Internal systems documentation

L(Part 16 of a 24-part weekly series) AST week we gave you a summary of the GGF areas of specialisation. This week we are presenting to you one of our innovative products, INTERNAL SYSTEMS DOCUMENTATION (ISD). Strong financial performance is often considered the most important goal and yet you need to achieve your customer objectives in order to deliver good financial performance.

You also need highly engaged staff to deliver great customer service and so it is clear that these dimensions should not be seen in isolation but as an integrated set of objectives that are mutually dependent.

In turn, in order for your financial, customer and human capital goals to be attained, it is absolutely crucial for the internal control environment to be solid for the business to implement its strategy.

To clarify this point, think of your organisation . . . if today you undertake a skills audit to determine what training gaps exist in your organisation, how will you implement the recommendations?

If you have a Training and Development Policy however, your HR manager will know who to train, in what, when and how repayments or bonding arrangements will be made. In essence, ISD makes it easier for us to implement our strategies, allowing us to measure the impact and outcome as set out in the performance management policy which is another ISD that is important for your company to have. 1. Reflection How strong and current are your internal control systems? Is your internal control environment fortified by a comprehensive set of well-documented standard operating procedure manuals and policies? 2. Problem Statement Too many organisations, large and small, operate without proper systems. As a result, they continuously face serious operating risks and hurdles, including:

◆ Exposure to fraud, leakages and theft;

◆ Inconsistencies in service and product quality;

◆ Costly errors, re-work, inefficiencies, and missed deadlines;

◆ Poor industrial relations and exposure to labour litigation; and

◆ Toxic and unproductive workplace culture. 3. Solution Consider engaging GGF to assist your organisation with internal systems documentation.

GGF will work with your teams to analyse and document all your business processes, and produce comprehensive standard operating procedure manuals, supported by clear policy stipulations. 4. Benefits Investing in a properly documented internal control environment will help you to:

◆ Establish boundaries for acceptable behaviour and guidelines for best practices in all work situations;

◆ Offer clear communication to employees as to how they are expected to perform, and how performance is measured;

◆ Contribute to strong workplace culture, because policies and procedures, supported by good induction and training, help to define organisational norms and values;

◆ Create uniformity and help organisations achieve consistency in service delivery and quality;

◆ Protect companies from fraud, leakages, corrupt practices, and legal action;

◆ Serve as a training tool that simplifies work processes and induction of new staff;

◆ Help establish the rules of conduct within an organisation, outlining the responsibilities of both employees and employers;

◆ Reduce time and resources wasted due to errors and re-works; and

◆ Increase customer and employee satisfaction.

5. Our Approach The GGF team will work together with your teams to develop your internal systems documentation, as follows:

◆ Interview staff, management, board members, and all relevant external stakeholders as part of the “internal systems audit” designed to identify gaps and goals from the perspective of all stakeholders;

◆ Review and access the relevant regulatory framework, statutory requirements and industry best practice;

◆ Document the company’s current processes;

◆ Review the processes with management and map the proposed future state;

◆ Identify and document organization-specific policies and procedures;

◆ Validate the policies and standard operating procedure manuals with management; and

◆ Produce the policies and procedure manuals for the company.

Call our offices for the documentation of your company’s policies and procedure manuals.

◆ This article was compiled by Juliet Zvafadza Chipunza, a transformational strategist and resource mobilisation consultant at GENESIS GLOBAL FINANCE. The contents herein are for information purposes only, and GGF does not accept responsibility for any loss arising from the use of materials or opinions contained in this article.

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