04.25.2008 — Brad Nelson, president of Kennewick, Wash.-based System Solutions Northwest, has experience writing company manuals.

The guidelines that Nelson uses may be of some help to CE pros that don’t know where to start.

In general, System Solutions Northwest’s manual is divided into three primary sections: policies, procedures and crisis plan.

The policies section is fairly self-explanatory in that it includes all of the company’s relevant administrative or structural determinations. It provides a reference for employees wondering where the company stands on certain issues.

Is smoking allowed in company vehicles? Check the policies section.

Also included in System Solutions Northwest’s manual is an organizational chart. “It is hierarchical in nature,” Nelson explains.

“The top box is the owner or president. The next row of boxes may simply be a general manager or it may be several positions, such as sales manager, operations manager or office manager. Lines connect these to the owner, showing lines of responsibility and typical communication.”

Since position names and not actual names are used, this chart can call attention to positions that might be wearing too many hats. It can expose burnout before it happens, Nelson says.

“It can also help with strategic planning so that, as the company builds its resources to hire more staff, the owner can make the right decisions about which positions are most critical or beneficial to fill.”

For many companies, the next portion, the “procedures” section of the company manual, will be the longest—it will also take the longest to write. Its purpose is to state what is done during operation of the company and the way it is done, according to Nelson.

It should also denote who does what. For example, if it’s the lead technician’s job to inspect a trainee’s work, that should be written in such a way that cannot be left to interpretation.

A key section of System Solutions Northwest’s manual is the “crisis plan.” For an integration company, a crisis can be an accident that results in injury or death, damage of company property, a fire at a job site, an asbestos situation and a simple system malfunction during an important client event.

These events might seem unlikely. When they actually happen, though, many companies are caught off guard, Nelson points out.

Having a plan of action is important, according to Nelson. So, for each potential crisis, System Solutions Northwest’s manual states several things.

“First, who is the first point of contact for the crisis?” Nelson asks. “Second, the manual states what actions should be done and what should not be done in that particular crisis. Third, it states who the company’s point of contact is.”