Learn from Success Stories! 3 Key Points for Creating Business Manuals - To Maximize Effectiveness -

1. Three Benefits of Creating Operational Manuals

Have you ever felt like you understood the explanation about the work from your boss or seniors, but when you actually started the tasks, you found yourself wondering, "How should I do this?" Also, have you ever seen your colleagues working in their own ways and thought, "Which method is correct?" or "Wouldn't it be more efficient to have a unified approach?"

When faced with such issues, many people have probably thought, "If only there were a well-organized manual..." However, many companies may not have the time to create business manuals alongside their regular work and tend to postpone it. In fact, among the clients who consult with our company, there are many who say, "We think it would be better to create a business manual, but we are overwhelmed with our regular duties."

As everyone realizes, unfortunately, business manuals are not something that can be created quickly and easily. However! There are benefits to creating them even if it takes time. Here, we introduce three representative advantages.

1-1 Elimination of unnecessary tasks and improvement of work quality

The first advantage is improvement of work quality.
By organizing work procedures, you can get an overview of the entire operation. This allows you to identify wasteful parts and areas for improvement in the current work, which helps enhance work quality.

In fact, we have often received feedback from clients stating that the greatest achievement was being able to take stock of their operations through the manual creation process. Not only does it clarify the operations, but it also allows for a review of the operations themselves during the process, which is a significant benefit of manual creation.

1-2 Consistent Work Quality as Everyone Can Perform Tasks in the Same Way

The second benefit is standardization of work quality.
By organizing work procedures in a visible format, a consistent level of work results can be achieved regardless of who is in charge.

A common situation when business manuals are not established is that employees tend to compile points and tips for performing tasks individually in their notes. This leads to the personalization of tasks, making it impossible to share rules across the organization. Business manuals can be utilized as a platform to visualize these individual insights and know-how, and to return them to the organization.

1-3 No need for constant on-the-job training (OJT), enabling efficient education

The third benefit is improved efficiency in training.
Having an operational manual allows for efficient and quick training of new members. It also helps reduce the burden on trainers. Furthermore, it enables thorough instruction on the purpose and procedures of tasks, making high-quality training possible.

The other day, a company contacted us in a panic, saying, "A veteran employee will soon retire, but we realized that none of their know-how has been documented. At this rate, the skills and know-how will be lost." To ensure that the valuable skills and know-how cultivated within the organization are reliably passed on to the next generation, it is important to start preparing operational manuals as early as possible.

How do you feel about this? We would be delighted if knowing the benefits gained encourages even one more person to take an interest in creating operational manuals.

However, it is risky to recklessly start creating operational manuals just to gain benefits quickly. Next, we will introduce key points for successfully creating operational manuals.
[Related Blog] Key Points for Creating Manuals to Achieve Business Standardization

Furthermore, this material introduces methods for optimal operation and establishment when creating manuals, as well as case studies from various companies. Please take a look.
[Related Material] Tips from Professionals on Creating and Establishing Operational Manuals

2. Three Key Points to Successfully Create Operational Manuals

Based on customer experiences, our company believes that there are three key points to successfully creating operational manuals.

2-1 Decide the Purpose and Scope

The first point is to "Decide the Purpose and Scope of the Operational Manual".

Before starting to create the operational manual, clearly define who will refer to the manual, when, and for what purpose. Based on that purpose, decide how much content should be included (scope). If you write down operational procedures without deciding the purpose or scope, there is a higher risk of the following failures.

・Excess or lack of information: The manual lacks the desired information or contains too much unnecessary information, making it difficult to read.
・Becoming a mere formality: It is judged that "it's quicker to ask a senior," resulting in a time-consuming manual that ends up unused.

If you clearly define the purpose, it becomes easier to consider what to write, how far to go, and at what level of detail. For example, if the goal is to transfer skills from veteran employees to younger employees, naturally the tasks handled by the veteran employees will be the target for manual creation. If the purpose is to visualize complex tasks and share them with the team, you should start by creating manuals for the most complicated and difficult tasks.

In this way, it is important to decide which tasks will be manualized, who the target users of the manual are, and what you want to achieve by using the manual.

By the way, when our company assists with manual creation, it is common to ask the client about the purpose and scope during the kickoff meeting. Aligning the understanding of all project stakeholders at the beginning clarifies the project goals and helps maintain a consistent perspective during later manual reviews.

2-2 Start Small

The second point is to "Start with Creating a Small-Scale Manual".

Prioritize the tasks you want to manualize, and begin by creating a manual for one task. Even if you plan an ambitious project thinking you want to manualize this and that, it is often difficult to secure the time and personnel to carry out such a large project, and the effort may end up being abandoned. We recommend starting with creating manuals for "generic tasks that can be applied to other tasks."

By starting small initially, you can pre-verify what content should be included in the manual, what kind of template is optimal, the approximate scale, and how much time and effort it might take, allowing you to proceed with the overall creation with minimal backtracking. Also, accumulating small successes tends to boost motivation. For these reasons, we recommend a small start.

