I recently had a long conversation with a customer on the topic of polices and procedures. They were a small but growing company (as many of our manual product customers are) and the need for standardization and consistency was becoming apparent.

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In this series our topic is how to write procedures: what advice do we have to give about writing procedures? Most importantly - employ the writing process. The writing process considers activities that successful writers engage in while producing a piece of writing, and it applies whether one is writing an essay, a business letter, or a procedure. These writing activities are typically divided into three steps or phases – Planning, Drafting, and Revising. Having covered Planning and Drafting, let’s turn our attention to Revising. (more…)

In the most recent article we began discussing the topic of using a process approach for writing procedures. It is useful to think of any writing project as a three step process consisting of Plan-Draft-Revise. Last week we covered planning activities associated with writing effective procedures, so this week let’s discuss Drafting. (more…)

Recently we published a series of articles covering why you need policies and procedures, and it included how to decide when you need to create procedures. Now that you understand why you need procedures, let’s talk about how to write procedures. (more…)

Strengthen compliance, enhance performance, or speed the development of your financial procedures.

Are you still trying to build an internal control system to help you comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and other financial regulations? The newest addition to the Bizmanualz Policies, Procedures & Forms product line - the Finance Policies, Procedures & Forms Manual - can provide a big boost in meeting regulatory requirements. (more…)

In the past weeks we have explored the very basic reasons why an organization needs procedures.  My belief is that, no matter how many complex explanations you give or long lists you create, it all boils down to four basic reasons:  (more…)

Last week we brought up the topic of why we need procedures. While some would answer this question by providing very long lists of reasons why, these lists sometimes aren’t useful. They are too long to really remember and absorb, plus there is too much overlap and redundancy. I, however, listed four very basic reasons that I feel demonstrate why we should develop procedures (more…)

“Why do we need policies and procedures?”  Have you heard that question before?  Perhaps you were even the one asking it.  How happy were you with the answer you gave, or with the one you received?  Frequently people struggle to give a clear and meaningful response to such an obvious question.  (more…)

In the past few articles, we have shared some of the things going on at Bizmanualz to help you improve your business. For example, the Internal Auditor course has been redesigned and improved because internal auditing is an important, yet frequently overlooked, component for compliance and for process improvement. (more…)

Part 4 of a four-part series

We talk about policies and procedures all the time but what really is a policy and how does it differ from a procedure? (more…)