Without documentation, software is just a black box. And black boxes aren’t anywhere near as useful as they could be because their inner workings are hidden from those who need them in the open.

Software documentation turns your software into a glass box by explaining to users and developers how it operates or is used.

You’ve probably seen documentation before, but if you need a refresher, here’s an example from Slack‘s API:

As you can see, Slack explains everything about its API in excruciating detail. Any related pages are linked, there’s a sidebar with easy-to-access topics, and screenshots of what the user can expect to see.

To explain software documentation in more detail, we will cover the following topics in this Process Street post:

• What is software documentation?
• Software documentation hosting options
• Writing tools for software documentation
• Final words on software documentation

Let’s get started.

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In a past life, I interned at a fashion company. And at the tender age of 19, it was my first introduction to the working world.

But my time there was largely spent in a state of bewilderment, wondering what tasks I should be focusing on, what the right processes for those tasks were, and what a successful end-result for those tasks would look like. (This company was part of the 22% that have no onboarding program.)

And because the team was always out of the office – attending photoshoots, meeting brands and retailers, going for their 17th coffee of the day at over-priced (and mediocre) cafés in London’s East End – it meant I was often alone in the office, wondering what the hell to do.

Unsurprisingly, the company went bust in 2019.

If they’d have had an operations manual or some operations manual templates, however, I would’ve been able to complete a ton of work while they were focusing on other parts of the business. That’s because an operations manual contains information about the company, the company’s hierarchy, roles and responsibilities, business policies, and key facts regarding processes and procedures.

Don’t let your business fall into the same trap as the now-defunct fashion company.

Create, implement, and audit an operations manual.

In this post, I’ll further define what an operations manual is and the benefits of having an operations manual. To boot, I’ll provide you with a host of nifty operations manual templates, and tell you how Process Street can aid you with your manual!

Read the following sections to get clued up:

• What’s the operations manual definition?
• The benefits of having an operations manual
• 7 (free!) superpowered operations manual templates
• Use Process Street to take full control of your operations!

Or, if you just wanted the templates, grab them here:

• Operations Manual Template
• Checklist for Writing an Operations Manual
• Internal Audit Procedure for an Operations Manual
• Process Library Checklist
• The Process for Optimizing a Process
• ISO 9000 Structure Template
• ISO 9001 Internal Audit Checklist for Quality Management Systems

In fact, here’s a sneak preview of the templates that you’ll be getting for free!

Let’s get started, shall we?

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SOPs (often pronounced S-O-P) are basically just another way to think about processes. Specifically, with a focus on formally defining the best way of doing something.

In business terms, that means saving time and money by building a clear, concise set of instructions for all of your internal processes. Policies (or standards) are important too; SOPs are kind of like a hybrid of policy and procedure.

Traditionally, SOPs were useful in principle, but often suffered from being difficult to maintain and crucially, hard to enforce. What good is an SOP if it lives its life sat on a dusty stack of paper forms? Your SOPs should be actionable, and that’s where BPM software like Process Street comes in.

If you understand how to build, maintain, and optimize SOPs with software, you can supercharge your standard operating procedures.

In this article, we want to give you everything you will ever need to know about SOPs, including:

• What is an SOP?
• Importance and benefits of standardizing your processes
• SOPs as a facet of BPM
• How to write SOPs
• SOP management software
• SOP templates
• Auditing your SOPs
• SOP & ISO
• Using Process Street for superpowered SOPs
• More SOP resources

Each section will be as concise as possible, with links out to further reading wherever appropriate. Let’s start with the basics.
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One of the most important things you can offer your customers and employees is consistency.

Your customers need consistency in your products and services, your employees need consistency to help them do their job efficiently, and your company needs consistency in order to continuously improve your policies and procedures.

The best way to make sure that you have consistency within your company is by implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Most companies already have SOPs that their employees follow, but they’re either rarely updated, or they’re never even properly documented to begin with.

This is often because writing, reviewing, and regularly updating your SOPs can typically take a lot of time, especially when starting from scratch.

But thankfully, there are ways to make your job a lot easier.

That’s why in this Process Street article, we’ll go over the general guidelines for the SOP format and other ways you can streamline your processes to help you get started building your SOPs.

We’ll be covering:

• What is a standard operating procedure (SOP)?
• What does the SOP format look like?
• Should your company use an SOP template?
• Using Process Street to build your SOPs

If you’re simply looking for a SOP format to get started with, then look no further!
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When defining, documenting, and delivering services to customers, it can be a little difficult (read: incredibly taxing) to keep on top of everything.

As Philipp Unterharnscheidt and Axel Kieninger at the Karlsruhe Service Research Institute both say:

“IT services supporting business operations are an increasingly critical factor for business success today (Guldentops 2003). The management of service quality, which is the central objective of Service Level Management (SLM), however remains a major challenge for many companies.” – Philipp Unterharnscheidt and Axel Kieninger, Service Level Management – Challenges and their Relevance from the Customers’ Point of View

To help companies keep on top of things – and manage their services, service levels, and SLAs and OLAs masterfully – there’s service level management.

This may be the point where you’re thinking “But what, exactly, is service level management? What are the benefits of it? The best practices so it’s done properly? And how would Process Street even help with service level management?”

Worry no more, reader. You’ve come to the right place.

Just read through these sections to get to grips with service level management:

• What is service level management (SLM)?
• The benefits of service level management
• Service level management best practices
• Use Process Street for SLM (and creating your OLA and SLA agreements)!

Let’s dive straight in. ⬇️

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In today’s business environment where managed services are constantly being outsourced, creating a concise, official document outlining the terms of an agreement between the client and service provider is critical to setting the foundations for a trustworthy and ultimately fruitful relationship.