In the case of a manufacturing client, they initially focused on creating a manual for the product with the most versatile features, rather than the most popular product. By choosing the first manual to work on from the perspective of "Which manual, if created, can be applied to the most other products and services?", the introduction of manuals across the entire range of products and services becomes smoother.

2-3 Decide on a Manager

The third point is to "Decide on a Manager for the Operational Manual".

Even if you create a business manual, it is meaningless if it is not properly utilized. A common issue is that although the manual is created, it fails to reflect the daily updates of detailed procedures and workflows, and before you know it, the manual’s content no longer matches reality and becomes a mere formality.

To prevent such situations, decide on a manager for the operation manual from the creation stage. The manager does not need to handle all manual updates. By appointing someone to consistently manage everything related to the operation manual—such as how updates are made, where and how the manual is managed, and who edits the manual—the manual will be properly updated in response to operational changes, the latest information will reach users, and a truly living operation manual can continue to be used.

How did you find the three key points for successfully creating business manuals? Some of you may feel that actually creating them seems difficult. In such cases, one option is to entrust the task to experts initially.
[Related Material] Tips from Professionals on Creating and Establishing Business Manuals

This document also clearly introduces five key points for creating a “good manual.” Please download and make use of it.
[Related Material] Five Key Points for a “Good Manual”

3. Case Studies and Effects of Implementing Business Manuals

Next, we will briefly introduce case studies of companies that our firm has actually supported.

3-1 Tokyu Livable, Inc.: Achieved Standardization of Sales Operations and Improved Training Efficiency through Business Manual Creation

Needs / Challenges
This company had a need to create a business manual to share the basic concepts and workflows of office and store rental brokerage operations. Additionally, they faced the challenge of work becoming dependent on specific individuals, resulting in a gap in skills and knowledge between veteran employees and those with less experience.

<Solutions>
We clarified the purpose and scope of the manual through interviews with new employees who will be the main users of the business manual, and created it while sharing the final image.

Customer Feedback
By creating a business manual, we were able to share the standard workflow and procedures with newly assigned employees, which was a significant achievement.
https://www.science.co.jp/case/tokyu_livable/manual/

3-2 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation: Steadily Established Manual Development with a Small Start

<Needs / Challenges>
This company had a need to "efficiently promote human resource development within the organization by standardizing non-routine tasks into manuals."

<Solutions>
Among the various tasks, we first identified the procedures for one specific task and proceeded to create a manual. Additionally, we made efforts not only to create the manual but also to share the manual creation workflow with the client's internal working group.

Customer Testimonials
By standardizing the parts that relied on individual training, we were able to create a solid foundation for future training.
https://www.science.co.jp/case/mitsubishielectric/manual/

Our site also introduces many case studies from other companies. If you are interested, please refer to this link.
https://www.science.co.jp/case/

This document clearly introduces five key points for creating a “good manual.” Please be sure to download and make use of it.
[Related Material] Five Key Points for a “Good Manual”

4. Summary

This time, we introduced the benefits of creating business manuals and the key points for successfully creating manuals, including examples from companies. How did you find it? Please be sure to keep these points in mind when creating your business manuals.

For companies thinking, "Even so, it is difficult to proceed with creating business manuals alongside regular work," or "Since we are going to create them, we want business manuals that will definitely be used," we recommend entrusting the task to professionals.

By the way, we sometimes receive questions from customers such as, "Is it possible to create manuals for non-routine tasks as well?" The answer is "YES." Our company considers not only routine tasks but also the manualization of non-routine tasks to be important.

Human Science has a proven track record of creating numerous manuals since 1985. We are truly a professional group in the field of business manual creation. We can consistently support you from organizing current issues to formulating improvement policies and creating customized manuals. If you have any difficulties in creating business manuals, please feel free to consult us.
https://www.science.co.jp/document/index.html

Feature 1: Extensive Manual Production Experience with Large and Global Companies
Human Science has a track record of producing manuals for 243 companies and 3,148 projects, primarily in the manufacturing and IT industries. We have had renowned companies such as "Docomo Technology Inc.", "Yahoo Inc.", and "Yamaha Corporation" as our clients.

Feature ②: Research and Analysis by Experienced Consultants - Output
The creation of business manuals is handled by our experienced consultants at Human Science. Our skilled consultants will propose clearer business manuals based on their extensive experience and the materials provided. Additionally, manual creation is possible even from the stage where no materials are available. The assigned consultant will conduct interviews and create the manuals.

Feature ③: Not only creating manuals, but also providing support for implementation
Human Science is responsible for the important phase of "implementation" after manual creation. For example, even after the manual is created, we will conduct updates and hold manual creation seminars. By implementing various measures, we approach the goal of ensuring that the manuals are established in the field.

Thank you for reading until the end.
I hope this blog serves as a helpful hint for creating business manuals.