Learning how to document processes and procedures has a number of benefits. It will save you time as you won’t need to think about what to do when carrying out regular business functions. Your work will become more consistent as you will always be following the same steps every time you perform a task. Quality will improve as you won’t miss out on any steps, and you’re less likely to make a mistake.
What are processes and procedures?
So, what’s the difference between a process and a procedure? The two terms are often used interchangeably in business, but the definition of each is:
- A process consists of the steps or actions required to complete a task.
- A procedure describes who does each step and how it’s done.
So, in short, a process is the ‘what’ and a procedure is the ‘how’.
Depending on the size of the task at hand, you can choose to document processes and procedures separately or combine them into one diagram.
A process diagram usually consists of the inputs to a task, the outputs, and the steps to get from one to the other.
A procedure is often more descriptive, including who does each step and how they achieve it.
How to analyse your processes
Before documenting your processes and procedures you should analyse them. This involves listing all your processes, including the purpose of each one, and then brainstorming the steps required to undertake each task.
The best way to do this is by using a flipchart, a whiteboard, or sticky notes. You can get ‘magic’ paper that sticks to walls (available on Amazon here) which works really well when you don’t have a whiteboard or flipchart. If you are working remotely then there are digital whiteboard apps such as Miro or Mural.
You should make a note of which department is responsible for each step, bearing in mind that some may cross over into more than one. You should also list all the apps or tools you use to complete each task, and what their function is. If you are considering replacing a tool then make a note of this.
How to document your processes and procedures
Once you have a list of processes then you can document them. There are a number of tools you can use to do this, many of which are free.
The first tool for documenting processes and procedures is a simple spreadsheet. This works for many businesses and you can create a different sheet for each process. You can use separate columns to include the following information (using the 5W1H method):
- Where does the task occur?
- How is the task accomplished?
- What steps are required? What data, or apps are needed?
- Who is involved? Which team do they belong to, or is it a customer, or supplier?
- When does this task occur? Is it time-critical?
- Why is this step or task important?
If you’d rather create a more visual representation of the process then you could use a flowchart tool such as Visio or Draw.io. Flowcharts provide clarity and understanding of the sequence of actions, and it is often an easier way to identify unnecessary steps. You can colour-code steps based on which team does them, or other criteria. You can also use the standard symbols for data, forms and other media to give instant visual analysis of a process.
And when you’re ready to document the process in a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), you can capture the finer details by asking the person responsible for the process to digitally document it. You could use an app like Scribe that helps you to easily record a work-through of a process and then captures, videos, screenshots and transcibes the text automatically – it’s pretty clever. It makes the whole process documentation and SOP writing process much easier.
There are also checklist-style apps which have been developed specifically for documenting processes. These include Process Street, which are a great way of creating SOPs. They are cloud-based solutions which can also integrate with other apps including Zapier to automate tasks.
Courtesy of Process Street
Or you could simply stick with Miro or Mural, which have flowcharting templates as well as sticky notes and customer journey maps.
What’s next?
Once you have documented your processes then you can think about automating them. We have written a blog post about the benefits of automating processes which is a great starting point, and we also have some free resources:
- Our free e-book is the perfect introduction to business automation.
- The Solvaa YouTube channel includes demos of how Zapier can be used to automate common business processes.
- Our Zapier functions cheat sheet delves into the powerful inbuilt helper apps which can supercharge your automations.
Our founder, Kelly’s new book, Automate It with Zapier, is out now and is the most comprehensive Zapier guide on the market. You can buy a copy from Amazon: here are links to Amazon (.co.uk) and Amazon (.com) to get yours now.
Solvaa: Strategy, Solutions, Support, Education
UK-based Solvaa® is a systems, process and automation consultancy specialising in improving business workflows. Solvaa® works with SMEs worldwide to implement digital tools, better processes, use business process automation and generative AI to boost productivity, enhance lead management, and remove unnecessary time, costs and hassles from stretched business owners’ days.
We help you simplify and streamline existing processes, integrate your business tools to make data transfer more efficient, and automate manual tasks. Our business process automation specialists have extensive experience using multiple cloud-based business tools, including Zapier, Pipedrive CRM, SmartSuite, Xero, Google Suite, ClickUp, Asana, Airtable, Hubspot, Active Campaign, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Quickbooks and many more. We are Zapier Certified Experts, SmartSuite Certified Partners, Pipedrive Certified Partners and Xero Certified Advisors. We also educate teams about using AI in their daily roles, mindset, governance and strategy in our Solvaa AI Academy.
Solvaa® was founded in 2016 by Kelly Goss, a no-code solutions architect, business process automation specialist and author of Automate It with Zapier (first edition) and Automate It with Zapier and Generative AI (second edition).
A thought leader on business process automation and digital adoption, Kelly attended an invite-only Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the UK government at No.10 Downing Street, providing insights and recommendations on how SMEs can benefit from productivity gains by using digital technologies, automation and AI. She has also been invited to speak at the House of Lords and at many other events.
Contact us today to find out how Solvaa can help your business make big savings on operational costs and time, and significantly increase productivity.
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