We are currently testing our new policies and procedures document compliance software, and plan to release it for customer testing in the near future. Potential testers have been asking a number of questions. Here are questions, and the answers:

Is your policy management software accessed as a service over the Internet (Software as a Service – SaaS) or must your policy solution be installed on your computers?

Bizmanualz policy management software is in fact a ‘software-as-a-Service’ available as a subscription over the Internet. The first time a user accesses the service, a small amount of code loads on the client machine in about 30 seconds, similar to when using GoToMeeting or any number of on-line services. The user never is required to install, launch or maintain any software.

Can we upload our existing documents into the system?

You can upload all your existing documents into the system, and open them, so long as your local machine has the software that was used to create the document. For example, MS WORD documents are can be uploaded. In fact, Bizmanualz publishes the world’s most complete set of pre-written policies and procedures, all in MS WORD format. Any policies and procedures template that you buy from us comes pre-loaded in the software. We keep the templates up to date; but we don’t change any documents that you save, upload or change, even if the document started as a Bizmanualz template.

Are documents easy to update?

Documents are edited in their native software on your local machine; they are saved to our server. Our system tracks and controls all document revisions so everyone accesses the latest version. It’s easy to roll back to a previous version if necessary.

Are employees or other users notified when a policy changes or is updated?

Notifications of policy changes are sent by e-mail to policy document authors and ‘followers.’  Administrators and document authors can assign ‘follower’ rights to any user for any document. Users can independently follow any document to which they have permission. Followers receive e-mail notifications of all policy changes. There are also announcement and action item screens within the policy management software that can be used to communicate information about documents.

Can multiple users access policies and procedures at the same time?

Yes, any number of users can access your policy and procedure documents. If two people work on the same document at the same time, their work will be saved (but not released) as two separate drafts. Built-in compliance workflow assures that only one draft can be released, so there are never multiple releases of the same policies and procedures document floating around.

How do you price your policy management software? Do you charge by the seat, or do you sell one license for the whole organization?

We charge per seat. Released policy and procedure documents are published to a web-based reader module which can be viewed by anyone you want. Typically, that would include all your employees and your auditors if you have a formal quality system.

We have an Intranet for reading our documents on-line. How does your software work with Intranets?

If you already have an intranet or a document publishing platform (SharePoint for example) and want to keep using it, our editor module can ftp documents to your existing publishing platform so that user’s viewing habits don’t have to change. But your editors and document managers would benefit from using our editor module for policy and procedure document control, workflow, version control, notifications, etc. while your general employee population would continue to read documents as they’re doing now.

Can I assign different levels of access to users and documents?

We offer a full access control at the document, user and department level. That is, all users assigned to, for example, the accounting department can be granted permission to all accounting procedures with a global command. Additional restrictions can be placed on individuals within a department. Access privileges can also be set at the document level.

Is your policy management software compliant with my quality management or document control requirements?

Yes, the Bizmanualz policy management software is consistent with the document control requirements of all ISO quality management systems, government and industry standards and regulations.

A reader recently asked if we could talk about writing a policies and procedures “style guide”. As a matter of fact, many style guides already exist, so why bother to come up with one of your own? Your situation isn’t so unique.

Bizmanualz provides a style guide with its policy and procedure manuals. (It’s in the ”Manual Preparation” section, under “Your Manual” and “Effective Communication”.) It doesn’t break any new ground, but reinforces what you see in other style guides (Elements of Style, Chicago Manual of Style, etc.).

Why does — or why should — anyone use a style guide? Well, we use them to establish and preserve a preferred style of writing and/or layout. We use style guides to ensure consistency. It’s more economical to establish a documentation style and stick with it than to use a different style for every document.

In addition, the right style can help establish and reinforce your brand, though we’re not concerned about the brand internally. The consistency we’re looking for internally is that of behavior.

Written procedures are meant to ensure that the business processes they describe are carried out the same way every time, no matter who’s carrying out the procedure, or where or when.

Will a style guide help with that? It won’t hurt, though it really only scratches the surface. You don’t give a procedure to a trainee, tell them to read the procedure (or watch the video) over the weekend, and begin the process “for real” on Monday, do you? If you do, do you think the document’s style matters all that much to the employee?

