Why process documentation is so important for business success

Business success rests on a solid foundation. Without the right foundation, you’re likely to have difficulty achieving long-term business success. That’s why it’s so essential to create the right structure and processes within your business from the very first day. A solid, structured process will allow you to consistently achieve your objectives and keep your operations running smoothly. Business processes are all the actions required to run a company — everything from purchasing inventory to hiring staff, processing invoices and accounts payable, managing customer relationships, tracking expenses and so much more. Processes are designed to streamline operations, reduce redundancy and ensure everything is done as efficiently as possible so every employee can spend their time doing what they do best: providing exceptional customer service and meeting customers’ needs.

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What is process documentation?

Knowing what processes are important to your business and how to create documentation will help you create a structure that helps everyone in your company work together more efficiently. 

Process documentation is the written record of how your business operates. It outlines every step your business takes, from when a product or service is created all the way through to when the product or service is delivered and money is collected. 

Process documentation can include everything from job descriptions and protocols for how to operate within the company, to how you process incoming customer orders and credit card payments. Process documentation is how you’ll keep your business running smoothly, how you will keep operations consistent and help you to grow your company without fail.

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Why is process documentation important?

Process documentation is important because it allows your company to operate more consistently, efficiently and effectively. Having an organised and well-documented process will help keep your business running smoothly by reducing the amount of time it takes to complete certain tasks, such as receiving and processing customer orders, invoicing and collecting payments, and so on. 

As your business grows and the number of employees increases, so will the number of different processes that’ll need to be written and recorded. Having a well-documented and implemented process will help you to manage your varying numbers of employees and support their unique skill sets.

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How to roll out new processes

Implementing new policies and processes can be difficult when you don’t have the systems in place to facilitate implementation. You need a system to create your processes, notify your team when new processes have been created (or old ones have been updated) and ensure that all employees have been informed. 

This can be done using Ideagen Op Central’s dynamic operations management system. Through this system, when you have new processes (or changes to existing ones), the system will notify all your relevant staff and will confirm with a sign-off or quiz that they have understood the new processes. 

Using this system, you will always be sure that your new processes are being adhered to and that all of your staff - no matter how many staff at how many different locations - are executing your processes the way they should be.

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Training and re-training on new processes

Training in new processes is crucial. This means that you’ll need to identify the best way to train your employees in the new process. You’ll likely want to use different training methods depending on the processes and the people. If you’re using Ideagen Op Central, you can simply add quizzes to your new processes to ensure your staff have actually understood what is in those new processes.

If you need more comprehensive training, a formal LMS might be more appropriate. This will allow you to put your new policies and processes directly into your training programs and add any number of assessment types to the training program (EX: practical assessments, manager sign-offs, video assessments, etc.)

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Summing up

Formally documented processes can truly be the difference between a successful multi-site business and an unsuccessful one. Well-documented processes give you true brand and operational consistency, ensure your staff are trained and allow your business to grow in a stable and predictable way.