Engineering Procedure Writing Group
This book covers the method
where engineering procedure writers write their own policies, departmental
instructions and engineering procedures and obtain approval from the
Document Review Board (Ch. 5) and releases them into engineering
document control. Engineering document control publishes the manuals and
distributes them to end-users.
2
Engineering Procedure
Writing Group
This chapter covers the method of setting up a new engineering
procedure writing group and the steps that all procedures go through, and
how to write procedures. New companies starting an engineering proce-
dure writing effort from scratch will need to include procedure writers in
the technical writing group (see Fig. 2.1). This book covers the method
where engineering procedure writers write their own policies, departmental
instructions and engineering procedures and obtain approval from the
Document Review Board (Ch. 5) and releases them into engineering
document control. Engineering document control publishes the manuals and
distributes them to end-users. The engineering procedure writers perform
all of the subsequent changes to the policies, departmental instructions and
engineering procedures and distribute changed pages to end-users to be
inserted into their manuals.
In larger companies, the procedure writers report to corporate
communications. With this method, a department outside of engineering
writes all of the procedures and releases them into document control where
they are copied and distributed.
10
Engineering Procedure Writing Group 11
E n g in eerin g
D ep artm en t
O rg an iz ation
R es earch E n g in eerin g D esig n Tec h n ic al C h an g e D oc u m en t
an d A n alys is E n g in eerin g W ritin g C on trol C on trol
D evelop m en t
D raftin g Tec h n ic al E n g in eerin g
M an u al P roc ed u re
W riters W riters
Figure 2.1. Engineering procedure writers.
First, you will need to determine your reason for creating an
engineering procedure writing group. Following are some examples:
• You need to document the engineering department’s
operating methods
• You need to re-engineer your existing engineering
documentation system
Why document the engineering documentation system in the first
place? Here are some good reasons why:
• Customer contracts
• Government regulations
• It’s a good idea
2.1.0 HOW TO ESTABLISH AN ENGINEERING
PROCEDURE WRITING GROUP
Send out a memo (Fig. 2.2) that explains the function of the
procedure writing group.
12 Developing and Managing Engineering Procedures
MEMO
To:
From:
Subject: Engineering Procedures Writing Group Formation
In a endeavor to have every engineering department em-
ployee follow a standard common reference system, and to give
direction to employees concerning their unique engineering func-
tion, policies, departmental instructions, and engineering procedures
are going to be developed and implemented. Technical writing has
been assigned the responsibility of organizing and implementing the
following publications:
Policy Manual
Departmental Instruction Manual
Engineering Procedures Manual
The manuals will contain information necessary to
provide uniformity, standardize definitions, and clarify department
responsibilities. The manuals will designate forms or documents to
be utilized when necessary and state procedural steps to be fol-
lowed to assure consistency of action and effect overall coordina-
tion.
Manual sections will be released as they are approved
eventually resulting in complete manual that will be used throughout
the company. To release sections of these manuals, individuals who
have expertise in certain areas will be asked to provide input.
Distribution:
Figure 2.2. Engineering procedure writing group memo.
Engineering Procedure Writing Group 13
2.1.1 Kick-off Meeting Memo
MEMO
To:
From:
Subject: Kick-off Meeting
There will be a kick-off meeting for the formation of a new
Engineering Procedures Writing Group and the Document Review
Board that will review and approve all documentation.
We will be discussing how the Document Review Board
will operate and answer any questions you may have regarding this
new Board.
Distribution:
Figure 2.3. Kick-off meeting memo.
2.1.2 Agenda for the Kick-off Meeting
♦ Purpose of the Engineering Procedures Writing Group
Review all new or revised policies, departmental
instructions, and engineering procedures.
Resolve document discrepancies.
Authorize documents for release.
♦ Individual Reviewer Responsibilities
Attend Document Review Board meetings when
scheduled.
Provide input on documents.
Coordinate review with knowledgeable persons.
14 Developing and Managing Engineering Procedures
Other individuals who have expertise in their respective areas will
be asked to attend meetings and provide input when necessary.
