7 Steps to a Policies and Procedures Manual – Part 2

In part one of this article, you learned the first three steps in the Bizmanualz process of making a policies and procedures manual – research, design and development, and procedure writing.  Now, as Paul Harvey liked to say, “Here’s the rest…of the story.”

4. Document Review & Approval

Even before our Quality Management System was ISO 9001 certified, we observed ISO 9001 requirements for product review.  It just makes good business sense, doesn’t it?  You wouldn’t release the first draft of a web page, a prototype, your first take in the recording studio, or a brand-new web app without reviewing it, would you?

In our case, we’ve come up with a straightforward plan for product realization.  It’s a task list (Figure 1) that starts with defining product requirements and “ends” with gathering feedback from customers.  We identify the resources required at each step and set a target date for completing each task.

Figure 1

We then prepare the first draft of a document, conduct a review, use the review notes to revise the document, and review the revision(s). Eventually, the procedure is approved and we go on to other project tasks.  This review-and-approval cycle is applied to every document in the P&P manual.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: When you develop your own procedures — whether you use our product, someone else’s, or decide to go it alone — avoid the classic analysis paralysis, or delayed perfection, trap.  Try too hard to get a document perfect and you’ll never release it.  It will never be good enough.

Go for “good enough” and improve the document as you go.  ISO 9001 acknowledges the fact that perfection is impossible — that’s why there’s a continual improvement clause (8.5.1) in the quality standard.

5. Putting on the Finishing Touches

Of course, procedures aren’t the whole story when it comes to building “policy and procedure” manuals.  Every manual has a table of contents, an introduction, a “manual preparation” section, and an index.  Each of those also goes through a review-and-approval process.

Once we’ve completed the manual content…we still have a lot of work ahead of us.  We take the Microsoft Word files comprising the manual and bundle them into a single PDF file for our printer-servers — that file has to be reviewed and proofread, too.

“Install” copies of the manual (one for CD, the other for download) must be made and tested.  If the manual in question is part of a bundle — let’s say we’re including it in our CFO Accounting Policies and Procedures set — there’s another set of “install” copies.

Two control copies of the manual are printed and kept in the main office. Web pages (e.g., shopping cart, information page) are updated, keywords are purchased, a “press release” is prepared, and a brief announcement is prepared for the weekly e-newsletter.

The product release is formally announced, the new product is given a prominent spot on our website’s homepage, and the product is released for purchase.

6. Releasing the Product

Chris Anderson, our Managing Director, reviews the Realization Plan and, when he’s satisfied all pre-release tasks are completed and documented, indicates his approval for release by signing the Plan form.

In advance of the release, we prepare a number of promotional pieces (e.g., announcements, introductory offers) and release them just days in advance of the product release to get some buzz going.

7. Your Feedback

After the product has been on the market for about three months (give or take a day or two), we begin to solicit feedback from purchasers of the product.  Actually, if you order a printed manual, we ask for your feedback from the moment you open the box.  The CD-ROM is affixed to a letter of introduction, in which we ask for your input.

We need your feedback — good, bad, or indifferent.  Feedback is the key to continual improvement.  If your customers don’t tell you anything, you keep on going as if there is no problem — at least, until the product isn’t selling.  (And wouldn’t you prefer knowing well before that?)

Getting customer input — and acting on it — is what makes an OK product good and a good product even better. So, I’ll close this article with a plea: Let us know what you like — and what you don’t — about our products and services.

If we’re doing well, tell your friends and business colleagues.  If we’re not, tell us.  At Bizmanualz, product and process improvement is our business: Improving our processes to serve you better comes first.

    Email     Print    Subscribe     

Posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 under Business Process Improvement, Writing Policies and Procedures

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Originally published by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title 7 Steps to a Policies and Procedures Manual – Part 2.

This and more articles like this can be found at www.bizmanualz.com. This article may be reprinted freely as long as this resource box is left intact.