Thorough process documentation ensures employees follow a standardized, efficient workflow. But creating documentation is challenging since there are often multiple efficient ways to complete a business process. As a leader, it’s up to you to decide which instructions, resources and requirements deliver the best results.

To overcome some of the challenges, start with a process documentation template that includes all the headings and formatting you need. This template establishes a basic outline you can rely on to keep your documentation efforts organized, saving you valuable time thinking up possible categories to cover.

What’s Process Documentation?

Process documentation refers to written or visual instructions that guide employees through the steps of completing work protocols. Standard operating procedures (SOPs), process maps and workflow diagrams are all examples of process documentation. 

Whether written or visual, these resources share the same primary purpose: to provide step-by-step instructions that employees can follow to complete processes efficiently and consistently.

How To Write Process Documentation: 6 Steps

Creating process documentation involves identifying requirements, outlining tasks and testing workflows. By completing the following six steps, you can streamline your efforts and create more comprehensive guides that help veteran and new employees alike:

1. Conduct research: Gather data and feedback about the process you’re documenting. 
2. Identify scope: Use your research to break the process into its primary phases. Then, determine the criteria for moving between those phases, such as getting stakeholder approval or conducting peer reviews. 
3. Outline tasks: Fill in each phase with step-by-step tasks employees must complete.
4. Add resources: Link to helpful resources and assets team members need to accomplish their steps.
5. Test workflows: Follow the documentation as written to pinpoint errors or areas where employees will likely encounter friction. Revise the documentation as you go, and add tips and tricks to help employees overcome issues.
6. Share results: Publish your documentation in a team-accessible location like an internal knowledge base or a shared cloud folder.

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Essential Elements of a Process Documentation Template

Templates create a consistent foundation for all your guides. When all instructions share a basic structure, employees will quickly grow familiar with their expectations, increasing adoption rates and productivity. Here’s everything you should include in a process documentation template:

• Prerequisites: A checklist of everything an employee needs before starting the process.
• Roles: Who the stakeholders are within a workflow.
• Timelines: A customizable schedule that lays out deadlines for each critical milestone.
• Process: Comprehensive documentation listing all the tasks employees must perform.
• Resources: All assets, guides and examples employees might need as they complete the project.
• Follow-through steps: A description of how to close out the workflow, inform customers and stakeholders of its completion and provide feedback.

If your processes are particularly complex, you might also include the following elements in your documentation templates:

• Complexity tiers: Separate SOPs for different layers of complexity within the business process.
• Legal concerns: Recommendations from your legal team about how to navigate concerns like trademarks and word choice.
• Confidentiality guidelines: Information about how employees should secure their work and who can access their communications.
• Examples: Examples of successful process documentation to help you finish your project.
• Diagrams: Process maps and flowcharts that visualize complex protocols so they’re easier to understand.

8 Process Documentation Templates

To further streamline your guide creation, you can begin with a readymade template or process documentation example and customize it for your needs. Here are eight templates to get you started.

1. ‎Standard Process Documentation Template

This standard process template is a basic foundation you can fill in with all the essential information employees need to complete a typical business process. It has headings for an overview, step-by-step instructions and a follow-through broken into quality control and continuous improvement.

Use this standard process documentation template to:

• Outline processes, responsibilities, necessary resources and tools.
• Promote consistent and effective processes.
• Identify opportunities for process improvements and efficiency gains.
• Improve knowledge sharing and collaboration across teams.
• Create a baseline for measuring business process performance and continuous improvement.

2. Standard Operating Procedure Template

An SOP establishes instructions for completing a task efficiently. It ensures employees follow a consistent method, maximizing productivity and simplifying guidance. This template offers a helpful table of contents and headings for the process's scope, purpose and resources.

You can customize this SOP template for any process, including:

• Employee training material.
• Quality control.
• Inventory management.
• Equipment maintenance.
• Data management.
• Customer support documents.

3. How-To Guide Template

This how-to template with preformatted headlines outlines a step-by-step process for completing any task. It also details the required materials for beginning the task and includes helpful troubleshooting tips.

You can use this how-to template to create detailed step-by-step process guides that:

• Provide an overview of the process.
• List any materials needed.
• Break the process into step-by-step instructions.
• Outline troubleshooting for common issues.

4. Method of Procedure Template

A method of procedure (MoP) document is an official requirement for many construction, IT and manufacturing projects where adhering to a strict process is essential to complying with regulations. Our template includes sections for listing the stakeholders, purpose and prerequisites for a project before detailing the steps themselves.

This MoP template helps you create documentation that provides:

• Step-by-step guidance for maintaining and repairing equipment.
• Instructions for managing and organizing data.
• Processes for providing excellent customer service, including information on handling customer complaints.
• Procedures for ensuring quality in product or service delivery.

5. Training Manual Template

A training manual is a comprehensive document that centralizes all the resources and instructions needed to teach employees a new process or to onboard employees. This detailed template provides headings for preparation, training and evaluation and ample space for helpful workflow diagrams and flowcharts.

Our training manual documentation template is handy for:

• Developing training programs for employees or new hires.
• Providing training for specific skills or processes.
• Training on safety protocols or compliance regulations.
• Centralizing training and onboarding SOPs.

6. Quick Reference Guide Template

A quick reference guide is a shortened version of process documentation that highlights key steps, troubleshooting tips and helpful guidance for employees to use while working. It’s helpful to have around so team members can quickly remind themselves of important details without needing to scroll through a much larger document.

Use this quick reference guide template to:

• Create quick start guides.
• Provide supplemental resources.
• Highlight high-priority targets and guidelines.
• Outline typical use cases, personas or audience details.

7. Business Process Template

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This comprehensive template provides a standard business process documentation format with several essential headings, like process owner, scope and steps. It closes with a section for key performance indicators (KPIs) and approvals and a space for providing feedback. Leveraging this template keeps your documentation organized and encourages readers to make improvements after each use.

The business process template is especially useful for:

• Outlining a process’s purpose, scope, objectives and steps.
• Identifying roles and responsibilities.
• Establishing KPIs to measure success.

8. Step-By-Step Process Template

This barebones step-by-step process document template has a straightforward structure focused solely on the instructions employees need. It features none of the extra details of other templates and is an excellent choice for basic instructions that don’t require much explanation.

Use this step-by-step guide template to create:

• Simple instructions to link to from other documents.
• A basic outline of process steps for quick reference.
• Troubleshooting guides that solve specific issues.
• Onboarding guides for common errors new employees make.

Upgrade Your Process Documentation With Scribe

Without a structured documentation approach, you risk leaving out essential information teams need when embarking on a process. Starting with a template jumpstarts creation and ensures you don’t miss vital details so you can successfully streamline workflows and boost productivity. 

For even more template options, check out the extensive Scribe Gallery. And when it’s time to customize your templates with detailed instructions, rely on Scribe’s Documentation Generator tool to automatically capture processes and produce step-by-step guides.