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Document Your Support Procedures
To be efficient, service and support organizations must develop procedures to document the tasks associated with the high-level process flow for their existing processes. To create a procedure, you should begin by identifying the tasks required to accomplish support procedures, then identify who performs the tasks, and the inputs and outputs to each procedure.
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Document Your Support Procedures
By
Julie L. Mohr
To be efficient, service and support organizations must develop procedures
to document the tasks associated with the high-level process flow for their
existing processes. To create a procedure, you should begin by identifying
the tasks required to accomplish support procedures, then identify who
performs the tasks, and the inputs and outputs to each procedure.
Technology plays an important role in the overall support process by
automating procedural steps whenever possible. Technologies that enable
the procedure should also be identified. The best place to start is to have
your support processes clearly defined and mapped out. Within the processflow, each flow symbol should have a related procedure when a series of
tasks must be performed.
Key Attributes
The Support Center Procedure Template should identify all key Òmeta-dataÓ
associated with support processes. This meta-data defines the context of the
procedure within the support processes. Each procedure must have the
same set of meta-data to ensure consistency throughout procedure
documents. Key attributes include: the procedure name, the owner, the
unique procedure number, its current revision, the department that owns
the procedure, the support teams that it impacts, and the tools used within
the procedure. Depending on the formality of your support environment and
the audience of your procedure documents, you may need additional
information or find some of the meta-data to be too much information.
However, keep in mind that it is important to establish the procedure owner
and the data of last revision at a minimum.
A suggested list of common service and support procedures includes:
¥ Call Handling ¥ Handling Complaints
¥ Call Logging ¥ After Hours
¥ Incident Management ¥ Shift Change
¥ Remote Control of Computer ¥ Telephone
System ¥ Voicemail
¥ Dispatch ¥ Moves, Adds and Changes
¥ Escalation ¥ New Hires & Terminations
¥ Service Level Management ¥ New Accounts
¥ Problem Management ¥ Password Resets
¥ Change Management ¥ Service Request
¥ Knowledge Management ¥ Hardware / Software Request
¥ Asset Management ¥ System Outage Notification
¥ Email Management ¥ Metrics and Reporting
¥ Time Reporting ¥ Disaster Recovery
¥ Customer Satisfaction ¥ Security Management
Measurement ¥ Procedure Maintenance
The list is not meant to be all-inclusive. ItÕs meant to provide a basic
structure of what should be documented in your environment.
Procedures should be kept in a central repository where you write once and
everyone has a recent copy with no potential duplicates that are out of date.
The most natural repository for procedures is the corporate intranet, file
share, or email public folders. Restrict the ability to print the procedures. Assoon as they have been printed, errors have a greater possibility of
occurring.
A document manager is a key role within the support organization. This
ensures that the data is being monitored, updated, and maintained. Add the
responsibility of procedure document manager to your career path within
your organization or rotate the responsibility every six months through the
senior members of your team.
Tech-Writing Style Tips
Tip 1: Break your procedures down into task-oriented, procedural steps and
actions:
1. Task
a. Step
b. Step
i. Action
ii. Action
2. Task
Number the tasks, steps, and actions when they must be performed in a
particular order. If no particular order is necessary, use simple bullets.
Tip 2: Break each task into the series of steps required to accomplish the
task. When defining steps within your procedure, make sure each step
meets the following requirements:
¥ Identify all actions under each step
¥ Provide a result to an action when necessary
¥ Use graphics, when appropriate, to communicate more clearly
Tip 3: If graphics or screen shots are necessary, refer to diagrams by
labeling the diagram and using the reference within the procedure text.
Tip 4: Separate instructions from expository information. Examples of
instructions include warnings, cautions, or notes used to communicate
additional information not closely connected with the flow of the procedure.
For example:
¦ Note: The following step is must be performed on older versions of the
VPN client.
q Caution: Approval must be attained from department head prior to
ordering computer.q Warning: This can only be completed by an A+ certified technician or it
will void the warrantee.
Tip 5: Use tables as a look-up or reference for a particular value within a
procedure. A table can communicate information more succinctly than asking
a series of if-then questions.
Error Description Result
ER2240 Data source not found Application quits
ER2241 Memory Leak Application hangs
Tip 6: Results are often not necessary for technical users as they are
implied within the action. A step will imply a logical result to the analyst. But
when defining procedures for users, be sure to clearly separate results from
actions. You cannot assume that an end user knows what to expect as a
result of a particular action. For example:
End User Procedure: Resetting Your Password Using the Web Interface
Open Internet Explorer by clicking on its icon in the system tray.
Result: A web page will be opened in Internet Explorer.
Tip 7: Use bold to represent a choice or element within the graphical user
interface. In most circumstances, these elements are also capitalized. For
example:
Step 1. From the File menu, select Open.
