The Complete Guide to Process Documentation 

If you’ve ever been responsible for training new employees at your job, you know that process documentation is essential for any business. For those of you who haven’t, process documentation is just a fancy way of referring to the step-by-step instructions on how to complete a task.

The purpose of process documentation is to ensure that the steps in a process are carried out as they should be, and that any changes to the process are documented and communicated to those who will carry out the work. With clear and concise documentation, literally anyone in the future should be able to perform the necessary steps without having to ask someone else what they should do.

Keep in mind that these documents can be in any form, such as text, images, video, interactive process maps or flowcharts. And with the digital landscape evolving everyday, it’s important that managers explore new content delivery methods that mirror the platforms employees in their personal lives.

What are the benefits of process documentation?

There are many benefits to having process documentation for your business. It makes it easier to train new employees on how things work, which can help with retention rates. Process documentation also allows for easy auditing and troubleshooting in the event that something goes wrong.

Some of the most notable benefits include:

- Training new employees by providing them with an overview of the company’s processes

- Ensuring all processes are in accordance with regulatory compliance or quality assurance

-Helping managers identify problems with processes and find ways to improve them

- Managing change within and beyond the organization

What are the different types of process documents?

There are two main types of process documents - internal and external. Internal process documents are used by the employees of an organization, whereas external process documents are used by outside parties such as customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

Internal process documents could include a myriad of things that a given employee would encounter. From procedures that guide employees in their day-to-day tasks to instructions on how to make coffee in the break room. Usually these documents fall in one of the following categories:

- Business Procedures

- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

- Standard Work Instructions (SWIs)

- Quality Control Procedures (QCPs)

- Process Maps

External process documents, on the other hand, include procedures that guide outside parties on how to interact with or use an organization's products or services. Some of the scenarios most people are familiar with involve processes around:

- Product training and adoption

- Refunds and returns

- Complaints and grievances

Best practices for writing process documents

The key thing about process documentation is that it should be written in a way that makes it easy for people who are unfamiliar with the process to understand what they need to do. This means writing in plain language and avoiding jargon or acronyms unless absolutely necessary. The person reading the document should have no trouble understanding what the goal of each step is and how it relates back to the goal of the overall process.

Creating effective documentation essentially boils down to two kep steps (keep in mind this blog is about creating documentation – promotion requires a few more steps):

The first step to writing process documentation is to identify the audience. The audience will be the person or people who will be using the documentation. Once you know your audience, then you can begin to think about what they need and what they might want to know.

The second step is to organize your thoughts in a logical order. This order should match the way that people typically use the instructions or documentation. You may also want to consider grouping related tasks together so that people can see how all of these tasks are related and what they need to do next.

How Guidde can help revitalize your product documentation 

If you’ve learned anything from this blog, we hope that you understand:

• In order for process documentation to be effective, it has to be accurate and up-to-date. This means that when a process changes, the documentation should also be updated so that everyone is working from the same information. 
• Process documentation should also be written in a way that makes it easy for people to understand what they need to do in order for the task at hand to get done properly. 

And for large organizations with endless resources, this may not sound like a big deal. But for everyone else, it’s definitely a tall order. That’s where Guidde comes in.

Guidde accelerates process documentation by helping users create step-by-step videos and documents in just a few clicks. That’s right! And when you’ve finished editing, you can distribute your content via email, Slack, Salesforce, Zendesk, Intercom and more. 

We’d love for you to try us out! By clicking this link and installing the Guidde browser extension, you can start your FREE 14-day trial.

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