I'm working for a county public school system and would like to have a All-IN-One Book for the Building Engineer and custodial staff to go to get all answers from the custodial procedures to boiler checks to preventative maintenance. Would like to see a model type to see the best way to set everything up for the county in which I work.
Bill

I will search for a sample for you online. Meanwhile, I would put it together in sections with labeled tabs. Inside each section, put all the info needed for that section. I'd arrange the tabs alphabetically with simple headings. The tabs could be color-coded for main headings (Custodial, Boiler) and different colors for sub headings (Policies, Procedures).

Be sure to really think this through (make a good outline), showing headings and sub headings to use, so people can find things easily without your continual instruction. Have a Table of Contents and even an Index (both to be adjusted if there are major changes). Keep each page simple and easy to understand with titles/headings, lists, charts, graphs. Also, be sure to make all the text grammatically and factually correct. Keep all of this in a Word program for easy editing.

I'd also make a second copy of this binder to be locked away somewhere. Of course, changes/additions/deletions would be made immediately and added/filed correctly.

Here's general information:

http://www.edwardlowe.org/index.elf?page=sserc&storyid=0195&function=story

Go to your public library and ask Reference for help -- look at manuals they have available and request books on the subject, such as Susan Carter's How To Make Your Business Run Without You.

Wondergirl,
I truly appreciate what you are doing for me.
Thank you

I searched for a manual sample, but I decided you are better off going to the library to look at real-life samples there. You will be able to compare different styles, look at how the tabs are marked and what's inside each section, and page through the manuals to see how they have been set up.

You will also have the opportunity to check the library's holdings for helpful books that you can then check out, if you wish.

I found out when I created a Procedures manual for the library's tech services department I worked in (no one had ever created one), that it's a work in progress and is always changing. Your manual, hopefully, will be more static and unchanging (lower frustrations level that way), but you do need to make prompt changes, even if they are written in, just so you don't end up with a dinosaur in six months.

What we started to do a couple of years ago was build a wiki on our library website. There were many aspects to this wiki, some for patrons to use and others for staff only. Just before I retired last year, we started creating a tech services/cataloging wiki (based on the manual I had put together) that would be easily searched and corrected.

The main warning I will give you is be super organized first with an outline of what you want to put in the manual before you even begin to write pages in Word and print them out. You want this to be very accessible to everyone who needs to use it or consult it. If you are organized from the get-go, you will have fewer headaches later.