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Tips and Tools

We know ChatGPT can (and probably does) write the majority of the content on the web today. So, we're skipping the fluff, and getting to the juicy bits. What can't AI help you with?

Documenting my business processes

A business process is a sequence of tasks or activities within an organization aimed at achieving specific business goals or outcomes. - ChatGPT

You'll need to think like a computer. Yes, no, left, right, if this then what? That's the simplest way to document your processes.


Follow these steps to get you started:

  1. Identify the main areas and departments. Where do you have people performing a sequence of 5 or more steps, tasks or activities before they achieve the end result? Some common areas for businesses to analyze are:

    1. Inventory management

    2. Lead acquisition

    3. Sales cycle

    4. Order management

    5. Invoicing

    6. Procurement of supplies and services

    7. Shipping

    8. Project management

    9. Returns and refunds

    10. Registrations

    11. Assembly

    12. Quality assurance

    13. Customer support and helpdesk

    14. Employee onboarding

    15. Employee offboarding

    16. Service delivery

  2. Select the most critical processes. Trying to document all the processes in each department can be overwhelming. Start with choosing the most critical process in five of your most active areas. You can then do a pass through these same steps for the remaining processes.

  3. Give each process a header. For each process:

    1. Give it a name

    2. Identify who is the business owner (who has the final say in how it is done)

    3. Define the end goal of the process

    4. Identify which role(s) in your company are involved in this process

  4. Write down the most common flow. Meet with each role individually, or all roles at once. Document what actually happens 80% of the time. Not what should, or could or sometimes happens. It will be very easy to get caught up in the exceptions, problem fixing etc. There will be time for that. Try to focus. Include the role, system and relevant documents for each step.

  5. Write down the other scenarios. Now is the time to note any exceptions, error handling, the "sometimes", the weird cases etc. Try to understand as much as you can about these. This will be great material down the line for your process redesign efforts.

  6. Organize your information. Lay out your information in a linear, systematic way. First this, then this, then decision - if yes, this, if no, that...

  7. Identify your problem areas. Now that you have all your information laid out, you can flag all your problem areas. Focus on areas that bottleneck your process, that cause the most errors, or that cause the most exceptions.

  8. You are ready to redesign!

Still not sure? You know where to find us. We can help with all or some of the steps in this process. We also have additional templates and tools to get you there!



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