Tip 8: Use the pronoun Òyou,Ó Òuser,Ó or the implied Òyou.Ó Eliminate any
references to ÒweÓ or ÒusÓ as the company or team documenting the
procedure.
Tip 9: Use strong active language to depict a step or action. For example:
Wrong: Fill-in the blanks in the form.
Correct: Complete the form.
Tip 10: Use gender-neutral language.
Wrong: Add a shortcut to his or her desktop.
Correct: Add a shortcut to the userÕs desktop.
Tip 11: Use parallel structure within the bullets or numbered steps and
actions. If you begin one step with a verb, all steps in the sequence should
also begin with a verb.1. Remove the cover from the computer.
2. Insert the card into the first available slot.
3. Replace the cover.
Tip 12: DonÕt duplicate information. Create sub-procedures that can be
cross-referenced using hyperlinks within your document repository. This will
enable more efficient maintenance of your procedure documentation.
Otherwise a change in a sub-process will require revision in multiple
procedural documents. Controlled redundancy is a characteristic of good
database management systems.
Procedure documentation is an important component of a successful support
organization. Procedures create consistency of process adherence and
customer support experience. Do not document procedures to address a
particular service issue. Document your procedures to develop a set of
realistic and simple guidelines on how to provide efficient and consistent
service to your customers. Without them, you are destined to struggle with
customer satisfaction as your organization grows and becomes more
complex.Professional Profile
Julie L. Mohr is the Principal Research Analyst and Author at BlueprintAudits.com. For over 15
years, she has been passionate about service and support management providing imaginative insight
and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations into best practice, customer-
focused environments. She has helped over 50 organizations including many Fortune 100 companies
to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT Governance, organization enhancements, process
re-engineering and service level management. Julie is an active contributor to the future
development of the industry through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide, researching
industry trends and publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie has developed a support
organization maturity model and audit methodology utilized by thousands of organizations to identify
weaknesses and develop improvement plans. She is an expert worldwide instructor in multiple
industry frameworks including ITSM, KCS and COBIT. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director and
¨
certified ITIL Service Manager. She is currently serving as VP of Membership for the itSMF LIG in Sacramento, a faculty
member with HDI and participated on the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards committee. Julie is the author of
Mapping Support Processes: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Toolkit:
Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry portal for practitioners at
www.blueprintaudits.com. She is a member of IEEE Computer Society, National Speakers Association, American Society for
Quality, Association for Computing Machinery, ISACA, PMI, HDI, itSMF and the Association of Support Professionals. Julie is
a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.
You)can)contact)Julie)at:)
jlmohr@blueprintaudits.com)
+015307500240)
By
Julie L. Mohr
To be efficient, service and support organizations must develop procedures
to document the tasks associated with the high-level process flow for their
existing processes. To create a procedure, you should begin by identifying
the tasks required to accomplish support procedures, then identify who
performs the tasks, and the inputs and outputs to each procedure.
Technology plays an important role in the overall support process by
automating procedural steps whenever possible. Technologies that enable
the procedure should also be identified. The best place to start is to have
your support processes clearly defined and mapped out. Within the processflow, each flow symbol should have a related procedure when a series of
tasks must be performed.
Key Attributes
The Support Center Procedure Template should identify all key Òmeta-dataÓ
associated with support processes. This meta-data defines the context of the
procedure within the support processes. Each procedure must have the
same set of meta-data to ensure consistency throughout procedure
documents. Key attributes include: the procedure name, the owner, the
unique procedure number, its current revision, the department that owns
the procedure, the support teams that it impacts, and the tools used within
the procedure. Depending on the formality of your support environment and
the audience of your procedure documents, you may need additional
information or find some of the meta-data to be too much information.
However, keep in mind that it is important to establish the procedure owner
and the data of last revision at a minimum.
A suggested list of common service and support procedures includes:
¥ Call Handling ¥ Handling Complaints
¥ Call Logging ¥ After Hours
¥ Incident Management ¥ Shift Change
¥ Remote Control of Computer ¥ Telephone
System ¥ Voicemail
¥ Dispatch ¥ Moves, Adds and Changes
¥ Escalation ¥ New Hires & Terminations
¥ Service Level Management ¥ New Accounts
¥ Problem Management ¥ Password Resets
¥ Change Management ¥ Service Request
¥ Knowledge Management ¥ Hardware / Software Request
¥ Asset Management ¥ System Outage Notification
¥ Email Management ¥ Metrics and Reporting
¥ Time Reporting ¥ Disaster Recovery
¥ Customer Satisfaction ¥ Security Management
Measurement ¥ Procedure Maintenance
The list is not meant to be all-inclusive. ItÕs meant to provide a basic
structure of what should be documented in your environment.
Procedures should be kept in a central repository where you write once and
everyone has a recent copy with no potential duplicates that are out of date.
