One of the most important documents you can create for your call center is a Local Work Instruction (LWI). Procedures describe:

"What" the activity is-
"Who" performs the activity-
"When" the activity is takes place-

Local work instructions describe "how" the activity is performed.

Questions that need to be answered in a procedure include:

Where do the inputs come from (suppliers)?
Where do the outputs go (customers)?
Who performs what action when (responsibilities)?
How do you know when you have done it right (effectiveness criteria)?
What feedback should be captured (metrics)?
How do we communicate results (charts, graphs and reports)?
What laws (regulations) or standards apply (e.g., ISO 9001, 8th EU Directive, IFRS, Sarbanes-Oxley)?

Before your write your LWIs, it's important to first understand the four components of the document pyramid:

1. A policy is used as a course of action to guide and influence decisions. The purpose of this level of documentation is to state concisely the policies and objectives of the company, organization, or division. Policies are similar in some ways to mission statements.

2. Your procedures are the second level of documentation, which should be more detailed and describe who does what and when (in sequence or order). Procedures describe the process: who does what, when they do it, and under what criteria.

3. A local work instruction describes how to accomplish a specific job. Visual aids, various forms of job aids, or specific assembly instructions are examples of work instructions. Work instructions are specific.

4. The last level of documentation includes forms used to create records, checklists, surveys, or other documents used in the creation of a product or service. Records are a critical output of any procedure or work instruction. They form the basis of your process communications, audit material, and process improvement initiatives.

As you create your local work instruction, make sure they adhere to four basic characteristics: credible, usable, accessible and consistent.

·Credible: For work instructions to be credible, agents must believe that they define the one, single, proper way to perform a task. Avoid making changes or updates to the standardized process without first updating the written LWI.
Usable: A clear LWI can be quickly understood by the agent with little effort. Use graphics, illustrations, minimal clarifying text as much as possible.
Accessible: Local Work Instructions are accessible when they can be located quickly and easily. "Quickly" means within seconds and "easily" requires a retrieval system that the worker knows, understands and trusts. In a call center environment, LWIs are typically stored on an internal document management system such as SharePoint and easily accessible to agents via their desktops.
Consistent: Consistent work instructions conform to a style guide developed specifically for procedures and work instructions. There must be rigid consistency of terminology so that the same word means the same thing every time. There can be no undefined acronyms and confusing technical terms. All instructions should follow the same format so that the user always knows where to find information such as required tools or control settings.