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Some people make hard work of their business documents and others make easy work. What is the difference? Well there are lots of ways of making less work but in this article I’ll talk about stylesheets.

People who use stylesheets spend very little time formatting their documents. It all happens automatically and can be uniformly changed in an instant.

People who don’t use stylesheets have to make sure all text looks right by using word processor controls or copying formats from place to place. If they want to change the appearance of their document, they have reformat it all by hand.

What is a stylesheet?
You want the text in your business document to look different in different places. For example, you want to have ordinary text, headings, bulleted and numbered lists and emphasised words. We’ve made a list of the different appearances that the average business document needs:

Paragraphs Normal text Heading levels 1, 2, 3 Numbered list levels 1, 2, 3 Bulleted list levels 1, 2, 3 Indented text levels 1, 2, 3 Tables Text in a table right- and left-aligned Heading in a table right- and left aligned

Text Strong text (normally bold) Emphasised text (normally italic) Instructions for using computers Name of something in the user interface (for example the OK button) File or folder name Keystroke

In a word processor or website editor we create a label representing each kind of text. We tell the software what we want text to look like with each label. Then we simply attach the correct label to each block of text and the software does the rest. If we don’t like something about the appearance of a label, we tell the software to change it and the whole document instantly changes. Our set of labels and the appearances we have chosen is called a stylesheet.

Examples
Here are some examples showing the same document with different styles. It takes only a few minutes to change the styles, even for a 500 page document! Click the images to view PDFs of the documents in new tabs or windows.

How and why do we use a stylesheet
Once we have defined our stylesheet we train our team to use it and insist that they do so. With this small effort we have raised productivity, since nobody is spending time formatting documents by hand! Once you start using them you will never want to go back to formatting by hand.

This article is about uniformity in your procedure manual, but stylesheets can bring value to other documents, even letters. Hopefully your webmaster is already using a system called cascading stylesheets (CSS) on your website. If not then you may need another webmaster.

How do I get a stylesheet?
The popular word processors such as Microsoft Word and Open Office Writer have well developed stylesheet features. In word processors a label is called a Style and a stylesheet is called a Template. All you need to do is invest some time in learning how to use this feature, develop some templates for your business and train your team to use them. If you are writing a procedure manual or any long document it will remove an enormous amount of frustration. It is worth the effort!

Both Word processors have ready made styles that you can just start using. Look for the Heading, List number, List Bullet, List Continue styles. This is only a start for casual work. For best results you need to take control and make a proper template.

The software that we recommend for procedures manuals, TKO and Confluence, both have good stylesheet systems.

How can I get help?
If this seems a little tricky for you, affordable help is at hand. You could hire a consultant to create templates for you and train you and your team to use them. You may find someone local or we can help you. Just give us a call or send an email.

A procedure manual is a big job. After you become embroiled it you are going to be delighted with anything that will make it easier. A stylesheet will take a big weight off your shoulders.

If you find this blog useful, please leave us a comment. If you are reading this in an email, you’ll have to go to the blog site to leave the comment.

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In this article we explain what makes a good safety manual: One that is integrated with your procedures manual and describes actions rather than obligations.

A good safety manual is not just a collection of policies and responsibilities. These collections, often claimed to be safety manuals, are just specifications for a safety system, They are not safety systems in themselves. To say that a collection of policies and responsibilities is a safety manual is like saying that a set of building regulations is a plan for a house.

So what is a good safety manual? Well, it is certainly going to include the things people associate with safety manuals. It will have a brief set of general rules for all team members and for supervisors. It will have a statement by the employer of its intent to provide a safe work environment. This is only a tiny part, however! A good safety manual is integrated into your procedures manual and describes activities that team members perform and communications between team members.

We read AS 4801:2001 Occupational health and safety management systems – Specification with guidance for use carefully and came up with the followng Shakespeare play scenes (procedures, in other words—see our earlier blogs for more about our Shakespeare play business analogy)

In this article we have shown how to integrate safety into your procedures manual. We are, of course, available to help you with this. Please contact us if you have questions or are interested in having some help.

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In this article I’ll describe some options for keeping track of business issues or tasks so that you and your team don’t forget them.

In a systemised business, if an issue arises, you don’t want it to be forgotten before you resolve it. You may need to manage safety issues, customer complaints, corrective actions, system improvements, quality management issues or just action lists for your team members. You need a system for issue management. In this article we’ll discuss some options.

Essentials

To track issues, you need to have a way of

• Recording the issues as they arise
• Assigning the issues to team members to resolve
• Having a list of current issues so that you won’t forget them
• Dropping issues off the list when resolved

Levels

We describe here three technology levels for your issues: (1) paper or whiteboard (2) document and (3) bug tracker. Your choice depends on the number of issues and the complexity of your business, not on how clever you are about technology. You’ll be cleverest if you select the level appropriate for your business needs. It could be that you have a high tech business and you find that a whiteboard is best.

Tips for all levels

• Give each issue a number
• Have a system for managing issues through their life cycle (a workflow). This include a set of stages or statuses. Write down a definition of each stage (see later in the article).
• Draw a simple diagram of the life cycle.
• If possible use colours.
• Educate your team carefully about the system so that everyone is clear.
• Set an example by always following the system you created and insist that your team follows it too.
• If the system is becoming too hard to maintain or you are drowning in its volume, it is time to move to the next level.

Statuses

Here is a simple set of four stages (statuses) for issues. The diagram above has six. Select yours according to your needs.