Of course not! You may have them read/view the procedure first, but you have to show them – in a real or simulated work environment — how the procedure is carried out, then have them carry out the procedure themselves, gradually ramping up their productivity with their confidence level.

Therefore, the ultimate style guide is the user. If you get consistent results from your employees once they’ve been adequately trained — and you’re key performance indicators will tell you if that’s the case — your style meets the most important requirement. You’re achieving the desired result.

That’s not to say, “Forget style guides.” By all means, use them. Just don’t get hung up on them.

Now it’s your turn. Thoughts?

Here are ten great reasons to attend the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement, coming to St. Louis, Missouri, this May:

1. Bizmanualz will be there! Look for our booth, where we’ll be showing off our new policies and procedures management software.

2. One of the strongest ASQ sections (#1304) in the country is here. Any of our knowledgeable and personable members will be more than happy to assist you while you’re here.

3. The largest gathering of quality professionals in one place means a myriad of opportunities for exchanging quality information and ideas.  A wise dude once said, “Ideas flourish best in the light of day.”

4. There will be dozens of quality training opportunities. Register early for a seminar…or two…or more!

5. The ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement takes place in late May. That’s generally one of the best times of year — weatherwise — in St. Louis, though as someone once said about St. Louis weather, “If you don’t like (it), wait a while…it’ll change.”

6. St. Louis is home to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, Crown Candy Kitchen, Forest Park (one of the largest city parks in the nation), and the St. Louis Cardinals.

7. Arm+Leg > Cost of Parking. Same goes for the cost of meals, lodging, entertainment, and just about anything else you can think of.

8. The Cardinals aren’t in town (they’ll be in San Diego), so you’ll be spared the huge crowds. On the other hand, you’ll miss the game-day sea of red shirts and caps that washes into downtown. (More than awe-inspiring, it’s scary!)

9. Quality speakers like:

• Alan Mulally, Ford CEO;
• Robert Stephens, “Geek Squad” founder; and
• Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity.

10. First one to register for the Quality Conference after March 24 AND send me their proof of registration gets me as a guide for the evening of May 24. (We’ll work out the details.)

There are many, many more outstanding reasons to be here! Don’t miss this event! The World Conference on Quality and Improvement is only two months away, so make your plans!

See you in St. Louis!

There seems to be some confusion regarding use of the phrase “editable policies and procedures” to describe Bizmanualz policies and procedures manuals. I’ll explain what that means.

Bizmanualz policies and procedures are written in Microsoft Word 2003 format. Some think if them as MS-Word templates.  While I work in Office 2007, I can save documents in 2003 format (“.doc”), so it doesn’t matter which of the two versions of Word you have. NOTE: If you have an earlier version of Word, like Word 2000, you may not be able to use many of the features that come with the 2003 version.

The first thing many companies want to do is change instances of “Bizmanualz”, “Bizmanualz, Inc.”, and “the Company” to their own company names. That’s easy enough. Find and select the “Replace” function (in Word ’07, it’s the “Home” tab, “Editing” group, in the top right — in Word ’03, find “Edit” in the Menu Bar, then “Replace…” in the drop-down menu).

Enter “Bizmanualz, Inc.” (or any proper name, phrase, etc.) in the “Find what:” text box and your company’s name (e.g., “AwesomeCo”) in the “Replace with:” box.

NOTE 2: “AwesomeCo” is used because it didn’t come up in an Internet search (surprised?). Click on the “Replace All” button and all instances of “Bizmanualz, Inc.” should read “AwesomeCo”.

That’s one example of what we mean by “fully editable”. See, once you purchase a Bizmanualz policies and procedures manual, it’s no longer a Bizmanualz document. It’s yours — change, remove, and insert whatever you feel is necessary.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking our policies and procedures products are ready to use “right out of the box” — they’re not. They’re written generally, so any company can use them. Edit, save, distribute, train on, implement, and use them.

NOTE 3: Be sure not to overwrite the original document, but use the “Save as…” function the first time you make a change to any document.

Oh, and another thing…the editing process goes much faster if you’re a frequent user of Word. If you don’t know Word, get training or find someone who’s already been trained and had experience. The more you know about Word and its features, the easier the transformation process will be.

