Process documentation is an essential for companies to maintain consistency, transparency, and efficiency in their operations.
Think for a moment, do your new employees have any knowledge of their processes’ details? Is there a document to help them understand what needs to be done or which procedures to follow? Furthermore, do they know which departments and responsible parties are involved in their assigned tasks?
When a company creates an internal document specifying activities and steps, it provides these newcomers and all other workers with essential information. This wealth of detail explains, from start to finish, how to perform a task.
But what does it take to document processes? We tell you everything in this step-by-step guide.
What is process documentation?
Process documentation is the formalization and detailed explanation of tasks and steps necessary to implement and execute a given process.
It is a set of information that serves as a guide for employees to clarify their doubts, considering stages, responsibilities, resources, and other information that describe how a workflow should be executed within the organization.
These documents are useful for both existing processes and for including and monitoring the progress of new processes. Similarly, they cover simple to more complex processes.
Process documentation expands the view of how many parallel and simultaneous tasks occur within the company. It also allows understanding which irrelevant activities can be removed to increase productivity.
Each company can adopt the methodology it prefers for process documentation. Thus, this file can take the form of a checklist, flowcharts, training manuals, tutorials, work instructions, among others.
Is process documentation the same as process mapping?
Although there are many similarities and related concepts, process documentation and process mapping have different purposes.
Process documentation records the information and details of processes. It is a comprehensive guide for consistent and efficient execution, considering steps, procedures, responsibilities, resources, instructions, forms, related policies, and other aspects.
On the other hand, process mapping focuses on visual representation or diagramming of how the workflow occurs. Thus, it presents the steps, decisions, information flow, and interactions between elements in a broader and more holistic view.
Although they have their particularities, both tools are essential for the management and efficiency of an organization.
Guide to creating a process document
Now that you understand the concept, it’s time to understand, in practice, how to create this document:
1. Identify the process to be documented
When implementing this methodology in your company, it is important to stipulate which process will be documented first.
Make a list of all potential processes considering the most critical, operational, administrative, specific workflows, among others.
Once defined, create a brief outline of the pertinent information for carrying out these activities, listing participants, schedule, priorities, and other information.
The clearer this survey is, the more detailed the document will be, and the more understandable to those involved.
2. Determine the objectives and type of documentation
The second step is to understand the reasons for this process to exist, what its objectives are, and whether it is directly related to the company’s raison d’être.
This clarification provides understanding of how activities relate and understanding of how far each responsibility goes.
As we mentioned, there are various types of documents, when establishing objectives and having a scope, it will be simple to define how to organize the content.
For example, a complex process is more easily explained by adopting a flowchart. While a simple process can be documented in a checklist.
At this stage, it should also be stipulated whether the document will be divided into sections, chapters, by area, department, hierarchical levels, logical sequence, among others.
3. Make process boundaries clear
Many activity flows interact with other tasks and teams. Therefore, it is important to delimit what each one should perform. This limitation will be important to define the actions that trigger the start and end of this specific process.
When these boundaries are delimited, guidelines are established to interconnect different processes.
4. Identify the process inputs and outputs
Parallel to the boundaries, list what is necessary for this process to start and finish. Not only the actions but also the required resources.
Consider that inputs are all the resources required for execution, and outputs are the expected results upon completion.
This practice allows defining goals that must be met and facilitates monitoring to measure whether the set objectives are being achieved.
5. Organize process steps
The next phase is to list how these inputs will be transformed into outputs. Gather employees and the team to understand all the steps and their responsible parties.
Based on what was stipulated as the process boundaries and activity dependencies. For example, for a purchase request to progress, manager approval will be required.
Try to list the main parts of the process, listing each task in a practical and simple way, preferably in sequence.
6. Assign responsibilities and relate participants
From the definition of the process structure and steps, assign who is responsible for each task.
It is important that each team member knows what is expected of them and who to turn to in case of need.
In an Integrated Management Platform that automates activities, the flow can be built based on this structure, stipulating that each responsible party will receive a notification to approve a request and continue the process.
7. Test the process and seek feedback from employees
The final stage of building process documentation is to use the guide to test execution. This is the ideal opportunity to make changes that optimize the process or identify flaws and potential issues.
At this point, it is important that the test be carried out by the team that will perform this flow of activities daily. Thus, the construction will be evaluated, whether it makes sense, is understandable, or if there are missing steps that have not been described.
Exceptions that may occur and how professionals should act in these moments should also be observed and described here.
Keep the information from these tests and implemented improvements archived so that they can be accessed and reviewed later if necessary.
Process documentation best practices
Just like the company, processes change as new technologies and methodologies are applied. Therefore, continuously review these documents to keep them consistent and reflect the processes.
Understand that various people will have access to these guides – the simpler they are, the more understandable.
This documentation should be easily accessible and available. Therefore, adopting a document management platform makes these documents found more quickly, regardless of the location or time of access.
Another point to be highlighted is the importance of using suitable software for this documentation.
Neomind’s Fusion Platform is an end-to-end platform that enables the management of processes and documents. That is, the employee can consult how to do and already execute the process in the same tool.
In this way, errors are considerably reduced, processes have no losses, and there is total clarity about steps, objectives, and expected results.
Repetitive work is also reduced, resources are well allocated, there is improvement and clarity in communication, all of which contributes to making the process more efficient.
Process documentation is a tool that improves processes, and the use of Fusion enhances the results of processes and the company overall.
Try Fusion Platform to create, store, and provide accessibility to your company’s process documentation.
