Procedure contents
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Contents |
Introduction
This page provides a suggestion for the possible contents of a procedure. Note that this suggestion is largely based on a user instructions for a software application, although it is easily adaptable for other types of instructions.
Suggested contents
- When to use the procedure (Purpose)
- Who should carry out the procedure (Scope)
- Business context (Policy)
- Prerequisites
- Steps
- What happens next
When to use
The 'When to use' block should explain exactly when (or with what frequency), and for what purpose, the procedure should be used.
The purpose of this block is to allow users to identify specifically the procedure that they need to use (generally by checking that the procedure they have opened is in fact the one that describes what they want to do). It is therefore important that the 'Purpose' section uniquely identifies (singles out) the procedure, and distinguishes it from all other procedures.
Example:
When to use
Carry out this procedure when you want to generate a report of all recent sample orders. You would normally do this once a month, in order to assign sample order costs to the relevant cost center.
Who should carry out this procedure
The 'Who should carry out this procedure' block should indicate exactly which job position or role carries out this procedure. Note that procedures (in common with most technical documentation) should use job titles, and not individual names).
Note that if the procedure is distributed in a manner in which the user is obvious (for example, where only that position has access to it, or if it is in a folder already identified as being for this position) then there is no need to include this section.
Example:
Who should use this procedure
The Sales Assistant should carry out this procedure once a month, for control purposes.Other Sales roles may carry out this procedure on an ad-hoc basis, for information and reporting purposes only.
Business context
The 'Business context' block is an optional section. This block should place the procedure into a wider context, by explaining why it is necessary to carry out this procedure. In many cases, this section will not be needed. However, working on the "Give a man a fish…" principle, it is recommended that this section be included wherever practicable.
The purpose of this block is to impress upon the user the need for carrying out this procedure. To achieve this, it is normally sufficient to explain the place of this procedure within the overall process.
Example:
Business context
A Bank Master File record must be created for each Letter of Credit (L/C) issuing bank, advising bank, collecting bank. The bank details recorded in the Bank Master File are used as follows:
- In the creation of financial documents;
- For printing on output documents which refer to a Letter of Credit issued by the bank;
- For checking the issuing bank for a Letter of Credit.
Prerequisites
The 'Prerequisites' block should specify anything that either needs to be done, or that the user needs to have, before starting this procedure.
The purpose of this block is to ensure that when the user sits down to start the procedure, they can work through it in its entirety, without having to stop to gather more information, and without having to give up halfway through because some other part of the process has not been completed.
If there are prerequisite activities that need to be carried out, then this section should include a hyperlink to the procedure (where one exists) that describes how to carry out that specific activity.
If there are certain events that need to have taken place, or certain settings that need to be in place, provide details of how the user can ascertain that this is indeed the case. For example, if it is a prerequisite of export order entry that the customer must have submitted a Letter of Credit, tell the user how (or where) they can check for a letter of credit.
Note that a certain degree of common sense can be assumed here. For example, it is not necessary to specify under 'Entering an order' that the customer, material and price need to be defined in their respective master files.
Example:
Prerequisites
The sales allocations must have already been developed (see "Developing the sales allocation") and any surpluses or shortages entered (see "Handling surpluses and shortages").
Steps
This section is the most important section of the procedure. It will normally consist of a series of numbered activities. Depending on the number of activities, it may be necessary to split the steps into several groups of steps.
The two examples below are for a user procedure for a software application, and provide alternative ways of showing the same information. In the first example the individual steps form more complete sentences. The second example provides easier access to the instructions for individual fields, which is useful if the user only needs help on a specific field.
Example 1:
Specify the characteristics
Specify the details of the characteristics on the Maintain Characteristic Outline screen by following the steps shown in the table below:
Step Action 1 Enter the code of the selling organization in the Sales org field. 2 Enter the code of the default supply point for the product in the Supply point field. 3 Click the Refresh button to populate the remaining fields with the default values. 4 Enter the code of the product family for which you want to generate the combinations in the Product family field.
Example 2:
Specify the characteristics
Specify the details of the characteristics on the Maintain Characteristic Outline screen by following the steps shown in the table below:
Step Field Action 1 Sales org Enter the code of the selling organization. 2 Supply point Enter the code of the default supply point for the product 3 - Click the Refresh button to populate the remaining fields with the default values. 4 Product family Enter the code of the product family for which you want to generate the combinations.
What happens next
The 'What happens next' block describes any activities that the user needs to carry out after they have completed this procedure. This block may not always be required. Generally, it should be included where there is a follow-on procedure that is always carried out after completing this procedure (for example, creating a delivery after creating an order). However, it is useful to include this block where there is a requirement for the user to file a report or pass some information to another user, and so on.
This block can also be used to describe any 'process' information - i.e. activities that the user does not need to do themselves, but of which they should be aware.
The purpose of this block is to provide the reader with a further indication of where their individual work fits into the bigger picture. This is useful for helping the user to perform their own troubleshooting (though greater awareness of how things work).
Example:
What happens next
All goods issue cancellations are recorded on the High Risk Movements Report, which is sent to the Plant Logistics Head for review.If you recorded the original goods issue via the Mass Volume Conversion Program, you now need to carry out "Canceling a material movement" to reverse the adjustment made due to temperature gains or losses or density gains or losses.