Any questions? Please contact us via our web site, or enter your comments at the bottom of this post. Thanks for your time.

Much has been made of procedure writing, both here at Bizmanualz and around the Internet, but very little is said about an equally important part of the design and development process — procedure review.

Many problems with procedures that crop up after they’ve been implemented are traceable to inadequate or no review. Let’s say a procedure as written describes an ideal process, performed under ideal conditions (i.e., real-world conditions aren’t taken into account). If this isn’t caught in a procedure review, the end product will meet requirements only through luck. Luck being notoriously unreliable, inconsistent, and uncontrollable, you’re clearly better off with a review.

Why do you review anything? To ensure the accuracy and completeness of whatever it is you’re reviewing and to make sure everyone has the same understanding of the policy, process, or situation. In short, to ensure effective communication, which will lead you to the desired outcome.

Effective communication is a big reason why the international quality standard, ISO 9001, mandates design and development reviews (clause 7.3.4).  If you don’t review, you risk missing any number of product requirements, both stated and unstated, and you risk losing customers.

Need another reason to review policies and procedures? No one is perfect and no process is perfect. No one will write the perfect procedure the first time, every time.

Furthermore, no one — NO ONE! — can multitask. Your technical writer wears several other hats, right? That person is bound to temporarily lose focus on the policy or procedure they’re writing when other projects and other managers are continually demanding that their stuff is mission critical, “…so drop everything and work on this.” (Now, where was I?)

We all agree, then, that policies and procedures have to be reviewed, right? So, how’s it done? Well, one method that works is based on speech evaluations as done by Toastmasters. For a Toastmaster, learning how to evaluate a speech – or a written document – is as critical as learning how to give a speech or write one.

Objectives

Always start with the objectives or requirements. Were they clearly communicated to the technical writer? Did he/she understand them? Do you? Were the objectives prioritized and categorized? Were they SMART objectives?

Review

Did the technical writer achieve the stated objectives/requirements? (Have a list of the objectives in front of you as you review the document.)

Also, list some important, yet unstated, objectives. For example, correct spelling and good grammar are often taken for granted. Don’t make that mistake. Make up a checklist for often overlooked items, like “Are important terms defined?” and “Is ‘active voice’ used?”

Did the tech writer go beyond the stated objectives? For example:

The procedure mentions a packaging machine that a first-time reader may not be familiar with. The tech writer includes a long shot (photo) of the machine and a closeup of the control panel. The pictures aren’t a requirement; furthermore, they (and additional photos) push the document beyond the stated requirement of “six pages, maximum”.

Which is the SMARTer objective, user understanding or document length?

Reward

In your review, whether its written or oral, be sure to lead with those aspects of the procedure where objectives were met or exceeded. If critical objectives were not, consider possible explanations for that (the writer’s level of experience, competing projects, the amount of information provided them, clarity of the objectives, etc.).

The point is not to let the writer “off the hook” (or to find a hook to hang them on). It’s about encouraging the writer – praising what they did well and asking them to do better. Tell them, “Here’s what you did well.”

Don’t be vague or insincere, either. Don’t fish for compliments — you’re not helping them by telling them that their capitalization was great, or they had all the commas in the right places.

Be truthful, be specific, and give them something to build on.

Respond

Tell the writer exactly what you see in the procedure (ex., will the reader know who’s supposed to do what, when, and why?) Restate the objectives and indicate which were met, which were exceeded, and which weren’t met. Use a numeric scale in your review (rarely is anything “black or white”).

Beyond that, does the procedure “flow”? Did they use the PDCA model correctly? Did she or he use words, voice, style, grammar, etc., effectively? Does the story – and the message – come across clearly?

Tell them what they did well and point out specific opportunities for improvement. Hand the document back to them with another objective: you need the revision back for a “final” review by a specific date.

Remember that policy and procedure review is an integral part of a design and development process. After you’ve reviewed the document, the writer will probably have to make some changes. After the writer has revised the document, review it again.

Don’t review it to death, however. Four or more reviews of the same document should tell you that the review process has broken down…somewhere. It might be time – at least temporarily – to bring in another pair of eyes.

As a reviewer, you’re obliged to:

• Be sure that stated and unstated objectives were met;
• Be fair;
• Be consistent;
• Be thorough; and
• Point out strengths and opportunities for improvement in the document and in the process.