The most natural repository for procedures is the corporate intranet, file
share, or email public folders. Restrict the ability to print the procedures. Assoon as they have been printed, errors have a greater possibility of
occurring.
A document manager is a key role within the support organization. This
ensures that the data is being monitored, updated, and maintained. Add the
responsibility of procedure document manager to your career path within
your organization or rotate the responsibility every six months through the
senior members of your team.
Tech-Writing Style Tips
Tip 1: Break your procedures down into task-oriented, procedural steps and
actions:
1. Task
a. Step
b. Step
i. Action
ii. Action
2. Task
Number the tasks, steps, and actions when they must be performed in a
particular order. If no particular order is necessary, use simple bullets.
Tip 2: Break each task into the series of steps required to accomplish the
task. When defining steps within your procedure, make sure each step
meets the following requirements:
¥ Identify all actions under each step
¥ Provide a result to an action when necessary
¥ Use graphics, when appropriate, to communicate more clearly
Tip 3: If graphics or screen shots are necessary, refer to diagrams by
labeling the diagram and using the reference within the procedure text.
Tip 4: Separate instructions from expository information. Examples of
instructions include warnings, cautions, or notes used to communicate
additional information not closely connected with the flow of the procedure.
For example:
¦ Note: The following step is must be performed on older versions of the
VPN client.
q Caution: Approval must be attained from department head prior to
ordering computer.q Warning: This can only be completed by an A+ certified technician or it
will void the warrantee.
Tip 5: Use tables as a look-up or reference for a particular value within a
procedure. A table can communicate information more succinctly than asking
a series of if-then questions.
Error Description Result
ER2240 Data source not found Application quits
ER2241 Memory Leak Application hangs
Tip 6: Results are often not necessary for technical users as they are
implied within the action. A step will imply a logical result to the analyst. But
when defining procedures for users, be sure to clearly separate results from
actions. You cannot assume that an end user knows what to expect as a
result of a particular action. For example:
End User Procedure: Resetting Your Password Using the Web Interface
Open Internet Explorer by clicking on its icon in the system tray.
Result: A web page will be opened in Internet Explorer.
Tip 7: Use bold to represent a choice or element within the graphical user
interface. In most circumstances, these elements are also capitalized. For
example:
Step 1. From the File menu, select Open.
Tip 8: Use the pronoun Òyou,Ó Òuser,Ó or the implied Òyou.Ó Eliminate any
references to ÒweÓ or ÒusÓ as the company or team documenting the
procedure.
Tip 9: Use strong active language to depict a step or action. For example:
Wrong: Fill-in the blanks in the form.
Correct: Complete the form.
Tip 10: Use gender-neutral language.
Wrong: Add a shortcut to his or her desktop.
Correct: Add a shortcut to the userÕs desktop.
Tip 11: Use parallel structure within the bullets or numbered steps and
actions. If you begin one step with a verb, all steps in the sequence should
also begin with a verb.1. Remove the cover from the computer.
2. Insert the card into the first available slot.
3. Replace the cover.
Tip 12: DonÕt duplicate information. Create sub-procedures that can be
cross-referenced using hyperlinks within your document repository. This will
enable more efficient maintenance of your procedure documentation.
Otherwise a change in a sub-process will require revision in multiple
procedural documents. Controlled redundancy is a characteristic of good
database management systems.
Procedure documentation is an important component of a successful support
organization. Procedures create consistency of process adherence and
customer support experience. Do not document procedures to address a
particular service issue. Document your procedures to develop a set of
realistic and simple guidelines on how to provide efficient and consistent
service to your customers. Without them, you are destined to struggle with
customer satisfaction as your organization grows and becomes more
complex.Professional Profile
Julie L. Mohr is the Principal Research Analyst and Author at BlueprintAudits.com. For over 15
years, she has been passionate about service and support management providing imaginative insight
and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations into best practice, customer-
focused environments. She has helped over 50 organizations including many Fortune 100 companies
to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT Governance, organization enhancements, process
re-engineering and service level management. Julie is an active contributor to the future
development of the industry through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide, researching
industry trends and publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie has developed a support
organization maturity model and audit methodology utilized by thousands of organizations to identify
weaknesses and develop improvement plans. She is an expert worldwide instructor in multiple
industry frameworks including ITSM, KCS and COBIT. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director and
¨
certified ITIL Service Manager. She is currently serving as VP of Membership for the itSMF LIG in Sacramento, a faculty
member with HDI and participated on the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards committee. Julie is the author of
Mapping Support Processes: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Toolkit:
Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry portal for practitioners at
www.blueprintaudits.com. She is a member of IEEE Computer Society, National Speakers Association, American Society for
Quality, Association for Computing Machinery, ISACA, PMI, HDI, itSMF and the Association of Support Professionals. Julie is
a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.
You)can)contact)Julie)at:)
jlmohr@blueprintaudits.com)
+015307500240)
