Personnel Contingency Planning - Business Process Documentation - Connecting IT Companies

Oct 7, 2007

"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail." -- Ben Franklin

Business process documentation is your first line of defense against personnel turnover. How often do you worry about the loss of a key employee? That moment you realized they are gone, how would that make you feel? Imagine being able to eliminate that panic attack with five simple steps. The loss of critical employees will always adversely affect your business, but if you could minimize that effect, why wouldn’t you? Let’s review the necessary steps you can take as a owner/manager to increase the stability of your business.

The typical small business relies completely on one or two professionals to handle critical areas of their business. They do not share responsibilities; each one has a list of duties the other knows little about. The loss of how to perform these “business processes” can cripple your company.

Small companies must set up a knowledge library for business process documentation and spend an hour or two each week maintaining this critical information. This small investment of time can keep you from disastrous consequences in the future.

There are five key issues you must address when establishing a business process documentation knowledge library.
1. Identify the people and processes that are vital to your company.
2. Coordinate time to execute the process with its “owner.”
3. Discover every resource associated with the process.
4. Document the steps, the people, the equipment and the process.
5. Determine a storage medium for the process knowledge.

These key issues can be addressed by several simple steps.

Make sure you review the entire company, not just the IT department.

Companies beginning process definition typically focus solely on their IT department. In business, high priority IT processes are embedded in your accounting department, sales department, and even with your office manager. All of these people are using IT to streamline their work. Could you issue payroll if your typical payroll person disappeared?

Employees need to understand why you are creating a knowledge library.

When employees are asked to document their day-to-day process, they will assume the worst. The “owner” of a process is typically the “go to guy” for that process, the individual who makes it happen. Reassure your people and let them know that this is a precaution in case of disaster. Find time that fits into their schedule for the process documentation. This step of the process must be handled with finesse if you don’t want to cause a drop in morale. Express how this process will allow them to take work-free vacations and improve their work/life balance.

Take notes on whom, what, why, where, when, etc...

The best method in which to understand a process is to do it yourself. Develop questions about the process that will allow you to establish a mental image of the workflow. Initially you will watch while the process owner performs his/her duty. Create a workflow diagram of the process with notes concerning required machines and login information. The second time you should perform the process under the supervision of the owner. This will give you a complete review of the workflow diagram. Any time you have to request the process owners, add the gathered information to your diagram.

Thoroughness will determine the success of your process knowledge library.

You must create a logical document that would allow anyone to recreate the necessary steps. Using your notes, develop a process brochure. This should list all of the important players* in the process, the workflow diagram, a systematic how-to on the process, and who can be contacted in case of missing information. After the first few process definitions define document templates that cover the most common areas. This will help you reduce time spent on process definition and identify any process omissions.

Pick the medium with which you are most comfortable.

You must be able to track several documents and enhancements to those documents over time. You must have a medium for storage that you will use. Do you create a Word document for each identified process? Would you be more comfortable with a wiki? These questions will be answered by your organization's level of comfort with technology. You must also consider where you will store these documents and you must keep regular backups, potentially even offsite.

The above steps will help you mitigate the potential catastrophe associated with the loss of a crucial employee. The loss of an employee is expensive, time consuming, and very stressful. You can curtail the associated loss if you properly maintain a knowledge library of your employees' daily activities. Give yourself peace of mind and ensure that you stay productive through the personnel loss. Take back control of your business.

*Make sure all employees critical to your process are identified and documented.

Chris Spears
678-485-7506
chris@arkesystems.com
Arke Systems LLC
Director of Business Development
Visit us at http://www.arkesystems.com

Author Name	Chris Spears
Author Company	Arke Systems LLC
Body of Topic	Oct 7, 2007 "By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail." -- Ben Franklin Business process documentation is your first line of defense against personnel turnover. How often do you worry about the loss of a key employee? That moment you realized they are gone, how would that make you feel? Imagine being able to eliminate that panic attack with five simple steps. The loss of critical employees will always adversely affect your business, but if you could minimize that effect, why wouldn’t you? Let’s review the necessary steps you can take as a owner/manager to increase the stability of your business. The typical small business relies completely on one or two professionals to handle critical areas of their business. They do not share responsibilities; each one has a list of duties the other knows little about. The loss of how to perform these “business processes” can cripple your company. Small companies must set up a knowledge library for business process documentation and spend an hour or two each week maintaining this critical information. This small investment of time can keep you from disastrous consequences in the future. There are five key issues you must address when establishing a business process documentation knowledge library. 1. Identify the people and processes that are vital to your company. 2. Coordinate time to execute the process with its “owner.” 3. Discover every resource associated with the process. 4. Document the steps, the people, the equipment and the process. 5. Determine a storage medium for the process knowledge. These key issues can be addressed by several simple steps. Make sure you review the entire company, not just the IT department. Companies beginning process definition typically focus solely on their IT department. In business, high priority IT processes are embedded in your accounting department, sales department, and even with your office manager. All of these people are using IT to streamline their work. Could you issue payroll if your typical payroll person disappeared? Employees need to understand why you are creating a knowledge library. When employees are asked to document their day-to-day process, they will assume the worst. The “owner” of a process is typically the “go to guy” for that process, the individual who makes it happen. Reassure your people and let them know that this is a precaution in case of disaster. Find time that fits into their schedule for the process documentation. This step of the process must be handled with finesse if you don’t want to cause a drop in morale. Express how this process will allow them to take work-free vacations and improve their work/life balance. Take notes on whom, what, why, where, when, etc... The best method in which to understand a process is to do it yourself. Develop questions about the process that will allow you to establish a mental image of the workflow. Initially you will watch while the process owner performs his/her duty. Create a workflow diagram of the process with notes concerning required machines and login information. The second time you should perform the process under the supervision of the owner. This will give you a complete review of the workflow diagram. Any time you have to request the process owners, add the gathered information to your diagram. Thoroughness will determine the success of your process knowledge library. You must create a logical document that would allow anyone to recreate the necessary steps. Using your notes, develop a process brochure. This should list all of the important players* in the process, the workflow diagram, a systematic how-to on the process, and who can be contacted in case of missing information. After the first few process definitions define document templates that cover the most common areas. This will help you reduce time spent on process definition and identify any process omissions. Pick the medium with which you are most comfortable. You must be able to track several documents and enhancements to those documents over time. You must have a medium for storage that you will use. Do you create a Word document for each identified process? Would you be more comfortable with a wiki? These questions will be answered by your organization's level of comfort with technology. You must also consider where you will store these documents and you must keep regular backups, potentially even offsite. The above steps will help you mitigate the potential catastrophe associated with the loss of a crucial employee. The loss of an employee is expensive, time consuming, and very stressful. You can curtail the associated loss if you properly maintain a knowledge library of your employees' daily activities. Give yourself peace of mind and ensure that you stay productive through the personnel loss. Take back control of your business. *Make sure all employees critical to your process are identified and documented. -- Chris Spears 678-485-7506 chris@arkesystems.com Arke Systems LLC Director of Business Development Visit us at http://www.arkesystems.com

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