Knowledge Management-Policy & Procedure Manual

JCInfo · July 2005

I've been tasked to create the company Knowledge Management-Policy & Procedure Manual.
To date, I've been working w/the Pres on structure & we have almost completed the Table of Contents based upon the service categories and/or products we offer. Included in the manual will be training procedures, job descriptions, mission & vision statements, organizational chart w/titles only, etc with hyperlinks to the relevent documentation.
While I've not done this before, I've been reading up on it, but would appreciate some suggestions on good 'workbooks' that might assist me.
I'm a little stuck on how to integrate changes into the manual for those issues that cross over into more than 1 department and/or service category.
Currently, we are a small, but dynamically growing company & I'm excited about what I'm being asked to do.

Thanks in advance!
Janet

LivindonSouth · July 2005

If you're talking about a standard 'Policy & Procedures' Manual, the way I've done them is the opposite. Organizing the table of contents comes after writing/outlining the procedures that we felt were relevant and should be in the hands of department heads and managers. I've typically started with a laundry list, colaboratively written brief but meaningful procedures, organized it by department, then come up with the table of contents. By departments, I mean HR stuff all together, accounting related stuff (expense reporting, invoicing, authorization to purchase), other categories that might apply to the organization as a whole.

It's supposed to be a 'go to' manual for managers as a daily operating handbook, not a fluff book of mission and vision. If you must, limit the vision/mission stuff to a paragraph at the front. The last thing you want to spend your time on is a book that will gather dust. Managers going about their daily tasks need direction and want to know how to carry out procedures correctly and do not give one whit about mission statements and ideology. At least that's my take.

And I would not recommend you put job descriptions in this book that will probably be distributed to quite a few people. If you do that, every time you tweak a job descriptions, you are going to be responsible for updating nineteen or so handbooks.

Disclaimer: This message is not intended to offend or attack. It is posted as personal opinion. If you find yourself offended or uncomfortable, email me and let me know why.

JCInfo · July 2005

Understood. . .The 'Mission & Vision' part is very brief . . .

We've discussed and initially started out with the format of 'departments', but the 'service categories', or products if you will, span numerous departments. Rather than duplicating the information by department, the Pres & I have decided to format the manual be service category/product. This will allow an employee (new or existing) to follow the process from beginning to end and track it through each department, thus 'seeing' how each process impacts each department. This format also follows the format of our Internal Tracking Log, which is what the employees are familiar with and so it seems to make sense to use the same format rather than introduce another.

Job descriptions are put into the manual because it will be part of the orientation & education process. I realize that I will be 'updating' various areas of this manual as an on-going task and that will require a fair amount of my time.

Included will be (the last section) 'Internal Support' which will education, train & keep employees informed on systems, communications, agendas, HIPAA, etc.

Our Pres & CEO is extremely tech oriented

JCInfo · July 2005

Forgot to mention the Policy & Procedure Manual will be on each employee desktop (not printed) with hyperlinks etc. Maintenance and updates will be done only by 1 individual, but managers will be very involved in writing documentation.

LivindonSouth · July 2005

Sounds like to me you're simply trying to manualize an orientation video. Why reinvent the wheel. Stick with what works....a 20 minute video for new employees. What you describe is NOT a Policy & Procedure Manual.

E Wart · July 2005

I am confused about what you are trying to do. Sounds as if you are trying to combine 1) orientation program, 2) Job description manuel 3) Policy & Procedure Manuel 4) Employee Hand book 5) Department Procedures (which relates to quality)Manuel
into 1 manuel. I don't think this is a good idea.
First, the Job Description Manuel should be kept &maintained separately. You only need to give employees copies of their description, not all of them.
Secondly, the Orientation Program is a mixture of these including possible visits to each dept, meeting with each manager, copy of employee handbook, copy of their position description, etc.
The employee handbook should be a condensed version of only issues that employees may need to know "each day". Things like your EEO statement, your Mission Statement, the time off policy, the attendance policy, the overtime policy, benefits, etc.
The Procedure (Quality) Manuel is the step by step process of each activity/procedure that is done in the company, who does it, what happens if not done or not right, etc. Examples would be generating a accounts receiveable invoice, making a widget, UPS procedures, etc.(Do charts for this and you can visually see it and then write it.)
The Personnel Policies and Procedures manuel is a broader statement of the Personnel Policies of the company, how to handle them, what forms to use, etc. Dept. procedures, mission statements, etc don't belong in this manuel.
Sounds like you have a huge job ahead. You should get the dept. supv. to do their own procedure manuel, with quality's help or coordinating it. You shouldn't be involved in that (unless it is writing your part of it... i.e. what to do with new hire).
Good luck!
E Wart

owenlady · August 2005

Would you by chance be willing to share a copy of your "go to manual" for managers? I've been struggling to create a viable one and would be most appreciate of the assistance.

You could email me at [email]carole.owen@bgfh.com[/email] if you wish.

Thanks, Carole

WT · July 2005

If you really want a management manual, why reinvent the wheel. Take a good one or several and then add or subtract whatever you want. It should have sections on relevant laws (discrimination, harassment, etc.), paid time, company policy, use of company assets, travel (if you have employees travel), cell phone or computer use (privacy), and other necessary issues. Probably most every forumite has one that they use. No doubt you can get plenty of them by e-mail if you ask.

marc · July 2005

Seems to me that you are embarking on a combination business process flow, policies and procedures manual, org charts, job descriptions and orientation all thrown into one project.

What a fun project this would be.

As others have stated, I think you need to parse this out into several major documents. Each of which will have it's own Table of Contents, change process, and will affect different departments in different ways.

For instance, inventory control means something different to the parts bin guy than the accountant and something else to the line manager and the lead of the production crew.

I think it could be very confusing to try and write one document that would be adequate for the different disciplines that will need to use it. If you put too much in the manual about balancing and control procedures that will be helpful to the accounting clerk, you will not be producing somehting that will help your "just-in-time" ordering process for the purchasing department.

Yes, these things touch each other at various points and communication between departments and disciplines is essential around those touch points, but that is what management and development are all about.

This needs to be thought completely through before you make it so large and cumbersome. My advice would be to go for lean and mean for each department and discipline and integrate thme where essential.

Good luck - lots of work and when you are done, you will understand your company better than most.

Knowledge Management-Policy & Procedure Manual

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