Can each department use their own format for their procedures?

[chuy sanchez]

documentation question ?

help!!!!

in my company , each departament wants to make their ouw job instruction, you can tell me is correct but also want a make a diferent FORMAT FOR EACH DEPARTAMENT. !!!!

how can handle ??

it is possible ????

help me.......

 

[gmac]

Similar situation here, but shows interest by all departments, solution was to issue the procedure template and ask them to complete the relevant section, this in a lot of cases was as simple as a flow chart, these were then collated through the Q.A. dept who standardised cross-references , numbering systems etc.

 

[Marc]

My question is are you talking about level 2 procedures or actual job / work instructions?

Typically you want a consistent format but lets make sure you're talking about the same type of document in each department.

 

[David Mullins]

You want people (internal and external) to recognise that a document is part of the management system. If each department's work instructions look different (in terms of format) then you lose the cognisability of the documents.
It IS good that they are writing them, as it gives them ownership. Just try to convince them that it suits the greater need to adopt the common format, that way improtant details won't go missing.


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[Tom Parsons]

We found this to be a real balancing act. The compromise was to require that all departments use a common cover page (containing requirements for approvals, unique numbering, etc.), produce a separate work instruction on how they exercise control of their WIs and include a couple of small sections in each WI explaining the purpose and scope of the document. Beyond that, they're free to write them however they see fit. By doing this, each department has the freedom to construct the WI in the way most useful for themselves, while the initial feel and look of all WIs has some consistency.

I write this as if it's a done deal. Actually, we're still in the middle of implentation and finding some resistence, but we're trying to stand firm.