TEN OBJECTIVES WHEN CREATING A PROCESS DESCRIPTION

You should:

1. - be clear WHY you are defining it - and who will use the resultant description.

2. - decide on the best medium to use - eg brown paper, PostIt notes, pen and paper, diagramming software, specialist process mapping / management system software.

3. - ensure a consistent presentation format (if you are defining a number of processes).

4. - ensure that you can display and/or print a process description in enough detail for a user to follow the process.

5. - refer (and link?) to all related information required for a user to understand what to do.

6. - clarify who is responsible (and who else is involved) in each task.

7. - (if relevant) identify risks, timings, competency requirements and other measures against each task.

8. - ensure that you use the same names for roles and documents every time you refer to them.

9. - recognise that the performance of a number of other processes can be a key influence on a specific process.

10. The process description should simplify, condense and visualise procedures.