When you decide to use ScreenSteps, the ScreenSteps team offers consulting services to help migrate your existing content into your new knowledge base.
But, what happens if you don’t have any existing content? Or your existing content is incomplete and you need to start from scratch? How can the ScreenSteps team help you then?
If you are starting from scratch, ScreenSteps still offers consulting services to help you get your ScreenSteps site up and running. Over the past eight years, I’ve helped companies document and optimize their procedures so their employees could use their help guides in the workflow.
Our ScreenSteps coaches can work with your company and help you through these five steps to help you launch your site and set you up for success down the road.
🔍 Related: 3 Consulting Services ScreenSteps Offers if You Have Existing Content
1. Discuss a plan for ScreenSteps content
Before we dive into any how-tos, our coaches will meet with your team to discuss an overall plan for ScreenSteps content.
We want to get everyone on the same page as to what kind of learning materials you are going to create in ScreenSteps. Are you going to have any of the following?
- Step-by-step procedures
- Help guides
- Checklists
- Workflow articles
- Courses
- All of the above
- Other resources
The No. 1 goal of using ScreenSteps is to help people perform their jobs. The resources you create are there to aid your employees and help them learn while in the workflow. Your end-users will pull up your ScreenSteps content while they are working, to help them perform specific tasks.
2. Pinpoint which situations your employees will use ScreenSteps for
Once we’ve agreed on a plan for how to present your content, we need to know where your employees need learning assets.
Write down the situations where end-users need help performing their tasks. Some situations where your employees may need aid include when they are:
- Handling phone calls
- Troubleshooting
- Updating the CRM
- Responding to tickets or emails
- Using a specific software
- Creating a transaction in the accounting system
It helps to know some context around what’s going on when your end-users need to use ScreenSteps. Mainly, what are your end-users doing when they need to complete a task?
Tip: The types of articles you choose as part of your content plan will be used by end-users during these various work situations. For example, if your employees understand the overall process, they may just need a checklist to remind them of the main tasks.
3. Write specific questions and tasks
After figuring out which scenarios your employees will need aid in, we need to understand what types of questions and tasks they need to complete in those situations.
Write down the specific questions your end-users have and the names of specific tasks they will be performing. These will become the titles of your first 100 ScreenSteps articles.
It’s important to write down the questions and tasks as your employees ask them because it will make it easier for them to find those help articles when they search for them later.
4. Fill out articles
Now that we know the questions for areas that your employees get stuck on the job, we can write answers to those questions. You will begin filling out those articles in a way that helps end-users perform the task at hand or answers the question they have.
Filling out an article is more than dumping information down in paragraphs. We’ll teach you how to use ScreenSteps’ robust content creation tools — like the integrated screen capture tool and templates — so you can quickly and clearly articulate your instructions.
For example, if you are explaining how to perform a task in a system, then you’ll use the built-in screen capture tool to grab screenshots of the process. If you’re answering a question about a policy, then all you’ll need is a couple of paragraphs and maybe a graphic. If you’re explaining a process, then a checklist might be most helpful. And if you are explaining a complex process, then a workflow would be ideal.
We can also help you flesh out any processes or procedures that haven’t yet been formalized. That could involve us conducting interviews with subject matter experts and create process maps to help get clarity.
5. Test your written procedures
We’re not done yet! Once we’ve made a plan, deciphered the questions, and filled out the answers, then we need to make sure end-users can use your materials while they do their work.
Run beta tests. Have your end-users try using the procedures while they complete tasks. Are there places where they get stuck? Do you need to clarify a step? Are instructions too long or too short? Are you leaving out important information? Or providing too much information?
Watch them use your guides during these tests. Listen to your employees’ feedback. Then you can incorporate those changes before launching the procedures to the whole company. When you are starting your documentation from scratch, it’s normal to have several revisions.
By having a testing stage, it helps build trust in your newly documented procedures. After all, nobody would want to use your procedures down the road if they cause more confusion upfront. We’ll help you avoid that scenario.
🔍 Related: How Long Should My Written Company Procedures Be?
How much do consulting services cost?
As you can guess, the price differs for all three options. Offering our support while your team does the heavy lifting costs less than if we were to do everything for you.
Some the factors that influence the cost of the consulting services include:
- Number of coaching hours
- Size of the authoring team
- How much content you have to create from scratch
- The format/files the documents are in
Each consulting service — whether that includes coaching and/or content creation services — is customized for your company and your unique situation.
Need help preparing content from scratch?
If you are comfortable going through those five steps by yourself, then you have everything you need with the ScreenSteps system and the support resources we provide in our knowledge base and our learning center.
But, if you’re new to creating learning materials and you’d like help planning, executing, and refining your ScreenSteps content, you can work with an experienced ScreenSteps team member.
Our ScreenSteps coaches can meet with you on a weekly basis to answer your questions, guide you through all five steps, and help you stay on track so that you can successfully launch ScreenSteps to your end-users.
If you’re interested in those kinds of consulting services, or you have more questions about the process, schedule a meeting to discuss your company’s circumstances and needs with a ScreenSteps team member.
