To start the discussion, Jack interjects that one way to look at documenting your business process is to create a functional organizational chart to see who is doing what. The other key charts to develop are 4 flow charts to analyze your business cycles.
These are -The Revenue Cycle, The Purchasing Cycle, The Payroll Cycle and The Production Cycle.
For the Revenue Cycle, the phone rings or there are customer inquiries. Start by drawing little boxes with the titles: Orders Received. Look to describe how the orders are documented, the flow and description of the orders into the system and into the accounting system. The same can be said for Purchasing with the question to be asked: Is there an authorized request for that?
You will have the visuals with the boxes and the start of how the process starts and generates within your small business.
The Payroll Cycle includes your team on your payroll and the 1099 contractors or advisors and those people you want to hire. The fourth cycle is Production. All businesses produce products or services and this is typically the part of the business the owner knows and loves best. These cycles and what they represent will be the general big overview to document stuff and how effectively your small business is being run.
One MVP client relies on SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to document all the steps with everything they do to fix the cars that come into the business, which is a car collision repair and reconstruction business. The damaged car is documented from the first time it rolls onto the lot to the final handing back of the keys to the owner to pay and drive away in the newly fixed car. This small business owner doesn’t rely on having all the details just in his head. He found a starting point to go over all the steps, document the processes and share the info with his team. This process also includes describing all the steps with deadly detail, all the complexities to systematize the entire process that even a new comer can come in and follow the check list!
For more info on peeling back the layers of the 4 cycles and documenting all the stuff within your small business tune into this week’s podcast on iTunes or http://maximumvp.com/dirty-secrets-small-business-radio-show-podcast/ or call Jack or Adam for help with your small business challenges at 877-849-0670.
The post How do I document stuff? appeared first on Maximum Value Partners.