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Answer by Jim Bedsole:
One helpful thing is to have the person who has primary responsibility for performing the procedure journal each step taken. That will provide the major portion of the written procedure.
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Answer by Ken Golliher:
I attended a seminar presented by "Information Mapping" more than 20 years ago. I've done it the way they recommend for so long and it seems so logical that I can't even think of a different way to do it. (That makes that seminar in the previous century a pretty good investment.)
With experience, I've discovered that the most critical element is your "level of assumption;" i.e. how much to do assume the person following the procedures knows? Is it the reader's first day at the bank or is he or she familiar with terminology, acronyms, software etc. The less you assume your reader knows, the longer and more detailed your procedures will be. The more detailed your procedures are, the less they will be referred to by experienced employees. (Very few people will read something if they think they already know what it says.)
As noted, involving the people who actually do the work is essential if you want them to be accurate and, ultimately, accepted. I can write a policy that no one can disagree with. I can write a procedure that a teller who's been on the job 60 days will say is ridiculously incorrect.
Procedures must explain how things are done, not how they would be done in an ivory tower.
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by Richard Insley:
Allow me to expand on Ken's point about terminology, acronyms, and software. Choose your words VERY carefully. Don't use jargon or slang in procedures--even if informal language is normal in your bank. If you're writing regulatory procedures, stick with the official meaning of terms defined in the regulation.
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