standardization. For example, McDonald’s has the same process for building a Big Mac in all of its restaurants. The simplest way to document a process is to just create a list. The list shows each step in the process. Each step can be checked off upon completion. A simple process such as how to create an account on Gmail might look like this: 1. Go to gmail.com. 2. Click “Create account.” 3. Enter your contact information in the “Create your Google Account” form. 4. Choose your username and password. 5. Agree to User Agreement and Privacy Policy by clicking on “Submit.” For processes that are not so straightforward, documenting all of the steps as a checklist may not be sufficient. For example, here is the process for determining if an article for a term needs to be added to Wikipedia: 1. Search Wikipedia to determine if the term already exists. 2. If the term is found, then an article is already written, so you must think of another term. Go to step 1. 3. If the term is not found, then look to see if there is a related term. 4. If there is a related term, then create a redirect. 5. If there is not a related term, then create a new article. This procedure is relatively simple. In fact, it has the same number of steps as the previous example, but because it has some decision points, it is more difficult to track as a simple list. In these cases, it may make more sense to use a diagram to document the process. Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019) pg. 163
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