Formats for Procedure Manuals

The discussion assignment for this week will be about finding an appropriate format for writing a procedures manual for a set of business processes or procedures. Proper execution of processes or procedures may be dependent upon a properly constructed procedures manual. Careers exist in technical writing to accomplish this very goal. Procedures manuals may also serve as a reference guide once the staff member has mastered the how-to portion. The audience for the procedures manual ranges from novice, for someone with very little background information, to experienced, for those who want a quick refresher on a certain process or procedure. Think about a process or procedures manual you have found helpful in the past to serve as a guide.

Complete the following for this assignment:

• Research the library and the Internet for information on suggested guidelines and templates for organizing a procedures manual.
• Select 1 set of guidelines or template that you think will be most appropriate for developing a procedures manual for a business process or set of procedures of your choosing.
• Provide a summary of the selected guidelines.
• Describe how you will adapt this to develop your procedures manual in the next assignments.
• Discuss the strengths of the selected guidelines for providing the information that various audiences will require.

4-6 paragraphs with references