How to write a procedure: 7 steps, a sample outline and procedure vs work instruction

On their first day, a new employee is handed a document called “Purchasing Procedure”. It is fourteen pages long and written in the passive voice: “Requests are evaluated, and orders are placed for those deemed suitable.” Who evaluates, who decides what is suitable, who places the order, which form is filled in? The employee asks and gets a different answer from every senior colleague. The procedure exists, but the work is learned from people, not from the procedure. In this article we first explain the difference between a policy, a procedure, a work instruction and a form, then answer how to write a procedure step by step and how to build a work instruction.

A procedure is a written method that describes who runs a process, in what order and with which records. A good procedure moves knowledge out of people’s heads and into a document: the person doing the job today and the new person doing it six months from now follow the same sequence.

What is the difference between a policy, a procedure and a work instruction?

Mixing up document types is the most common mistake when writing procedures. Each type answers a different question:

The difference between a policy and a procedure is this: a policy sets principles and direction and rarely changes; a procedure describes the method that puts this principle into practice and is updated whenever the process changes. The difference between a procedure and a work instruction is one of level: a procedure describes who does what across the whole process, a work instruction describes how one task is done. If the line between them gets blurry, this rule helps: if the work involves more than one person or department, write a procedure; if it is one person’s single task, write a work instruction. Small businesses do not need to build this hierarchy in full: a simple two- or three-page procedure, a few visual instructions and a one-page set of forms are often enough. What matters is that every document has a single owner and a single valid version.

How to write a procedure in seven steps

1. Talk to the people who do the work. Identify the process owner and the participants; start writing where the work happens, not at a desk.
2. Write down the current flow as it is. Capture what “is” done, not what “should be” done; treat the gaps later as improvements.
3. Write the purpose and scope in two or three sentences. Make clear which process, which departments and which situations it covers.
4. Write the steps in the active voice. Instead of “The order is placed”, write “The purchasing specialist requests three quotes”, so every step has a clear subject.
5. Add an input and an output to every step. State which form a step starts with and which record it ends with.
6. Gather responsibilities in one place. Who prepares, who approves, who is informed; a single table is enough.
7. Test it with someone new. If a person unfamiliar with the process can follow the procedure on their own, the document is doing its job.

How do you make a vague sentence clear?

Which sections should a procedure have?

• Purpose: why does the procedure exist?
• Scope: what and whom does it cover, and what does it not cover?
• Definitions: terms in the text that could be understood differently.
• Responsibilities: each role’s task in this process.
• Procedure steps: the step-by-step flow, with the owner, input and output of each step.
• Related documents and records: related work instructions, forms and their codes.
• Revision history: what changed, when and why.

Six common mistakes when writing a procedure

• Describing an imaginary ideal instead of the current situation; a procedure that cannot be applied on the shop floor is soon ignored.
• Using passive sentences without a subject; a sentence that says “is done” hides who is responsible.
• Stuffing every detail into the procedure; task-level detail belongs in a work instruction.
• Not mentioning forms and records; a step with no proof that it was done is invisible in an audit.
• Sending the procedure for approval without showing it to the people who know the work.
• Never checking whether it has been read after it is published.

Procedure example: outline for receiving incoming material (fictional)

The outline below was written for a fictional manufacturing company. Document codes and roles are examples only.

The real trick in the outline is the links: the procedure refers to the work instruction and the form by their codes, and the instruction states which procedure it belongs to. So when a reader reaches the “samples are taken” step, they know which instruction holds the details, and an auditor knows which form holds the proof for that step. If these links break, the documents do not work as a whole, even if each one is correct on its own.

How to write a work instruction

The reader of a work instruction is the person standing at the job, with little time or patience for reading. That is why an instruction should be shorter, more visual and more concrete than a procedure:

• One instruction should cover one task; covering two tasks at once leaves more room for interpretation.
• Number the steps and keep a single verb in each step.
• State critical measurements, limit values and the sequence explicitly.
• Add a photo or a simple drawing where possible; on the shop floor a picture is read faster than text.
• Add what to do if something goes wrong and whom to inform.
• Keep the instruction accessible, in its current version, where the work is done.

After the procedure is written: a Word file is not enough

Writing a procedure in Word and putting it in a shared folder is fine as a first step. The real problem appears once it is written: it is unclear whether the document actually reached the right people, whether everyone looks at the same version and who has read it. A PDF dropped into a messaging group scrolls away in the chat; new members never see a document posted before they joined; after a revision, the old one stays on people’s phones. The effort spent keeping a procedure up to date has no effect on the shop floor if publication and reading are not tracked.

Publishing procedures with a document management system: how does it work in KurumsalPortal?

The Document & Policy Management module turns a written procedure into a living record. Documents are stored centrally, a new version is approved before publication, the approved version is published to the selected audience and the old version is archived, so it is clear which document is valid. You can track who has read a document and the status of digital acknowledgement, and access is open only to authorised people. When a process owner updates a procedure, they can see from the record that the relevant employees received the right version.

To manage your procedures, work instructions and policies in one place, take a look at the KurumsalPortal page.