And as one of my favorite sports announcers (Jack Buck) used to say after every broadcast, “Thanks for your time this time. ‘Til next time — so long.”

* * * * *

For more on evaluation, see “The Three R’s of Evaluating“, by David Hobson, DTM (“Toastmasters” magazine, Nov., 2007).

You’re invited to join Bizmanualz on Facebook. Becoming a Fan allows you to connect with others who share your interest in developing and implementing effective and robust Policies and Procedures. In addition, you can:

• Start – or participate in – discussions on policies, processes, and procedures;
• Comment on recent articles and blog posts;
• Post pictures;
• Follow current issues and events; and
• Get information on –  or sign up for – various posted events via links.

Here’s the link to join: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bizmanualz/39752124669.

People often ask us, “What should be in our ‘Accounting Policies and Procedures’ manual?”, which naturally leads us to the next question, “What’s in your ‘CFO Accounting Policies and Procedures’ manuals?”  In other words, what specifically is contained in the manuals?  What accounting processes are covered when you order the five-manual Accounting Policies- Procedures bundle?

The CFO Accounting Policies and Procedures Manuals includes 239 prewritten accounting procedure templates and 373 forms organized within five functional business manuals.  All 612 files are in Microsoft Word format, so you can easily edit each file to suit your company’s particular needs. Topics are well-researched and are based on best practices, saving you countless time and enabling you to meet approaching deadlines fast.

Improve your accounting process with:

Accounting Revenue Cycle Procedures

There are many elements to the Revenue Cycle.  Key tasks include how orders are confirmed and entered, and how credit and collections are performed.  There are 13 accounting procedures that address this important accounting process:

1. Cash Drawers And Credit Cards
2. Cash Receipts And Deposits
3. Sales Order Entry
4. Point-Of-Sale Orders
5. Customer Credit Approval And Terms
6. Sales Order Acceptance
7. Invoicing And Accounts Receivable
8. Wire Transfers
9. Problem Checks
10. Sales Tax Collection
11. Progress Billing
12. Account Collections
13. Customer Returns

Accounting Cash Disbursement Cycle Procedures

The Cash Disbursement cycle deals with controlling expenses, confirming expenditures, and ensuring effectiveness of purchases.  There are 12 procedures in the CFO Accounting Policies and Procedures set that address cash disbursement:

1. Check Signing Authority
2. Check Requests
3. Vendor Selection
   

   Vendor Selection Procedure

4. IT Vendor Selection
5. IT Outsourcing
6. General Purchasing
7. Project Purchasing
8. Receiving And Inspection
9. Shipping And Freight Claims
10. Accounts Payable And Cash Disbursements
11. Travel And Entertainment
12. Controlling Legal Costs

Accounting Production Cycle Procedures

The Production Cycle includes processes like how orders are shipped, how freight claims are processed, and how production documents are controlled.   There are 3 production cycle procedures available in the CFO Accounting set.  (Note: additional production cycle procedures are found in the ISO 9001 Quality manual, which is part of the CEO Company Policies and Procedures set of manuals).

1. Shipment of Goods
2. Shipping And Freight Claims
3. Document Control

Accounting Asset Cycle Procedures

The Asset Cycle includes inventory, asset management, and asset acqusition processes.  There are 10 procedures in the CFO Accounting set that address important parts of this key accounting cycle:

1. Inventory Control
2. Inventory Counts
3. Fixed Asset Control
4. Customer Property
5. Asset Acquisition
6. Inventory Management
7. IT Asset Standards
8. IT Asset Management
9. IT Asset Assessment
10. IT Asset Installation Satisfaction

Accounting Audit Cycle Procedures

The Audit Cycle encompasses internal and external (third-party) auditing procedures, as well as performing corrective actions in response to qualified audit opinions.   There are 3 accounting procedures that address this important check step in the accounting process:

1. External Auditing
2. Internal Auditing
3. Corrective Action

Accounting Finance Cycle Procedures

The Finance Cycle includes such processes as raising debt and equity capital, working with leases, mechant accounts, and foreign exchange.  There are 12 accounting procedures in the CFO series that address key elements of the finance cycle:

