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.” (more…)

A lot of work goes into developing every Bizmanualz Policies and Procedures manual.  We start by conducting…

1. Subject Research

In the not-too-distant past, we primarily searched the Internet for clues as to what people wanted. We’d find what topics people were interested in by doing the same thing you do: searching by keywords. (more…)

Today, everything is a project with more and more people finding themselves in a project management role of some type.  You don’t have to have the title of Project Manager to manage projects.

A Project is a temporary collection of related tasks to achieve a desired and usually unique result.

What do you think? Do you find yourself managing a collection of related tasks to achieve a desired result?  If so, you qualify as a project manager.  Businesses today are evolving, downsizing, and pushing more work down the organization chart.  You may be a project manager and not know it.  But what if you haven’t been trained as a Project Manager with the necessary skill and tool sets? (more…)

Last week, we discussed three types of Process Maps: High-Level, Low-Level and Cross Functional or “Swim Lanes” Maps.  This week we will take a closer look at Document Maps, and Activity or Value Stream Maps. (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…)

We have used our recent series of articles to talk about applying the philosophy of the continually improving process philosophy to business operations outside of the factory floor.  Specifically, we have talked about viewing Sales and Marketing as a business process.  (more…)

Last week we discussed the sales and marketing pipeline, as part of our coverage on using the business process approach to sales & marketing. Well-defined and aligned processes not only use measurement to continually improve, (more…)

Is it an art or a science? In business that question is frequently, and aptly, applied to Sales and Marketing. Good marketing and sales people know how to work the “magic” that creates leads and closes sales. If you ask them how they do it, however, they may not be able to explain it. Many sales and marketing veterans operate through an intuitive feel they have created through observation and experience, but it is not something very easily defined or described. (more…)

Last week we discussed some tips to enhance your company’s training and training programs. This included a whole lot of “do’s” and a few “don’ts” to providing good training sessions and programs.This week we will discuss the results of good training classes and programs. (more…)

Last week we discussed a little about AS9100. You may have seen other ISO standards too. In fact, ISO standards are in use today by over 600,000 companies, worldwide. So what are they for and what is the real difference between them? (more…)