N Procedure for Document Release
A draft of each document will be sent out for
review
A one or two week review time period
Reviewers meet to discuss document mark-ups
Reviewers resolve any discrepancies
Reviewers sign Document Review form
Released documents are distributed to all manual
holders
N Schedule of Document Review Board Meetings
Meet every week for one hour
Time and date to be announced in previous meeting
for the next meeting
2.2.0 BASIC WRITING GROUP FUNCTIONS
2.2.1 Which Documents are Necessary?
After establishing the writing group, the first order of business is to
determine which documents need to be written and maintained. If this is a
new company you could hold several meetings where you establish lists of
the documents you think you might need. Next, you will have to prioritize
the documents to make sure that the most important documents are
identified and worked on first. Having a lower priority does not mean that
the documents are not needed; they are just not associated directly with the
end product. If this is an existing company, you may need to re-engineer
your documentation system. First, review your existing documents and
develop a list of which ones you think you might need to develop, revise or
obsolete to make your documentation system more useful. Following are
some questions that the procedure writing group will need to answer:
Engineering Procedure Writing Group 15
Who will write new procedures?
Who can request that a new procedure be written?
Who determines if the request for a new procedure is valid?
Who edits procedures?
Who reviews procedures?
Who approves procedures?
Who are the members of the Document Review Board?
Who can request changes to procedures?
Who incorporates change requests?
Who releases procedures?
Who keeps records of procedures?
Who produces procedure manuals?
Who distributes manuals to end-users?
Who updates the manuals?
2.2.2 Establish Document Format and Contents
Next, establish the format and contents for each document type.
You need to develop a document format standard to make each document
uniform. For a new company, you will not have any examples to follow
except one that you might not realize that you have. You might have a
house style. House style means that someone (usually in Administration or
Marketing) has established the company’s image such as logo, stationary,
forms, memos, etc., therefore, you will have to stay within those guidelines.
There are several ways to obtain examples of your new documents:
• I always bring examples from other companies
where I have worked.
• I send out a memo to the entire company asking if
anyone has examples of policies, departmental
instructions or engineering procedures for other
companies where they have worked.
• I contact companies in the area and ask for
examples. This actually works.
16 Developing and Managing Engineering Procedures
• Or you can use Ch. 3 and Appendices A, B, and C
of this book where I have examples of each of the
document’s format and contents.
• Also see Appendix E where I have listed several
books and World Wide Web sites that show
examples of all of the documents mentioned above.
2.3.0 BEFORE YOU START WRITING
Now that you have established your format and contents, you can
start collecting the information to write the documents that you have
identified. You can obtain the information through interviewing, or you
might know the subject well enough to write the document yourself.
2.3.1 Interviewing
By now everybody has heard about the new documentation effort
that you are involved in and there should not be any surprises. All you have
to do is find the person that has the information that you need to write your
document and schedule an interview time. Have a list of questions to follow
so that you do not miss any of the information that you might need to write
your document. Other information will come from procedures that were
written by the employee or their manager that they have been using for
years. After you have written a draft of the document, send a copy to the
person that you interviewed for an edit. This will get them involved in the
process. Following are some example questions that you can ask at the
interview.
2.3.2 Questions to ask for a New Procedure
Who uses the procedure?
What is the procedure for?
When is the procedure used?
Where is the procedure used?
Why is the procedure needed?
How is the procedure used?
Engineering Procedure Writing Group 17
2.3.3 Questions to ask for a New Form
Who uses the form?
What is the form for?
When is the form used?
Where is the form used?
Why is the form needed?
How is the form used?
2.4.0 POLICY WRITING TIPS
Why would you want to write a policy in the first place? Let’s say
you are going to start a new company. Would you start off your documen-
tation system by writing policies? I don’t think so. You would write the
documents that will help you make money, now.
É The first documents that you would write would
be the ones that are used to manufacture your
product. Most of these documents will be used
across several departments and will require
review and approval from them.
É After some time has passed you would start
writing departmental instructions to define how
employees perform their departmental functions.
These documents are reviewed and approved by
the immediate department.
É Then after several successful years of operation
you might want to start writing policies that will
convey the intent of the engineering department
to operate in a generalized way. Example: there
will be an Engineering Department that develops
new products and changes existing products.
Who are policies written for? Policies are written as a general
record of the engineering department’s common purpose or intent.
Another way to say the same thing would be “The policy is used to
provide a statement of intent.”
18 Developing and Managing Engineering Procedures
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a policy is: 1) a
plan or course of action, as of a business, intended to influence
and determine decisions, actions, and other matters; 2) a course of
action, guiding principle, or procedure considered expedient, pru-
dent, or advantageous.
Engineering policies are executive management’s commitment to
and involvement in engineering functions. Policies define the basic values
of the company for all of the decisions involving engineering and the
company. Through the establishment of and adherence to policies, man-
agement obtains employee commitment to engineering department func-
tions. Policies are essential documents that are put in place to assist
management to be consistent in the way it conducts business. Engineering
procedures naturally flow from the policies. Once a policy has been
defined, the associated engineering procedure will ensure the proper ex-
ecution of the policy. Engineering policies provide employees at all levels
with the information to consistently carry out their responsibilities.