Level 1 — Handwritten on paper or a whiteboard

Tips:

• Spend time designing a good form or whiteboard layout. Have space on it to mark the life cycle stages and for extra notes.
• Before you give an issue on paper to an Issue Owner, write onto it the action required then make a copy. If the Issue Owner loses it, you still have your copy.
• Use colours if possible.

Level 2 — Using a document or a spreadsheet

Manage your issues in a spreadsheet or in a table in a document:

• A spreadsheet is better because you can sort issues more easily.
• Include these columns: Issue number | Date created | Title | Description and comments | Status | Owner | Due date | Date closed.
• Contact us to order our low cost issue manager spreadsheet with instructions.

Spreadsheet tips:

• Turn on Wrap text for cells that contain escription and comments
• To create a new line within a cell in Excel, press ALT+ENTER and in OpenOffice Calc, press CTRL+ALT+ENTER

Level 3 — Bug tracker software

Software developers have created a variety of issue management programs for their own use. Many of these are free open source software. While these are all intended for the software development environment, if you spend a short time configuring one, it works well for managing business issues. We are successfully using the popular free Mantis Bug Tracker (http://www.mantisbt.org/). The diagram at the top of this article shows the workflow that we configured for a quality management system improvement suggestions database.

Once you move up to bug tracker software, you may find yourself using it for all kinds of action lists.

Contact us to order our low-cost report that explains how to configure Mantis for business systems. We charge a small fee for our report, but please remember that the software itself is free.

Processes, procedures, work instructions – What is their purpose?

In this article we identify the different types of document in your procedure manual and explain their purpose and their relationship with each other.

Using our Shakespeare play analogy we can see the answer.

Who wants to read these documents?

If you want to understand how the business works, look at the processes and then read the procedures.

Your team members will occasionally look at the procedure but normally go straight to the work instructions and information, where they can find out what they need to do.

Your table of contents

We sometimes find clients who have a great set of work instructions, but they have trouble working out how to organise them. The Shakespeare play analogy shows you a structure that is organic to your business. Organise it in 3 layers:

Navigation

With the table of contents as described you have an organic, logical navigation that someone who understands business can follow.

To support this we add:

• Launch pads—pages with handy links for different types of team member
• Full text search, so that anyone can find any word
• Glossary, to help people use the same words

Help

Like some help creating this for your business? Contact us through our website www.qdt.com.au

In this article we explain the difference between positions and roles and show how this applies to your business.

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The concept of roles and positions seems to cause confusion in small businesses. It’s time to clarify the difference.

As you may have seen in an earlier blog I love the metaphor of the Shakespeare play for a business, and you’ll probably keep seeing it here.

The Bell Shakespeare company comes to Bendigo most years. They bring about 5 actors and a new twist to the interpretation. A Shakespeare play has at least 15 roles in it and maybe more. Each actor has his or her particular skills and takes several appropriate roles in the play.

Each scene in your Shakespeare play business has prescribed roles. For example one scene in the Financial Management act could be “Manage accounts payable”. It may only have two roles in it, an Accounts Payable Administrator and a Financial Controller. By the end of the scene, your accounts have been paid. You have team members who play these roles. Which team members can play the roles? Ones that are qualified to do it, of course.

In Bell Shakespeare, they employ a particular set of actors who together can perform all of the required roles. Your business is the same.

A role description describes what the role does. A position description lists all of the roles that the team member in the position may have to play. The role has the description and the position just has a list.

Business documentation software like TKO makes this easy. You define all of the roles needed for the business and compile your position descriptions from them. For more information about TKO, visit our website www.qdt.com.au

A position description, however, contains more than a list of the possible roles. We’ll write more about this later. Watch this space.

In this article we explain why it is better to organise your procedure manual so that it suits your team, not so that it suits your auditor.

Just because you are getting ISO9001 certification does not mean that the table of contents of your procedures manual has to follow the clauses of ISO9001. Your procedures manual needs a table of contents that fits your business.

Don’t spoon-feed the auditor

Don’t worry about the auditors.  They don’t need to be spoon-fed your ISO 9001 compliance.  Your procedures manual is for your team, not for the auditor! The auditor knows ISO9001 back to front and can easily assess whether your procedures manual is compliant.

Hierarchy or process?

You can think of your business as a hierarchy or as a process. Which is better to dominate your procedures manual?  Since procedures are action, then the process view is surely better. isn’t it?

The play analogy

If you take the process view, you can think of your business like a play.  The play has a script.  It is divided into acts and scenes.  Think of each act as a different area of your business.  There is the Sales act, the Marketing act, the Human Resources Management act and so on.

Each act has a number of scenes. In the Sales act, there is the scene where people close a sale, another where they have a meeting to review sales performance and another where they deal with customer follow up, feedback and issues.

In a scene, which we like to call a Procedure, the team members involved have different Roles and communicate with each other to achieve the purpose of the scene.  We call what each Role does an Activity.

In our opinion, the best and most organic table of contents for a procedures manual is the acts and scenes (business areas and procedures) that make up the business.

Now there may be a lot involved in a procedure. In the play analogy, it could be that a Role has a particularly long speech to make.  Instead of including the whole speech in the scene, we include it as a support document.  We call this a Work Instruction.

So a play has acts, scenes and speeches, and your business has business areas, procedures and work instructions.

We can help you think through the acts, scenes and speeches of your business and guide you through creating your procedures manual, whether or not you are going for ISO 9001 certification.

Contact David at qdt.com.au, where we make management easy.