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WRITING PROCEDURES FOR QUALITY CLIENT SERVICES
A procedure is a set of instructions for performing a task. Procedures are an invaluable guide for providing quality client services. Procedures are the foundation for quality assurance they provide the guidelines for ensuring that clients receive quality services and products, 1. Procedures tell staff: 1.1 To do something, such as prepare for an interview with the client. 1.2 How various parts of a task relate to one another,
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1.3 How something was done. Staff can then verify what happened. For example, a designer can review the procedures another designer used to determine whether the analysis is valid. 1.4 How something will be done. Staff can then make necessary plans. For example, a procedure might state the plan for preparing a storyboard. Staff can then determine when they must distribute review copies (or receive them for review) and plan their time accordingly. 2. The process for writing procedures follows five steps: 2.1 Investigating: Perform preliminary research to obtain background material for your procedure. Interview
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people with relevant experience in the procedure’s topic. 2.2 Organizing: Outline or otherwise organise the thoughts that have been developed; create a flow chart if necessary. 2.3 Writing: Create a draft of the procedure. 2.4 Revising: Check details of the procedure, check spelling and grammar, revise writing. 2.5 Validating and Verifying: Have an outside reviewer to comment on the draft, check usability and accuracy of procedure, verify appropriate level of detail. 3. Do the following to write procedures: >> First, state the goal of the procedure as succinctly as possible.
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Often, a good heading will suffice e.g. Respond to a client’s complaint. >> Next state any information or resources necessary to perform the procedure. >> Provide an estimate of the time needed to complete the procedure. Provide an estimate that is a little bit longer than the typical user needs to complete the procedure. By providing an estimate of the time needed, staff can determine whether they currently have enough time to finish the procedure. 3.1 Then present the steps of the procedure. Consider these guidelines as you write a procedure: >> Write procedures as numbered lists. That is, begin each step with a number. The number tells readers the sequence for performing the steps.
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>> Because staff can handle only a limited amount of information at any given time, limit the length to 10 steps. If your procedure has more steps, break them into a "mini-procedure" within the larger procedure. 3.2 Consider the following when writing the steps in a procedure: Limit each step in a procedure to one task. If the step has several tasks, break the step into several steps or write a mini-procedure. Write each item on the list as a selfcontained task. A task is an action that can be performed physically or mentally. For tasks that staff are expected to perform, write in the imperative mood. That is, begin with an action verb and tell readers what to do When several people perform a procedure together, you need to state who performs each step and how
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responsibility passes among people performing the procedure.