There is an argument in the office right now about the difference between Procedures and Work Instructions. I’ll give you my take later but wanted to run one definition by you first.
Definition of Work Instruction
One definition is as follows:
- Procedures – tell you Who does What When.
- Work Instructions – tell you how to do something at a more granular level.
For me, that’s part of it but there’s more. For example,
What goes into a Work Instruction that doesn’t go into the Procedure Manual and
What goes into the Procedure Manual that is different than the Work Instruction.
The Hierarchy of Procedures
One way I see this is as a pyramid.
You have:
- Core Procedures that apply to all employees, e.g. Timekeeping, Security, Confidentiality, across all business units.
- System Procedures that cover procedures across a business function, eg how to install server
- Work Instructions that are the most granular set of instructions, eg how to apply a patch to a server, how to attach a wing mirror to a car.
Over to you.
When you’re writing Work Instructions, how do you present the information so that it works by itself? I assume many WIs are ripped out and use on-site and literally in the field.
I’m new to this area of documentation, so please jump in.
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I have a different view of things, but it may be a matter of aspect. I see a work instruction as a simple directive, such as “Write the documents for Product X”. To me, a procedure is more granular in that it tells one, step-by-step what to do. Work instructions give you leeway to get to the final result but procedures are more formulaic (more like a recipe). That’s my 2 cents’ worth.
Ivan
What I understand about writing SOPs is that the granular instructions such as on “Create new invoice’, are part of procedures itself. Do you mean that a WI is a subset of Procedure? For example, if the procedure name is ‘Create new invoice’, we can have multiple WIs such as ‘Add Job Details’, ‘Add Payment Details’, ‘Create Certificate’, and so on?
BR
Vinish
I think that all step-by-step instructions on how to perform some work action, whether it be installing a piece of software, issuing an insurance policy, or configuring a drill press, are all basically the same. What they are called in different environments is what isn’t the same. Instructions created for blue-collar workers in factories, or for technicians who climb poles and maintain power, telephone, or cable distribution lines, are likely to be called “work instructions”. Instructions created for white-collar workers sitting at office desks are more likely to be called “procedures”. It’s primarily an artificial terminology distinction, not a functional one. Workers who can follow “procedures” are expected to have a higher level of education than workers who follow “work instructions” to do their jobs..
From Information Mapping training, they have 6 content types, 2 of which are “process” and “procedure.” In their definitions, “process” describes who does what and when. “Procedure” is the detailed steps. The concepts seem the same as yours, but different terms.
Terminology is interesting, especially the way it changes (often very subtly across companies). My understanding was similar to yours though as a recent contract the broke out:
Process
Procedures
Work Instructions
with each offering a different level of detail. In fairness, the Process mapping often complimented the Procedures; the Work Instructions were often 1 pagers with a cheat sheet showing what need to be done, eg install patches on servers.
Information mapping is something I’m keen to learn more of. I studied Structured Writing in the States and found it fascinating.
That’s a good point. I’ve downloaded WIs from the web and like you said many are to do with ‘hands on’ instructions that apply to the work floor, such as managing boilers, changing equipment, and things that need to be done onsite.
Maybe procedures has its roots in the military. Not sure but there seems to be many Google related queries (and results) for Army Procedures. Think it fits into SOPs which are critical to how the army operates from a functional perspective.
Hi Vinish,
That’s pretty much it except the WIs are often tasks such as Maintenance tacks the Sys Admins perform, eg WI for Data Backup, which is 5 steps to backup the data including the name of the cabinet where the disks are stored.
The Procedures tend to be a little higher and (though not always) part of the Procedures Manual.
Ivan
Hi Julio,
That may be the case. I’d new to this WI area and it seems there is some overlap between them and also different interpretations in different situations. What I might do is gather a bunch of examples and share the links so folks can see where and how the differ.
Ivan