Policies and procedures define your organisation. They set out clearly they way you act and the things that you do – or at least they should.

Unfortunately for many businesses, these documents sit on the shelf and are only ever opened by auditors. There is often a vast gulf between real world work practices and what has been written.

When writing policy and procedure, Think-write

• links everyday work tasks to the organisation’s purpose
• expresses ideas in plain language
• involves the people who actually do the work.

Examples

Processes for virtualised IT infrastructure environments

IAG developed an enhanced operating model for a transformed IT delivery strategy, taking took advantage of emerging cloud computing resources. Think-write helped define and documented the new model, including an interactive process diagram for quick access to information.

Online help system for insurance claim administration

Think-write redeveloped IAG’s online help system to allow claims administrators to quickly access information and process claims consistently and in accord with company guidelines.

Translating legislation into administrative processes

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) and associated regulations specifies how development applications are assessed. Think-write worked with the responsible department to document procedures to administer this Act.

Defining Standard Operating Procedures in manufacturing and local government

A problem many organisations have is that workers complete tasks in slightly different ways, each one having a different impact on product quality. Defining an agreed way of working helps reduce variation. Procedures need to include safety requirements, performance specifications and work steps, along with thinking guidelines for workers to apply in ambiguous or new situations.

Converting complex safety standards into readable summaries

All workers needed to know about new safety standards, but the standards developed were long, wordy and difficult to read for many workers. Think-write developed easy to read summaries to introduce workers to the requirements in an attractive way.