After investing time and money documenting your business processes, is it enough to put them in a snazzy binder, set the binder on a shelf near the user's work area, point the user to them and walk away? Absolutely not. Let's look at two companies ...

Cataclysmic Company spent a lot of time and money documenting a manual to support their sales and operations planning (S&OP;) process. They believed that by formalizing the process and documenting it, they would be more successful. Once the documents were complete, a copy was sent to meeting attendees via the company mail. Upon receiving the manuals, the attendees put them on a shelf in their respective work areas. The documents were not mentioned or reviewed at an S&OP; meeting. The meetings were disbanded within six months because no one could see their value.

Drumbeat Manufacturing also put together a formal S&OP; process and documented manual. Once drafted, they sat down and reviewed it with attendees, made a few modifications, and then implemented the process. Over time they made changes, which were documented in the S&OP; manual. Drumbeat saw positive results from its S&OP; process.

Why the difference between the success and failure of these two companies in their S&OP; processes? Documentation was definitely a factor. Even if both companies had identical documents, Drumbeat would have been more successful than Cataclysmic because of how they introduced the documents. Let's examine this further.

Verification
The first thing Drumbeat did right was to verify its S&OP; manual. In the case of documentation, "verification" means going back to the user, originator or operator and reviewing the information for correctness and accuracy. The intent is to ensure that the task is performed as documented. In some cases, a second user may be consulted. Areas verified are simple, but inclusive:

1. Inputs (e.g., information, tools, checklists, forms — those items that are required before the process begins)

2.Task steps (e.g., order of completion and expected results — how the process moves from A to B to C, etc.)

3.Outputs (e.g., final product, completed checklists or forms — using the inputs and following the tasks should lead to an expected result.)

At the time of verification activities, inconsistencies are identified and rectified. If warranted, operators from different shifts who perform the same tasks may be called together to address findings.

Verification may occur at different stages of the documentation process. In some cases, operators review a first draft and mark changes on it. In other cases, such as with Drumbeat, a more formal document is drafted by an individual or team and submitted to a group for approval. But in both cases, the users review and approve document content before it is adopted by the company. The goal: to make the user an active part of the process and ensure information is accurate before documents are distributed.

After completing verification activities and making necessary changes, it's time for implementation.

Implementation
Depending on the process or amount of documentation, implementation may occur all at once or in stages. For example, Drumbeat Manufacturing elected to introduce the S&OP; process and documents at the same time. Documents that support a shipping and receiving process, however, may be rolled out as they are ready. Regardless of the method, three steps are necessary:

1.Training. Introduce users to the writing style and the document format or layout. Show a sample document and explain such things as header and footer information; document name or number; issue and/or revision date; review and approval process; and, of course, specifics about the content. When conducting such training, don't overlook forms and checklists — users must be trained about how to use these types of documents also.

2.Content. A table of contents or a guide to database content is generated to show users the topics addressed and how to find information. For paper documents, identify where the documentation is stored. For electronic documents, train users to use the software (supporting software documentation may be helpful).

3.Ground rules. Users need to know how to suggest a new document; how to make changes to current documents; what to do with obsolete documents; when it is and isn't acceptable to copy documents; the type of access they have to electronic documents; etc.

Be patient and diligent — documents and the processes they support may not be adopted overnight, especially if the business is moving from one level of operation to a higher level.

Audit
After a period of time, schedule and conduct documentation audits to ensure documents are current and continue to reflect current practices. (Documents that support an ISO 9000 or QS 9000 system are audited when scheduled internal audits take place.)

To conduct an audit, the auditor typically reviews the document and then observes a user performing the task described to verify that the two are consistent. Results will verify the accuracy of the documentation, show correctness and consistency of task or process performance, and help identify areas that require improvement.

Document audits will also show that users know where to find documents, how to use them, and how documents are maintained (e.g., reviewed/approved, changed, identified as obsolete).

And Finally
Document maintenance deserves a brief mention. It does little good to spend time and money developing documents if, within a short time, they are obsolete or invalid. Maintenance should make it easy for the user to suggest changes to documents, to suggest new documents, and to have the document management person make changes. Once a document is changed, the loop starts again — with verification, implementation and auditing.