Determine what topics will become chapters by adding chapter numbers. We will add some more chapters in the next step. Determine what topics will become paragraphs by adding the section numbers. Determine what topics will become sub-paragraphs by adding the subsection numbers. Step 5 Create Meaningful Headings Each topic in the user manual gets its own heading.
So, Philip has just created the sub- titles for his topics. I asked Philip to redirect his headings and to take notice of the following general guidelines: Use the structure as shown above for the first, second and third level heading.
Make sure the headings are self-explanatory. Make sure that the heading covers the full topic. If the section covers the maintenance and repair of a product, the heading Maintenance would be incomplete. If possible, try to omit articles at the beginning of headings Action: Write new headings for your ToC entries. Step 6 Determine the Legal Content Dependent on the market where your product is placed in or put into service, and dependent on the product group your product belongs to, specific legislation applies to your product.
How to Create Compliant Manuals for the EU How to Create Compliant Manuals for the US Philip didn't need to conduct these steps, as the template he used already contained the legal content as required by the relevant directives. The user manual should describe the intended use of the product.
The user manual should describe the reasonably foreseen unintended use of the product. If applicable, non-compliance in residential areas should be mentioned. If the product is too small this can be placed in the user manual. The name, registered trade name or registered trademark and the postal address should be mentioned on the product.
A risk analysis should be conducted to determine the residual risks related to the use of the product. Safety information shall be provided in order to inform the user of measures to be taken. WEEE information shall be included Information on packaging waste shall be included. The user manual template complies with this standard. Study the IEC checklist to ensure your manual complies with the standard.
Action: To adjust the user manual template: If you want to work with the free template: Download the free user manual template Word or Change the section headings according to your own ToC. Do not adjust the Table of Contents. The table of contents can be updated automatically once you have adjusted the section headings. Add the mandatory content as determined in step 6 of your manual. If applicable, modify sections and the appendices according to your own needs.
The international standard for user instructions, the IEC , provides the following definition for the intended use: An exhaustive range of functions or foreseen applications defined and designed by the supplier of the product By describing the intended use you determine the safe envelope of the product.
Action: write the intended use and the reasonably foreseeable misuse of your product. Write the safety warnings based on the risk analysis Even though the intended use has now been clearly defined, this does not mean that using a product is completely without any risks. According to this method, there is the following hierarchy of risk-reducing measures: Inherently safe design measures Safeguarding and complementary protective measures Information for use This means that the user guide should warn of any residual risks related to the use of the product.
BUY NOW A good safety warning describes the nature of a hazardous situation, the consequences of not avoiding a hazardous situation and the method s for avoiding it. In the first part of the specific section: Embedded in a procedure: 1. In the Preface any supplemental directives can be placed, such as Read all instructions before use or Keep these instructions for future reference can be placed in the introduction of a user manual.
In order to help Philip create and place a safety message, I have created another template. Create all other content Now I asked Philip to create all other content, such as the procedures, technical specs and legal information. I gave the following tips: Exclude unnecessary material to avoid information overload for example sales promotion, extensive repetition etc. Make sure terms are familiar to the user, technical features and terms are well explained and use terms consistently.
Describe any prerequisites that should be met before the actual instructions start. This may also be describing special tools or space for maintenance and repair. Provide conceptual information when information is necessary for adequate understanding and execution of tasks.
Always write topic based. Use a bold typeface for all product elements. Use a style guide to help you write and format documentation in a clearer way. Indicate when you want to add an image for better understanding later. Make sure words and phrases are not too complicated or over-sophisticated. Use the direct active voice and assertive commands. Use words like nouns and verbs consistently to avoid ambiguity. Action: create all other content for your user manual. Place the safety warnings in the right position When using the template for crafting the safety messages, I asked Philip to indicate whether a safety message is a supplemental directive, or should be placed as a grouped, section or embedded safety message.
Now all text has been created, the safety messages can be placed in the right place. Action: place all safety messages in the right location in the user manual.
Step 9 Add Navigation to Your User Manual Template A user manual should give assistance to people by providing information about how to use a product. Action: Add or update your table of contents, page numbering and index. Step 10 Have Your User Manual Reviewed Philip has now created the draft version of his user manual, using the user manual template.
Step 11 Create the Images Once the user manual has been reviewed and optimized, the texts are more or less definite. There are many great tools that can help you create your images, such as: Snagit or Adobe Photoshop for editing screenshots or photos Solidworks Composer or Google Sketchup for creating line drawings Lucidchart or Microsoft Visio for diagrams and schematics I advised Philip not to use photos as a cheap alternative for illustrations.
For that reason, Philip used Google Sketchup to create his illustrations. Action: Create the images for your user manual. If you want to know more about creating images: Using text, images or video Creating IKEA-ish manuals Step 12 Final Check of the User Manual Template Before we start making it look nice and translate the content, we want to be sure that the content is complete.
In order to do so, I asked Philip to use a checklist. I created this template in Indesign and asked Philip to adjust it to match his brand identity. Step 15 Translate and Publish your User Manuals Depending on the market in which you are going to sell your product, you might need to translate the user manual. Some general tips: Look for a translator with similar experience. This could be a translator who is experienced in translating technical content, with similar products or with translating user manuals.
