Supporting Process Documentation
Work Product Description
A process set of interrelated or interacting activities that use inputs to deliver an intended result. ISO 9000:2015. is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that use inputs to deliver an intended result. ISO 9000:2015.
Interrelated or interacting: The activities within the process work together to produce the intended results required to achieve the objectives and goals of the process.
Activities: descriptions of two or more activities to be carried out by people in the organisation. The activities also identify the Technology Interaction Points.
Inputs: The work products to be used or conditions necessary to carry out the activity
Intended Result: The intended result can be an output of a process, a product or service from the organization. Other terms used are work product, outcome, etc.
Typical Supporting Process Documentation are shown in the following picture:
The supporting documentation are all referenced through the process description to keep the process description focused on 'what to do' rather than the details of how to do the work.
Contents
Formal Documentation
- Policy Set management direction and intention A policy is a statement of the management intention and direction. The Policy is a short document and is mandatory. Standards establish the minimum acceptable criteria for the work.
- Procedure Step by step way to do a critical activity or part of an activity to ensure that the activity is carried out in a repeatable way. Generally mandatory. Procedures are used to ensure that critical work is performed in a consistent way. A procedure states how to carry out a work item and is mandatory.
- Standard Sets the minimum acceptable standard for carrying out all or part of a defined activity. Establishes the minimum criteria for an area.
- Guideline Best practice information on how to carry out an activity. Guidelines and Techniques provide guidance and best practice information to people carrying out an activity within the process. These are generally non mandatory and are generally introduced through training or examples. Checklists may also be used to provide support for using the process
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The inputs and outputs are also described in this set of documentation. This also includes the definitions of the templates for documents, forms, or other information objects.
- Techniques Recommended approach to performing an activity. These may be reused across many activities.
- Checklists
- Template A recommended approach to creating a document and capturiing the information in a common format. A starting point for creating a work product.
Detailed Support Documentation
- Measurement Specification
- Glossary of Terms
- Training Materials provide a way to transfer knowledge about a process. There is generally a structured set of materials which can be used by an individual (self study) or in a classroom environment. There may be an instructors guide, a workbook, some examples, etc.
- Additional guidance materials to help carry out the process
- Example of how to use the process
- Exercises to help practice the activities within the process.
- Practical and relevant examples are critical to a consistent implementation of a process. These may be created during development as a sample of expected best practice for use in piloting. The pilot teams using the process may then provide examples for the roll-out.
- Tools can provide both productivity and accuracy gains for people implementing the process. These must be carefully specified and evaluated by the team for suitability for use in the organisation.
- Descriptions of associated tools
- Examples of using the tools
- User guides or online help.
Processes Creating, Updating and Using this work product:
Created and Updated: Process Improvement and Innovation
Used: Process Management
Completion Criteria:
Documents reviewed and agreed.
Examples