“Service-level agreements, amongst other things, bolster trust in and between organizations – making it clear what needs to be done, to what standard, and when.” – Adam Henshall, What is an SLA? How to Use Service-Level Agreements for Success

It’s simply an essential component that requires care and attention.

As you may well have already noticed and perhaps even put to good use, Process Street has been creating some excellent content for those of you looking to create first-class service level agreement’s in quick and easy fashion.

For a comprehensive introduction into what an SLA is, exactly what one consists of and why you need them, have a read through the following article:

• What is an SLA? How to Use Service-Level Agreements for Success

If you are already familiar with the fundamentals of SLAs and are looking for guidance on how to create and edit one for your organization, you’ll find this post useful:

• Service Level Agreement Template: How to Create Solid SLAs at Super Speed

Bear in mind that the article referenced above also contains a free, easy-to-use Process Street template from which you can create as many service level agreements as you like.

And that’s what this post is all about – providing free, easy-to-use examples in the form of practical templates.

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82% of companies are still spending billions on remaining paper-based companies, with 1/3 upping their paper usage in recent years.

Why, oh why are businesses still relying on a technology that was invented around 100BC when we have entered an era of artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and digitized documentation?

If you want effective Enterprise Document Management (EDM) strategies, you need to scrap the paper and go paperless.

A bold statement, but a statement that is not unfounded.

• Paper is costly – costing an average of ~$8 billion annually in management.
• Paper is wasteful – paper usage does not support the global paradigm shift towards vital sustainability efforts.
• Paper is difficult to manage – workers spend almost half their time looking for information stored in paper documents.

What you need are digitized methods to store important business information. What you need is an electronic way to manage this.

What you need is a digitized Enterprise Document Management system, and we at Process Street are here to help.

Find out what Enterprise Document Management is, and why Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS’s) serve as good EDM tools. We present to you our top 5 EDMS tools which you can use alongside Process Street for ultimate document control.

Ready to terminate your paper towers? Click on the relevant subheaders below to jump to that section, alternatively scroll down to read all we at Process Street have to say about digital Enterprise Document Management systems.

• What is Enterprise Document Management (EDM)?
• Enterprise Document Management (EDM): The document management system you need to use and why
• Electronic Document Management System (EDMS): A 3-stepped process for document control
• Our Top 5 EDMS tools
• Process Street: Optimizing your internal workflows
• Enterprise Document Management: Audit your EDMS with Process Street
• Process Street: The ultimate EDMS counterpart

Let’s get started!
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Let’s face it.

Delivering stellar services to customers and clients can be tough.

And with villains such as poor communication, stress, and human error constantly rearing their ugly heads, it makes that job even harder.

In fact, a study by Quantum Workplace found that more than 80% of people thought miscommunication happened very frequently, frequently, or occasionally in the workplace, while Identity Guard uncovered that the average American employee makes 118 mistakes per year.

So that mistakes are quashed, miscommunication is thwarted, and that everyone is on the same page so the objectives, targets, and goals defined in your service level agreements (SLA) can be upheld, an OLA is the answer.

An OLA is to the SLA what Robin is to Batman. Superboy to Superman. Chewbacca to Han Solo. And by reading through the following sections in this Process Street article, you’ll discover why an OLA makes for a kickass side-kick:

• What is an operational level agreement (OLA)?
• What’s the difference?: OLA vs SLA
• Operational level agreement examples (templates)
• Important tips for creating and writing OLAs
• How Process Street can help you with all things OLA!

Now, don your cape and let’s fly through this post! ⚡️
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Information. Documents. Critical business material.

As businesses scale from a several-person startup to one that’s larger and more robust, it’s important to have a place where all this business-related content can be stored, organized, and easily accessed.

To boot, it’s also necessary to have the requisite processes so all this content is, well, managed properly.

Why?

Because by 2025, the amount of global data created each day will reach 463 exabytes – and the majority of this data will be unstructured.

If a business is not using a centralized repository and doesn’t have the right processes in place, there will be bedlam.

This is why ECM exists.

Enterprise content management (ECM) is the solution for modern businesses wanting to keep content safe, secure, useable, and accessible through its life cycle.

In this Process Street post, you’re going to learn all about ECM, from its exact definition to understanding why it’s beneficial, and learning what ECM tools are capable of and what they’re not designed to do. Read the sections below to get the complete lowdown:

• What’s the enterprise content management definition?
• Why is enterprise content management useful?
• What can enterprise content management tools do?
• What can’t enterprise content management tools do?
• The best tools on the market for content management
• Use Process Street to get the best out of ECM and BPM!

Let’s begin your journey to becoming content with your enterprise’s content management.

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Deadlines.

Meetings.

Presentations.

As an employee and business owner, your agenda is jam-packed full of to-dos. It can sometimes be difficult to stay afloat. This is why we at Process Street have created this article to make your working life a lot easier.

We’re going to look at making checklists for the effective management of your work.

We asked business owners and employees across the globe: What tips or tricks would you give someone for making checklists?

We gathered our responses, sieved out significant commonalities, and wrapped up our findings to produce this article.

Click on a subheader to jump to any section, or scroll down to read a full in-depth account on making checklists.

• ‎Making checklists: Why use checklists?
• Making checklists: Tip 1 – Split up your large projects
• Making checklists: Tip 2 – Keep your checklists manageable
• Making checklists: Tip 3 – Group your tasks
• Making checklists: Tip 4 – Keep a record
• Making checklists: Tip 5 – Regularly update your checklists
• More tips for your checklist templates
• How to make superpowered checklists using Process Street

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