A “procedure” is a term used in a variety of industries to define a series of steps, taken together, to achieve a desired result.  Procedures explain how to accomplish a task.  A procedure is sometimes called a work instruction.  If you are preparing an ISO 9001 quality management system then the term procedure is used to describe a process, whereas a work instruction is used to describe something more basic like a specific step in a process.  For example, how to fill out a form.  Procedures are known in other ways too.

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If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How can I unlock the value in my business?” …you’re not alone.

This question has been on every business manager’s mind since the first company was started.  Large or small, it doesn’t matter.  When it comes to business valuation, people want to know how to get the most for the company.

Today I’m going to tell you.  It’s so shockingly simple, it may take a few seconds before you realize the truth of this statement:  The key to unlocking the value in your business is by documenting your business processes, in writing, for all of your employees!

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You’ve just been given the task of writing a new procedure that documents an existing business process.  You make sure you understand, and you close with, “I’ll get on this process right away.”

That’s when your boss says, “Process? Did I say ‘process’? I meant processezzz! Plural!”  And before you can blurt out, “What do you mean?”, the boss says you need to develop procedures for all accounting processes, not just the one.  Oh, and he wants them by the end of the month!

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Writing procedures is an exercise in controlling the cost of compliance.  You’re trying to comply with customer expectations, management objectives, government regulations, and/or industry standards, making compliance expensive.  Regardless of the reason for compliance, wouldn’t you want to write as few procedures as possible if you could still conform to the compliance mandate and keep your compliance costs to a minimum?

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Your process is not living up to expectations, so you’ve decided to implement standard operating procedures (SOP) to improve process consistency, compliance, and effectiveness.  However, that project is stalled: employees are not buying into your proposed changes, and management is growing impatient.

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According to comments we receive from attendees at the conclusion of our two day Well-Defined Processes course, one of the more enjoyable aspects of the course (besides the excellent instruction and great materials!) is the interaction that typically takes place between participants.

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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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Question of the month: How does using the typical writing process assist you in creating effective procedures?

The advice for writing procedures is the same as for any kind of writing project – from a college term paper to a novel, a business letter, or a procedure; craft the writing project by working through a process that includes three phases: Plan – Draft – Revise. Extensive research has shown that writing projects of any kind tends to be successful when writers use the process approach and engage in some type of activity from all these three phases.

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Question of the Month: How do policies and procedures fulfill requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and other financial regulations?

This month’s highlight was the release of the Finance Policies, Procedures & Forms manual. Our newest product is the result of a nearly year-long effort of intensive research, writing, editing, and reviewing. The Finance Manual was finally ready for production and shipping last week. We are very pleased with this new product, and the response from our customers, to date, has been tremendous.

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What a year this was. A new policies and procedures manual. New training courses. And, most importantly, over 50 articles on various aspects of business management and process improvement. Our goal here at Bizmanualz is to help you streamline your processes and improve your business performance. If our articles help you achieve this in any way, we feel like we have succeeded.

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