1. Capital Plan
2. Valuation
3. Bank Loans
4. Stock Offerings
5. Debt and Investment
6. Leasing Procedure
7. Working Capital
8. Cash Management
9. Foreign Exchange Management
10. Managing Bank Relationships
11. Merchant Accounts
12. Letters of Credit

Financial Reporting Cycle Procedures

The Financial Reporting Cycle contains 18 accounting procedures for management reports, stockholder reports, and financial statement reporting.  All companies have financial reporting obligations to their shareholders, investors, and regulators, making this a key accounting cycle:

1. Chart of Accounts
2. Bank Account Reconciliations
3. Management Reports
4. Period-End Review & Closing
5. Taxes And Insurance
6. Property Tax Assessments
7. Confidential Information Release
8. Files And Records Management
9. Fixed Asset Capitalization & Depreciation
10. Annual Stockholders’ Meetings
11. Board of Directors’ Meetings
12. Financial Forecasting
13. Financial Reporting
14. Financial Statement Analysis
15. Financial Management Review
16. Financial Restatements
17. Financial Information Release
18. Related Party Transactions

Strategic Planning Cycle Procedures

The Strategic Planning Cycle addresses management responsibilities, various forms of risk assessment, continuity, and compliance.  There are 13 accounting procedures in the CFO Accounting Policies-Procedures set of manuals that support this accounting cycle:

1. Business Plan
2. Risk Assessment
3. Risk Management
4. Financial Objectives
5. Management Responsibility
6. Continuity Planning
7. Document Control
8. Record Control
9. IT Threat And Risk Assessment
10. IT Security Plan
11. IT Disaster Recovery
12. Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
13. SAS 70 Compliance

Accounting Payroll Cycle Procedures

The Payroll Cycle addresses benefits, compliance, and employee performance appraisals.  There are 9 accounting procedures available to you that are included in the Payroll cycle:

1. Payroll
2. Paid and Unpaid Leave
3. Insurance Benefits
4. Healthcare Benefits
5. Compliance Posting Requirements
6. Employee Performance Appraisals
7. Employee Retirement Income Security (ERISA)
8. Consolidated Budget Reconciliation (COBRA)
9. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

Information Integrity Cycle Procedures

The Information Integrity Cycle is a key part of the accounting-IT interaction.  Key procedures in this cycle include computer and Internat usage, IT access control, IT management, and IT incident handling.  There are 9 accounting procedures addressing this important accounting cycle:

1. E-Mail Policy
2. Computer and Internet Usage Policy
3. Information Technology Management
4. IT Records Management
5. IT Document Management
6. Computer Malware
7. IT Access Control
8. IT Security Audits
9. IT Incident Handling

CFO Accounting Policies Procedures Manuals

In all, there are over 200 prewritten accounting procedures and nearly 400 accounting forms organized within the five functional business manuals of the CFO Accounting Policies and Procedures Manuals series.  Each procedure and form is available in Microsoft Word, so they can be customized to reflect the accounting processes at your company.

Simplifying procedures is a great way to save money and at the same time prepare for growth. By simplifying your procedures, you can cut waste with confidence that you are not cutting essential value-added services customers want to buy. Simplifying procedures prepares your company for growth because it streamlines your operations, documents them, and thus makes it much easier to replicate your operations at another location.

A new operation based on proven procedures is easier to manage because you can evaluate its performance against known metrics. And should the metrics indicate a need for adjustments-typical when rolling out a new location-staff will have procedures in place to affect needed changes. This significantly reduces the risk of opening a new location.

If you want to learn more about how you can save money and prepare for growth, check out our consulting pages. We can help you simplify procedures faster and more efficiently than you can do it yourself because we are continuously writing, publishing, deploying and updating policies and procedures. Our latest procedures represent lessons learned by our thousands of world-wide customers. Developed according to international ISO standards, Bizmanualz procedures move you further, faster. Save time. Why reinvent the wheel?

Check out our consulting pages. Or call me right now. Bizmanualz can help you save money and grow today. Contact: Dan Davison, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Bizmanualz, Inc. tel. (314) 863-5079 x23, Dan@Bizmanualz.com.