2.4.1 How Many Policies are Really Needed?
How do you decide how many policies you will need? Your
guess is as good as mine, but generally there should be at lease one
policy that covers the entire engineering operation. Then, there will
need to be a few system overview policies that convey the engineering
department’s plan of operation, and lastly, some of the subfunctions could
be documented.
There could be policies for the following engineering systems:
§ Product Development
§ Product Design
§ Product Phases
§ Product and Document Identification
§ Required Documents
§ Customer Documents
§ Vendor Documents
§ Document Change Control
§ Document Control
Engineering Procedure Writing Group 19
Next, there could be several subfunctions such as:
§ Research and Development (R&D)
§ Engineering Analysis
§ Design Engineering
§ Drafting
§ Technical Writing
§ Change Control
§ Document Control
Here is an example of some of the items that might be in a policy
for the Research and Development portion of an engineering department.
We intend to have an engineering department that will perform
research and development activities to development new products for
introduction into the existing product stream. The Research and Develop-
ment department will perform some of the following actions to accomplish
this endeavor:
Perform new product planning
Hold Product Review Board meetings
Meet with the Make-or-Buy Committee to decide
the best method of manufacturing
Address safety requirements
Develop preliminary specifications, drawings, and
bills of materials
Perform stress analysis
Hold design review meetings
Purchase or make parts and assemblies
Develop a prototype of the product
Perform product testing
Prepare final specifications, drawings, and bills of
materials
Release design into manufacturing for production
Perform liaison with manufacturing
20 Developing and Managing Engineering Procedures
2.5.0 DEPARTMENTAL INSTRUCTION WRITING TIPS
Departmental Instructions (also known as administrative proce-
dures) are used to document administrative duties within the engineering
department. They only require the originators’ and manager’s signatures
and change control is informal. The goal is to have every employee follow
the same procedure when performing routine tasks. Departmental instruc-
tions are usually routine tasks, such as, computer input, document control
filing, etc. Departmental Instructions contain information necessary to
provide engineering uniformity, standardize definitions, and clarify engi-
neering responsibilities. They also designate forms or documents to be
utilized when necessary and state procedural steps to be followed to assure
consistency of action and create overall coordination.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a departmental
instruction is: 1) the act, practice, or profession of instructing;
2a) imparted knowledge, 2b) an imparted or acquired item of knowl-
edge, a lesson.
2.5.1 How Many Departmental Instructions are Really Needed?
How do you decide how many departmental instructions are
required? Generally, there should be one for each department activity that
needs to be standardized. Some examples would be:
§ How to load documentation information into the
database
§ How to assign the next number to a document
2.6.0 ENGINEERING PROCEDURE WRITING TIPS
This section covers the format and contents of engineering proce-
dures. The ISO 9000 quality documentation standard states that operations
must be documented and maintained. Engineering procedures will need to
be written for all operations or systems if you are working towards or have
been ISO 9000 certified.
Engineering Procedure Writing Group 21
2.6.1 Definitions
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, an engineering
procedure is: 1) a manner of proceeding, a way of performing or
effecting something; 2) a series of steps taken to accomplish an end.
Other definitions include:
• Authorized and controlled step-by-step instructions
that describe how to perform tasks to reach a
specified goal.
• Written procedures prescribing and describing the
steps to be taken in normal and defined conditions,
which are necessary to assure control of production
and processes.
Engineering procedures are the step-by-step instructions that em-
ployees follow to fulfill the requirements of each job. They are the steps
that must be followed for a job to be done correctly.
If the company does not have any engineering procedures and you
are going to suggest that they need them, the first question that upper
management will ask is, “Why do we need engineering procedures now?
We have gotten along all these years without them!” Here are some good
reasons why:
• Engineering procedures give the end users a
standard frame of reference.
• The methods of operation need to be documented
so that the information is not just stored in
someone’s head. This way the information is not
lost when people leave the company or change
jobs.
• Engineering procedures housed in manuals are
easy to access and you can find answers to
questions faster.
• In some cases engineering procedures are required
to comply with regulatory agencies guidelines and
industry standards such as ISO 9000.
• Having engineering procedures documented saves
time and guarantees accurate responses.
22 Developing and Managing Engineering Procedures
• Engineering procedures can be used as training
tools for new employees and retraining existing
employees.
How do you decide if you need an engineering procedure? The
absence of a procedure would have an adverse affect on safety, cost, or
schedule.
