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Policies and Procedures

Business Continuity

Policies and Procedures

Having policies and procedures (US methodologies) is important to business continuity, business excellence and consistent practices. Smart managers are glad to have them. But…

policies too often remain in draft form because no one wants to sign them off. Procedures are usually not even started – except when required for ISO accreditation.

The problem is twofold: first, writing the policy and procedures, and second, signing them off. The first part of the problem can be solved by getting someone else (like me) to write the policy. Solving the second part of the problem is still up to the top management: Someone just has to take a deep breath and SIGN.

Then come the procedures that describe the nitty-gritty, step-by-step and person-to-person process at operational level.

Next year, when top management reviews the policy and its related procedures, it will be much easier to SIGN them off.

Even if there is a change, maybe in the country’s laws, or in international best practice, or just in the way the company does things, the policy will probably stay the same. Only the procedures will change – and they don’t need to be signed at such a high level.

Please, get it over with. Get the policy and procedures written. You will be really glad you did!

Go here if you would like me to help.

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Brand your business

So you want to start your own business?

Branding iron with the word BRAND
You really need to brand it

It is your baby so it should reflect your goals, tastes and industry. The question is, How?

Maybe you even have a logo designed by a graphic artist. But where do you go from there? How do you brand your business? How do you use the logo in your documents – letters, emails, invoices, statements, delivery notes, presentations, reports, tax returns… How do they all fit together?

You can use colours and fonts from your logo to theme your documents, and you can copy information from one form, document or program to another so you don’t have to retype everything. Microsoft Office has integrated Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, etc. to allow this.

I would love to help you put it together. I cannot replace a graphic artist or specialist programs – but I can help you make a good impression on your clients or customers until you can afford to use more fancy technology. (You may even find you can stick with the simpler stuff that we set up together.)

There is more information here.

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Excel Campus

VBA PRO

Jon Acompora’s VBA PRO course at the Excel Campus is excellent. It is not his fault that I am plodding through it steadily. The ‘plodding’ is because the learning takes more determination as you get older – but the ‘steadily’ is because I do love learning new things.

By the way – to see what I already do with Excel, click here.

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Subheadings make text easier to read

Improve readability with subheadings

Bite-sized chunks

Readers like to have their text broken up by subheadings into bite-sized chunks for easy digestion and scanning so I add lots of subheadings.

The subheadings are reflected in the table of contents, where your readers can see an overview of your argument and logic.

Beginning, middle and end

All the way through a document, you should tell the reader what the next chapter, section or subsection will cover, then you must say what you said you would say, and at the end of each section, you should summarise what you said.  Each reiteration reinforces your argument.

Learning by repetition

Reading a document is actually a learning process, and human beings learn by repetition, building on what they knew before.  The table of contents and the list at the beginning of each section both introduce a new idea, the middle of the section explains it, and the summary clarifies it.

By the time they read the concluding summary, your readers will have learned something new.

Understanding brings acceptance

Your readers are your target audience.   They may be examiners, customers, strangers, pupils, colleagues, friends…  Your document has to make sense to them.   If they can understand it, they can accept it.  You have made your point.

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What are technical manuals?

Technical Manuals

Technical manuals contain step-by-step instructions in plain language.

There are Description, Maintenance, Operation, Overhaul, and Service Manuals, as well as Illustrated Parts Catalogues (IPCs) and lists of effective pages (LEPs).

They are compiled by a technical author like Graham Denniston.

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Word Heading Styles and the Table of Contents

STYLES

Microsoft Word can add an automatic, updatable table of contents (TOC) to your document – but only if your headings have a style applied.

Heading 1

Apply the Heading 1 style to your main headings by putting your cursor in them and pressing Ctrl+alt+1.  The heading above this paragraph is in Heading 1 style. I will tell you another time how to change what a style looks like.

Heading 2

Apply Heading 2 style to sub-headings that fall under a heading level 1 by putting your cursor in them and pressing Ctrl+alt+2. The heading above this paragraph is  in Heading 2 style.

Heading 3

If there is any sub-heading under a Heading 2 heading, apply Heading 3 style by putting your cursor in it and pressing Ctrl+alt+3. The heading above this paragraph is  in Heading 2 style.

Put your cursor in each paragraph, and look at Home > Styles. You will see the relevant style name with a block around it. You can also apply the style by putting your cursor in a paragraph and choosing from Home > Styles.

    1. Put your cursor where you want your TOC to be.
    2. Go to the References tab, look to the far left and click on Table of Contents > Automatic Table 1. Word will insert a TOC called “Table of Contents” showing heading levels 1-3.
    3. To update it, put your cursor in the TOC and press F9.  Do not try to type in changes in the TOC. make changes to the actual headings and then press F9 in the TOC.
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Excel headers and footers

When do you need an Excel header or footer?

I had an Excel list of documents for which I wanted a signature to acknowledge receipt.

All I had to do was go to Page Layout > Print Titles > Header/Footer > Custom Footer. On the left, I drew an underscore line with a space under it for the name and signature. On the right, I clicked on the Date icon to  add the field that would display the current date when I printed the workbook (&Date ).

So many people do not know how to use the headers and footers in Excel. Click here if you want to know more.

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Excel tables

Format an Excel table

I used Directory List & Print freeware to list documents in a folder. Then I made the list pretty at the press of Ctrl+t.

So many people do not know how easy it is to format a table in Excel. Click here if you want to know more.

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Welcome to Anne Denniston’s Blog Page

I am so glad you got here.

I usually add a post every week related to the things that concern me: editing, formatting and Excel – but those topics are fairly wide-ranging and varied.

  • Click here to see an alphabetical list of the posts.
  • The categories are in a dropdown list on the right.

If you would like to receive an email every time I post something new, please complete the form on the right. (If you have not received anything after two weeks, please contact me on the email below. MailChimp is supposed to send you the posts automatically but I am not sure whether I set it up properly to do so.)

If you would like to email me, please do so below. I would love to hear from you.

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