AI04 Process Description

AI04: Procedures Documentation & Maintenance

1. Description

Structured approach to the development of user and operations procedure manuals, service requirements and training materials.

2. Control Objectives

Develop future operational requirements and service levels - definition of future operational requirements and service levels.
Maintain user procedure and operations manual - prepare and refresh user procedures and operations manuals,
Develop training materials - develop training materials. These materials should be focused on the system's use in daily practice.

3. Key Goal Indicators

Number of applications where IT procedures are seamlessly integrated into business processes
Number of technical solutions not adequately documented, including lack of user manuals, operations manuals and training materials
Composite metric of the level of satisfaction with training material, user and operational documentation
Reduced cost of producing and maintaining user documentation, operational procedures and training materials
Proficiency levels of system users based on the percent of availability used

4. Key Performance Indicators

Level of training attendance of users and operators for each application
Accuracy of change requests and completeness of user documentation, IT procedures and training materials
Time lag between changes and updates of training, procedures and documentation materials
Satisfaction survey index with regard to training material, user procedures and operations procedures
Reduction in number of training calls handled by the help desk
Number of incidents caused by deficient documentation
Number of applications with adequate user training

5. Critical Success Factors

Well-defined service level agreements exist, with clear links to documentation standards
The infrastructure and organisation are designed to promote and share user documentation, technical procedures and training material between trainers, help desk and user groups
User training in use of procedures is integrated with the organisation and IT training plans
Inventories of business processes, business procedures and IT procedures are maintained using automated tools
The development process ensures the use of standard operating procedures and a standard look and feel
A standard framework for documentation and procedures is defined and monitored
Knowledge management, workflow techniques and automated tools are used to develop, distribute and maintain procedures

6. Service Maturity Variations

0 Non-existent	There is no process in place with regard to the production of user documentation, operations manuals and training material. The only materials that exist are those supplied with purchased products.
1 (Initial/Ad Hoc)	The organisation is aware that a process addressing documentation is needed. Documentation is occasionally produced, but is dispersed in the organisation, inconsistent and only available to limited groups. Much of the documentation and procedures are out of date, and there is virtually no integration of procedures across different systems and business units. Training materials tend to be one-off schemes with variable quality, usually of a generic nature and often provided by third parties, without being customised for the organisation.
2 (Repeatable but Intuitive)	Similar approaches are taken with regard to producing procedures and documentation, but they are not based on a structured approach or framework. User and operating procedures are documented, but there is no uniform approach and, therefore, their accuracy and availability relies to a large extent on individuals, rather than on a formal process. Training material is available, but tends also to be produced individually and quality depends on the individuals involved. Actual procedures and quality of user support therefore can vary from poor to very good, with very little consistency and integration across the organisation.
3 (Defined Process)	There is a clearly defined, accepted and understood framework for user documentation, operations manuals and training materials. Procedures are stored and maintained in a formal library and can be accessed by anyone who needs to know. Corrections are made on a reactive basis. Procedures are available offline and can be accessed and maintained in case of disaster. A process exists that specifies procedure updates and training materials to be an explicit deliverable of a change project. Despite the existence of defined approaches, the actual content varies because there is no control to enforce compliance with standards. Users are informally involved in the process. Automated tools are increasingly used in the generation and distribution of procedures.
4 (Managed and Measurable)	Consistent compliance has improved the defined framework for maintaining procedures and training materials. The approach taken covers all systems and business units, so that processes can be viewed from a business perspective and are integrated to include interdependencies and interfaces. Controls exist to ensure that standards are adhered to and that procedures are developed and maintained for all processes. User feedback is collected and corrective actions are initiated when feedback scores are unacceptable. Hence, documentation and training materials are usually at a predictable, good level of reliability and availability. A formal process for using automated procedure documentation and management is implemented. Automated procedure development is increasingly integrated with application systems development, facilitating consistency and user access.
5 Optimized	The process for user and operational documentation is constantly improved through the adoption of new tools or methods. The procedure materials are treated as a constantly evolving knowledge base which is maintained electronically using up-to-date knowledge management, workflow and distribution technologies, making it accessible and easy to maintain. The material is updated to reflect organisational, operational and software changes and is fully integrated into the business processes definition, thus supporting organisation-wide requirements, rather than only IToriented procedures.