If you need to translate to several languages, working with a translation agency might save you lots of time. They are essential for keeping your flight department organized. The policies and procedures of the organization, as well as standard operating procedures and training needs, are all included in a decent flight operations manual.
A FOM improves safety and efficiency while lowering operational expenses. The help desk operations manual template helps you direct all help desk officers in your company and serves as a single point of contact for users to contact IT with requests. The home-based business operations manual template helps you to organize, coordinate and direct your home-based business.
Recently, homework has taken on a new meaning. The desire to achieve economic independence has prompted a great number of people to sell their abilities and talents from the comfort of their own homes. The IT operations manual template helps you to handle all businesses surrounding the information security policies and procedures document which includes an acceptable use policy, a computer usage policy for employees, a BYOD bring your own device policy, IT security planning, IT risk assessment, and IT security auditing methods, among other things.
A franchise operations manual template helps you as a franchisor to use the franchise operations handbook as a how-to guide for communicating system standards and criteria to franchisees.
It also helps you to manage your employees and guide them to be productive and exhibit professionalism. A hotel operations manual template helps you as an owner of a hotel to adopt an SOP that your employees follow. This aids in the consistency and quality of service delivery and sets standards for your hotel. It also helps in the organization of role assignments for the effective performance of each employee.
The non-profit operations manual template explains and guides you on how to perform your duties as a non-profit organization. From project planning to impactful idea generation and funding, this template has you covered. It contains the standard operating procedures that you can use to describe your organizational hierarchy, prepare important staff contact information, and create emergency protocols. The office operations manual template helps you to coordinate the affairs of your company and employees so that they can perform at their highest professional capacities.
With it, you will create and manage office procedures to attain efficiency with every stakeholder in your office, i. The company operations manual template helps you to form the processes and procedures that your employees should follow to work at their best. With this template, you can create a framework that stands as a work communication platform between you and your workers so that tasks are delivered accurately, efficiently, and without waste of resources.
The small business operations manual template serves the sole purpose of reminding your employees of when and how to perform their duties. This is important because, in a small business, you wear many hats. Having this in place will put many tasks on autopilot, which helps you to spend more time on other urgent activities.
When people adopt a particular operations manual template, some questions pop up in their process of aligning it to the needs, functionalities, and specifics of their business. Below are answers to some frequently asked questions about the operations manual templates.
But if these are important to you, then you must create an operations manual. Also if you want to create employee training material for your employees, the operations manual will help new employees become more acquainted with how your business functions before they get into the main details of the professional training.
Preparing these documents from scratch requires a lot of effort and resources. Before creating an operations manual template, you must have a deep understanding of how your entire business process works. Once you do, make sure you define the business policies that guide your organization and specify the job roles and organizational hierarchy. Afterward, you can begin writing the details of your operations manual template.
Here is a video that outlines everything you must know in order to create an operations manual outline for your business. This has happened to other organizations but they were able to find success using SweetProcess. Take, for instance, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services DFPS , a government agency that focuses on adult protective services, child protective services, childcare investigations, prevention, and early intervention.
They use SweetProcess to take full control of their operations. The problem DFPS had was that they process over 40, records a year which is a lot of work. To overcome this, the department created work manuals using tools such as Microsoft Word, SharePoint, and Excel. But all of these were inadequate in meeting the demands of the job.
With bits of information stored in different places, there was a lot of back and forth that made their work complex. One was over pages. The other one was about pages… This operation is complex. Then they found SweetProcess. They knew it was the one they must subscribe to because of its unique features. Heather, an employee of DFPS, describes the software as a process machine. SweetProcess helped them to streamline and improve their business process documentation.
The organization documented its business processes in manuals, but they were cumbersome and all over the place. Most importantly, say goodbye to back and forth emails. In this digital age, you need more than just text to engage your readers. All the other document editors limit your creativity by only allowing you to incorporate text and static images in your document. Since instruction manuals are long-form professional documents, having to read so much text can be dull and ineffective.
With Bit, you can create smart instruction manuals by incorporating hundreds of file types and making them dynamic and interactive.
Bit also has an automated table of contents based on the headers you add to your instruction manual. Imagine if you were able to track the time spent by readers on these instruction manuals, how frequently they were viewed, and if they were viewed at all.
That way you know whether users have actually read the instruction material given to them. Bit allows you to track your documents and gain amazing insights, helping you create an even better version of your documents. Bit allows various types of teams in marketing, sales, HR, technology, customer service, designers, etc. Since creating an instruction manual is no easy task- you have to research, write, and design it effectively to get the most out of it- we empower teams to get the work done in half the time and with more conviction.
Have a great time crafting that instruction manual with Bit! With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can work visually and collaborate in real-time while creating internal notes, team projects, knowledge bases, client-facing content, and more. The smartest online Google Docs and Word alternative, Bit. Editorial Team , 2 years ago 11 min read. Related posts. Collaboration , Document , Sales. Document , Marketing , Sales. Document , Sales. Collaboration , Document.
About Bit. Recent Posts. Have you ever created an office procedures manual? What tips, tricks, and best practices kept you on track? Share your experiences in the comments below.
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