Unstructured and unorganized work-related information might be keeping your employees unproductive, which in turn means fewer profits. Nowadays, modern businesses have information hubs that can be easily accessed by employees to maximize their time being productive rather than scavenging for information.
The aim is to get your business’s knowledge together in one place. Internal documentation of your business’s processes helps employees complete their work successfully and on time. This will greatly benefit marketing, HR, sales, finance, customer support, and any other team that’s part of your company.
There are different types of internal documentation, but before we get right into that, let’s talk about why it’s so important in today’s business operation process.
What’s internal documentation as a concept
The internal documentation of a company is a record of all information about the company, including its practices, processes, software specifications, and more. Employees can refer to internal documentation for help in getting their work done and standardizing performance throughout the company.
Nowadays, businesses use documentation tools that will help organize, publish and bring their content close to the client, regardless of whether it’s public and nontechnical, or technically written content. Certain tools allow businesses to create the whole website from scratch and set them up as they see fit. They can also benefit from inbuilt analytic tools to help measure success and conversion rate.
How to write the most awesome internal documentation?
Writing the best internal documentation is very subjective and each business will take a different strategy to reach its goal. However, below we outline only the most efficient tips for writing internal documentation.
Define a clear goal
A vital step in the process is to set clear goals for your internal documentation. It might surprise you, but this is one of the most overlooked aspects of writing internal documentation. This process is teamwork-based and each member of your business will have to contribute.
Besides that, you will have to decide which documentation tool you will use to help you with document management. Inform your employees about your document’s goals and try to have everyone on the same page.
Create the structure
Each internal documentation writing process needs to be categorized so that it has a clear structure. The tools you use might provide valuable features to help you organize your content categories.
In addition, your whole project’s design should be comprehensive and easy for employees to understand and interact with. For instance, if your content has a million subcategories, it is highly likely that individuals will have trouble reading through it.
Gather ideas
During this process, it’s good to invite various employees so that they can contribute to the internal documentation as well. Brainstorming is always a good idea when it comes to creating something from scratch.
All ideas are great ideas, but it is important not to over-document them. It will make it difficult for employees to locate information and keep the content accurate if your knowledge base becomes too complicated. Your main focus must remain on readability and informativeness, not just completeness.
Add relevant links to help employees
Employees will find more information by searching for a keyword or phrase, so it’s best to go for a knowledge management tool that enables them to do so. The search function is a good way for employees to find information about their current projects, as well as projects they are not involved in right on the spot without losing a lot of time.
This will also make your onboarding process much easier as new employees will have all the necessary information outlined conveniently just for them.
Review your content
After your content is created, it’s time for someone to review it thoroughly. You can either do it yourself or ask an expert in the field to do it for you. By doing this, you will minimize inconsistencies and get feedback on how you can improve readability which is probably the most important aspect of your whole documentation.
A different set of eyes will always offer valuable information about something you might have overlooked.
Bottom line
While not as easy as it sounds, writing internal documentation is not that difficult with the right tools. If you follow the tips we outlined for you, you will prepare yourself for this huge task which will enable you and your employees to become more productive and focus on the aspect of business that generates money. However, after your content is done, make sure that it’s thoroughly reviewed.