Did you ever try making a template for your procedures using Microsoft “Word”?  Templates that use the outlining and style features to set the formatting can act really peculiar, sometimes changing the formatting that you set up. When this occurs over and over — and over — again, it can be very frustrating.  Why is this happening?

The problem is in mixing Word’s formatting widgets and style sheets with Word’s concept of “template”.  Microsoft Word’s implementation of style sheets, template styles, outlining styles, and – in general – anything to do with styles can be rather incomprehensible, even to insiders.  I’m sure the original developers of Word had a defensible rationale for doing what they did at some point, but their model has been corrupted over the years by adding new features, changing features , and integration with Microsoft “Office” over the years.  (Quite a change from 2003 to 2007, wasn’t it?)

What has resulted is a lot of confusion over typesetting terms (e.g., kerning and leading), document structure (headers, footers, indents, headings, etc.), and document layout (fonts, styles, spacing, pagination, widows, orphans, bullets, indexing, ad infinitum).  Add to this changes in usage for desktop publishing, print publishing, and web publishing and most users don’t know what I’m talking about now.

What Is a Word “Template”?

A Word template (a “.dot” file) stores your document structure, layout, font assignments (aka, styles), headers, footers, bullets, list numbering definitions, page definitions, and other typesetting functions found in Word.  A Word template is not about content — it’s about the look and feel of your document (in the case of Bizmanualz, procedure manuals).

Some people may think of Bizmanualz content as a “procedure template”, but that use of the word conflicts with Microsoft’s interpretation.  What we at Bizmanualz are providing are procedure examples — sample procedures. They are not templates according to the Microsoft definition.

In the end, we all want our procedures to have a consistent layout, font, size, etc. — the same “look and feel”.  We want to have a standard format for everyone in the company to follow when writing procedures and when you are done have the formatting the way you expect it to be.

How Do You Lock In a Format So Your Document Doesn’t Revert Back To The Default Settings?

The whole point of a Word template is to create a format that locks your document design, or layout, so it can be used over and over again.  That’s what Word templates are for and that’s what they’ll do when you use them as Microsoft’s developers designed them to be used.  Once you change something, the confusion starts.

At Bizmanualz, we’d love to provide a customized Word template to go along with the sample procedures, but most people who purchase our products don’t know how to use Word templates.  To supply them with document templates would only serve to confuse them.  Currently, we use simple features — like headers, footers, and page numbering — in each of our procedures, yet these often result in technical support calls.

The confusion is related to the way Word objects inherit properties.  Individual text characters inherit properties from words, words from paragraphs, paragraphs from the last paragraph or section or style or document, and eventually the template it originated from.  We use the default template (“normal.dot”, in Word 2003), which is in your template directory; it can be saved under another name, in any directory of your choosing.

But unless you explicitly save your macros, custom toolbars, menus, shortcuts, auto text entries, and all the other formatting information in a specific document template (e.g., my_special_template.dot), they’re stored in the global template, normal.dot.  This means the tools you added to your “special” template are available to all documents on your computer, regardless of what document template is attached to your Word file.

So, even if we did supply a Bizmanualz template, you would have to make sure that that template was the one you used for all of your procedure changes.  If you put files on a server and allow anyone to edit them, they may be using different template files or different versions of the “normal” template.  Remember, the Word templates you used and perhaps changed are on your computer and may be different from the Word templates other people are using.

For More on Word Templates

Bizmanualz sample procedures come with formatting you can use, edit, and change.  If the “auto-formatting” is getting in your way, you can edit the Word template, make the formatting changes as you type; another trick is to use the “Esc” key to ignore the style inheritance rules.

For more on Word templates, see Microsoft Support for “Frequently Asked Questions about the Location of Templates in Word 2003 or 2007“.  There’s also an excellent discussion on customizing Word templates at the “Word MVP”. site.

Among the top ten reasons that managers give for why their company’s policies and procedures don’t work is that “Employees don’t use them.” When procedures aren’t used, you may wonder why you bothered writing them. Did you waste your time? When procedures are written but not used, lessons that have been learned are forgotten. Mistakes that were corrected on paper long ago are made over and over again. Continuous improvement gives way to continuing problems and waste.

