Businesses have a lot of moving pieces. This includes products, services, and employees.
When you are running a business, you want the experience to be consistent for your customers. However, with all of those moving pieces, it is difficult to provide a consistent experience for your customers when different employees are helping each customer.
This can be frustrating for both customers and employees. Not to mention, it can be confusing for customers and employees when they are receiving different messages on what they need to do and how they need to do it.
That’s where process documentation comes in.
From working for ScreenSteps — a knowledge base software company that makes it easier for you to document your processes and procedures — I’ve learned that process documentation is essential to the success of a company.
Consider this your Process Documentation 101 course. In this article, I’ll define process documentation and show where it fits into your business. Plus, you’ll learn a general overview of different aspects of process documentation.
What is process documentation?
Process documentation is step-by-step instructions on how to handle procedures and processes. It is capturing the tasks that need to be done to complete a process or procedure in a written form.
Your process documentation is a resource that helps you manage your internal operations. By writing down your policies, processes, and procedures, you are providing materials that employees can use to perform tasks.
Process documentation is a way of getting knowledge out of your expert’s heads so that others can replicate how experts perform the processes.
Why process documentation is important
When you incorporate process documentation into your company, it helps align your teams so that they can provide consistent service. You have a repeatable process written down.
It provides your employees with support materials. They can follow your documentation processes and procedures and perform them the same every time.
Because you use experts and top performers to create the guides, it helps you create the most efficient and effective way to handle procedures.
When you document your processes, you prevent losing vital company knowledge. It ensures knowledge survives when employees leave the organization.
Different ways to document a process
A process has multiple steps, which can make it difficult to document. There are many different ways to document processes. Some of those ways are easier to create and easier for end-users to follow.
Some of your document creation options for process documentation include:
- Flowcharts
- Interactive workflow articles
- Articles (i.e. text documents)
Process documentation tools
When it comes to documenting your processes, it helps to have tools designed for step-by-step guides. Consider getting one or multiple of these tools:
- Knowledge base
- Screen recording tools
- Flowchart and diagramming tools
Easily create step-by-step guides that are easy for employees to follow
Process documentation is an essential part of any organization. With clearly documented processes and procedures, you ensure smoother operations in your organization.
With ScreenSteps, we have Workflow Articles to help with your process documentation. ScreenSteps turns complicated decision trees into simplified processes and procedures that anyone can easily follow.
Want to see how ScreenSteps makes it easy to create and follow process documentation?
Watch this 3-minute video to see ScreenSteps Workflow Articles in action. See if ScreenSteps could help simplify process documentation for your company.
