[Learn from the Pros!] Successful Methods for Creating Business Manuals

2. Things to Consider Before Creating Business Manuals

When creating business manuals, it is important to first establish a solid plan. An approach of "let's just try making it" will lead to more rework later on, resulting in increased time and effort.
Therefore, here are some items we first address when supporting our clients in manual creation.

Decide on the concept of the manual

Instead of starting to create a manual haphazardly, let's first decide on the concept of the manual. By establishing a clear concept in advance, it becomes less likely for the content to deviate, allowing you to create a manual that meets its purpose.
Specifically, we will consider the following points.

・Main Target: Who will use this manual (new employees, mid-level employees, management, etc.)
・Usage Scenarios: In what situations will the manual be used (at the start of work, during trouble occurrences, regular business checks, etc.)
・Current Issues: What problems currently exist and what do you want to solve with the manual (personalization, delays in work, difficulties in training new employees, etc.)

Decide the schedule for manual creation

The production period for manuals can take several months to over a year, depending on the volume. To avoid getting discouraged along the way, it is important for the person in charge of manual creation to check progress according to the initially planned schedule.
First, consider roughly what will be implemented by when. If the manual is large and varied, think about creating it in stages rather than all at once. During the creation of the manual, it will be necessary to adjust the schedule due to collaboration with other departments and implementation matters, so we will set a rough guideline here.
Specifically, we will consider the following points.

・Milestone Setting: Set completion dates for each chapter and deadlines for inputting information, and regularly check progress.
・Review Timing: Conduct reviews for each completed chapter and allocate time to incorporate feedback.
Role Assignment: Since multiple members are often involved in manual creation, clarifying each person's role ensures a smooth process. By deciding who is responsible for which part, you can prevent task duplication and proceed efficiently.

Consider members involved in manual creation

It is important to involve multiple stakeholders in the manual creation process rather than proceeding alone. Specifically, consider members such as the following:
・Author: The person responsible for writing the manual
・Reviewer: A person with expertise or an actual user
・Feedback provider: Staff who are expected to use the manual

At a minimum, you need a creator and a reviewer. If possible, also secure feedback providers. Based on the concept of the manual, for example, selecting from target users or departments related to the business can help advance the creation in line with the use of the manual.

[Download Materials] How to Create Manuals by Learning from Other Companies' Examples

Before starting to create a manual, by understanding examples of manual creation from other companies, you can grasp the "key points of creation" and "common challenges" to gain hints for manual creation.

3. Steps for Creating Efficient Business Manuals

Once the concept of the manual, the creation schedule, and the involved members are determined, we will finally begin creating the content of the manual. Here, we will introduce the efficient steps for manual creation that our company actually follows.

① Identify the information to be included
② Consider the structure of the manual (table of contents)
③ Decide on the layout and style of the manual
④ Review the manual

1. Identify the information to be included

When creating a manual from scratch, our company uses a "Business Organization Sheet" to organize the information to be included. We create a table in Excel and organize the information along the vertical and horizontal axes.

The vertical axis represents the flow of operations, while the horizontal axis includes details of the operations (procedures), responsible parties (departments), implementation timing, reference materials, and more. When extracting information, we conduct direct interviews with the individuals actually responsible for the operations, and compile the operational procedures based on their experiences and knowledge. This ensures that the content reflects the realities of the operations.

② Consider the structure of the manual (table of contents structure)

Once the information to be included is decided, we will consider the structure of the manual. A common approach is to structure it according to the flow of operations, but there are various methods such as organizing it into beginner and advanced sections, or setting up a separate troubleshooting section. The structure should also be considered based on the concept of the manual (target users and usage).
When the person in charge of creating the manual has completed the table of contents, they will review the entire creation schedule. Taking into account the volume of each chapter, they should reassess and detail the schedule based on factors such as how long it will take to write each chapter, which chapter is most efficient to start with, and whether multiple chapters can be written in parallel.

Determine the layout and style of the manual

One of the factors that makes manuals difficult to understand is "hard to read." The main reasons for this difficulty are the arrangement of information and inconsistency in style. Specifically, attention should be paid to the following points.

・Information Arrangement: The principle of information arrangement is "from overview to details." By presenting the overview or assumptions first and following with the details, readers can smoothly acquire the information.
・Style Consistency: By unifying the style for different types such as titles, procedures, notes, and supplementary information, not only does it enhance readability, but it also improves creation efficiency.

The important point here is that the person in charge of creating the manual should align with stakeholders once the layout and style have been decided. First, create a sample of about 10 pages and obtain agreement on whether it seems acceptable to proceed with the remaining content based on this policy.

After writing the manual based on points ① to ③, a review will be conducted. Request reviews from supervisors and actual users to ensure that there is no excess or deficiency in the information, which will lead to a more polished manual. During the review, the following points will be noted.

Specific feedback: It is important to provide concrete points for improvement rather than just saying "good" or "bad."
Have target users use it: It is also effective to have actual users use the manual and obtain feedback on usability.

3 Approaches Necessary for Manual Creation

We introduce three approaches to manual creation: "Table of Contents Design," "Information Organization for Each Page," and "Writing." Please make use of them.