lost productivity.
• Intuitive - The more intuitive the documentation, the more likely it is to be used; if the user is required to contemplate what has been documented, they will waste time and become frustrated with using it.
• Unambiguous - To the extent possible, the goal of process documentation is to eliminate as much decision-making as possible, leaving little room for interpretation.

Will process documentation help your organization?

It can be the right solution for your immediate and long-term needs based on the following:

• Do you have standard processes that are used by multiple people?
• Is it critical that there is little or no variation in your procedures or processes?
• Do your employees struggle with a process that they complete infrequently?

It is critical to communicate the goals and benefits: reducing errors and making it possible to more efficiently add staff, etc. when you undertake a process documentation project.  Proper communication can quell unrest among employees and avoid the common misperception that the process of developing such documentation is a precursor for layoffs.

Experts agree that a good starting point is to first determine how much you really need to document, what processes need to be included, what languages are involved and who the true experts are in your organization. 

The InfoPros Advantage

At InfoPros, our team of professionals is experienced in developing and maintaining technical content across a variety of industries, from software and technology to consumer, industrial and medical.  InfoPros can provide the skills and experience required to meet your specific needs, whether for a short-term project or a long-term engagement.

Contact us today, and learn more about the InfoPros Advantage.