800.493.7370
The need to document business processes has been growing, driven by business investment in technology, a very lean workforce and expanding compliance requirements. Process documentation is being used to streamline training, bring new hires up to speed and reduce errors.
Businesses continue to keep headcount at a minimum. While this is good for the bottom line, an unintended consequence has been that the number of long-term, seasoned employees who truly understand all the inner workings of key processes has dropped. Companies need to capture this knowledge to facilitate training and ensure that new hires can quickly be brought up to speed.
Especially in tough economic times, companies need to train new employees as efficiently as possible. Presumably, you are hiring because you have orders to fill. Relying on seasoned professionals to train new hires will significantly reduce productivity just as you are trying to improve it. Documenting key processes is the best solution, and it is best done ahead of time, not as new employees are coming on board.
Process documentation is also being used to help improve relationships between businesses. Financial companies who rely on outside partners, for example, benefit from clearly outlining the way they want to conduct business with their partners and detailing each step: errors are kept to a minimum, frustration levels are nonexistent and relationships are strengthened since expectations have been outlined from the beginning.
SOX, the FDA, the EPA and other government agencies each have a set of regulations that continues to grow and change. Businesses often are required to document more of their processes in order to demonstrate and prove compliance.
A side effect of creating efficiency through process documentation is that standardizing processes creates room for creative solutions. Not having to figure out or remember how to do things each time allows room in the brain to figure out how to do things better.
Avoid common mistakes like documenting too much or not matching the documentation level to the audience’s basic understanding; this is a common problem when using engineers or other “experts” to document processes that will be used by those with different job descriptions (e.g., people working on a manufacturing line).
It can be tricky to know the level of expertise of your target audience. Process documentation always assumes the lowest level of knowledge about the process, yet that the audience has some knowledge about the process. Too much or too little detail can be frustrating for the user. There is a science to reaching that balance. A professional writer can help determine the audience level up front and identify the appropriate level of information to include.
Remember that it can be hard to capture every single thing that needs to be done in a process. When you do something repeatedly it is common to skip details and assume or forget steps in the process. These errors of omission will only be evident when new people are trying to use the documentation, thus, it is often helpful to have an outside party who is seeing the process for the first time try it out to ensure all of the steps have been captured.
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.