Waste costs money.  Yet, when organizations don’t follow their own core procedures, it’s hard for them to know what works and what doesn’t, so improvement evades them. They risk quality problems and customer disappointment. Customers may defect to competitors. Revenue may suffer.

When even core procedures are not used, you risk not complying with health, safety, and environmental regulations. That can endanger employees and gain unfavorable notice from auditors and regulators, further distracting you from using best practices and making continuous improvements.

Why aren’t your policies and procedures used?

When we hear employees say that procedures are getting in their way rather than helping, we usually find that procedures are too numerous, too long, poorly written, hard to follow, and/or hopelessly complex.  Writing and development problems are the chief reason that policies and procedures suffer such deficiencies. (See our web site for several articles explaining how to avoid and overcome procedure writing and development problems.)

How Bizmanualz Estimates Your Policies and Procedures Project

When companies come to Bizmanualz with poorly written policies and procedures, we typically recommend reducing and simplifying what they have today. Typically, we can cut from 30% to 60% of their documentation load, reducing the cost and complexity which at the same time lessens employees’ objections.

We can recommend an approach for your policies and procedures improvement project based on your answers to the following questions:

• How many procedures do you have today within the scope of the improvement project?
• Send us two or three sample procedures in MS WORD or PDF format. Let us know what format you want for the final procedures.
• What industry are you in?
• List the countries in which the procedures will be used. List each of the languages into which the procedures need to be translated (if any).
• Who is the lead regulator for your industry in each of the countries where the procedures will be used? Provide a link to the regulator’s web site and on-line regulations if available. List any other regulators that are likely to review or audit your procedures.
• Mention any quality standards that you are using or plan to use within 24 months.

Pictures and Graphics Help Bridge Cultural Gaps

If the procedures will be used in more than one country, we typically recommend replacing text with graphics, illustrations and pictures. Graphics are interpreted more consistently across cultures, which drives uniform interpretation and more consistent usage of procedures.

Page for page, graphics are more expensive to produce than written material. But a single graphic may eliminate a lot of pages of written material, mitigating the cost of development.  Most companies consider investment in graphics worth-while because:

• Procedures are used more consistently
• Compliance improves
• Injuries and work disruptions decrease.

Your Budget Considerations:

If Your Budget is Less than $10,000 US:

At budget levels less than $10,000 US, we would typically recommend training for your in-house procedure-writers on how to write more effective procedures. The training is similar to our Well-Defined Processes training, but emphasizes authoring procedures. After the training, your in-house team rather than Bizmanualz would apply the principles and update your procedures. Depending on the experience level of your procedure-writing team, more than one training event may be required.

If Your Budget is $10,000 to $30,000:

At budget levels above $10,000, Bizmanualz relieves your team from the production responsibilities, and provides the man-hours and expertise to update your procedures more quickly than most companies can train and do it on their own. At budget levels in this range, Bizmanualz:

• Evaluates the content and format of each of your existing procedures within the scope of the project
• Provides you with our written critique
• Provides a visual storyboard outlining the specific changes
• Drafts the procedures for your review
• Completes the graphics and reviews them with you
• Provides one revision to text and graphics, incorporates your comments
• Completes and delivers the procedures.

Projects above $30,000 are larger projects in scope; they might require deployment in more than one location, translation, optimization, or a lot of information graphics.

Larger projects may include procedure implementation of your procedures with your employees to make sure that they perceive value and use the procedures.  This may include additional buy-in training for your in-house procedures team on how to build and maintain support for your policies and procedures project.  You may need other communications tools such as job aids or videos that are not strictly considered procedures, but which nonetheless help workers apply the procedures consistently.   Process procedures optimization may require implementing lean, ISO or quality systems.

You can control the scope and budget of your project by:

• Controlling the number of procedures
• Working in phases, and reducing the scope of the current phase.
• Creating fewer language translations and limiting the number of geographies where the new procedures will be used.
• Using fewer graphics and more text.

If you would like Bizmanualz to estimate your policies and procedures project, please send us the information listed above under ‘How we Estimate Your Policies and Procedures Project.’ Don’t forget to send us samples of your current procedures. We will recommend an improvement approach that will increase compliance, safety and communication.

Contact: Dan Davison, Dan@bizmanualz.com, tel. (314) 863-5079 x23, Bizmanualz, Inc.