8 Best Process Documentation Tools to Streamline Your Business Process

Process documentation software is essential to businesses as it provides a structured roadmap for businesses to streamline their operations. Documenting the process is an essential component of project management as it answers an important question – How will things be done?

Previously, project managers would rely on the manual approach to create process documentation, but now they can switch to full-fledged process documentation tools that skillfully streamline the entire process. 

In this guide, we have listed the most reputable process documentation software available, but first, let’s understand the idea of process documentation in a better way. But before we begin, here’s a handy table featuring the process documentation software that we’ve listed.

So, how does process document software work? Simply speaking, a process document is a detailed guide that explains how to do a task. For instance, it explains the complete procedure of transferring your data from legacy servers to the cloud storage medium.

A process document may be in the form of a flow chart, a tutorial, or simply a policy. This implies that process documentation is the activity of recording or documenting the step-by-step process of performing a task. 

The process documentation proves beneficial for the team members, new joiners, and even the customers when they need to understand how to do a particular job. 

How do you document a process? 

The process documentation procedure is broken down into the following steps: 

• Pick out the process you are required to document and ascertain its purpose and scope. 
• Describe the process boundaries and provide answers to questions like what starts the process and when the process gets completed. 
• Mention the results of the process and the actions that need to be performed thereafter. 
• Specify the software and equipment required to perform the process. This could range from coding platforms to cloud storage space and servers. 
• Brainstorm how the process will work. You can create a step-by-step process from the initial to the final stage.
• List down the names of the stakeholders, decision-makers, and employees playing a role in the process documentation. 
• Now, transfer all the details into the process documentation system and make sure you do not miss anything. 

Once you’ve got the above tackled, we come to the simple part as not you can share it with the team members, who can easily access it later on. 

Importance of documenting the business processes 

Documenting the business processes offers numerous benefits in the long run. Some of the notable ones are as follows: 

• Coherent business process – Eliminate the ambiguity of the processes so that the employees can deliver the desired outcome. 
• Reduce operational errors – Remove the inefficiencies from business operations to improve the work culture. 
• Meet legal compliance – Avoid legal liabilities in the future if a procedure is mishandled unknowingly. 
• Change management – Ensure that the employees can easily adapt to the changes made in the existing business processes.
• Minimize training time – Cut down the onboarding time for the new hires by ensuring they learn fast. 
• Assign tasks – Ensure that each employee has a definite set of responsibilities so that the business workflow is not disrupted. 

When the process is already put into a procedural format, it is easier for employees to know what the steps to be followed are.

What is business process documentation software? 

Undoubtedly, process documentation is a complex task, and there are chances of human errors if done manually. This problem statement led to the introduction of process documentation software, which streamlines the business process of document creation, eliminating the room for mistakes. Below are some of the probable benefits that process documentation software has to offer. 

• Online tools enable the team members to access all the business process documents from a centralized place. 
• The cloud storage features allow you to access the process documentation on the go, unlike the manual document, which is only available offline. 
• The software allows you to manage, update, and collaborate on it in real-time. 
• It is also possible to access user analytics, which further helps to enhance the knowledge base and make informed decisions. 

Furthermore, finding information is easier as the online search tool facilitates the quick search for the information or guide you require. 

Features to look for

When choosing a process documentation software for your business, check for the following features:

• You should make sure that the software offers a pleasant user experience to people not familiar with such tools. 
• These platforms should be able to represent different types of data visually and should also support links and other forms of media. 
• Ensure that the process documentation feature allows the team members to collaborate in real-time. 
• It should be possible to export the process document in a variety of formats or upload it directly on different platforms. 
• The software should support integration with one or more business-related tools currently used by your organization to allow information reusability. 

Having said that, let’s check out some of the best process documentation software we have tried our hands-on and would like to recommend.

Scribe 

If you often find yourself answering repeated questions regarding task completion, we have a solution for you! Meet Scribe, a fast and easy method of documenting and sharing business-related processes within seconds. 

Features:

• Encourage the employees and the new hires to quickly grasp the process.  
• Strengthen the training programs by automating the process documentation and SOP creation. 
• Imbibe consistency across the organizational processes with on-demand training content. 
• Automate the training guide creation process to upgrade the help centers and knowledge base. 

Scribe is an AI-based tool for quickly converting digital processes into a step-by-step guide without investing tons of effort. All you need to do is to enable the Scribe recorder and perform a walk through the entire process. And lo! You have your step-by-step guide created automatically, along with the relevant screenshots attached! 

Miro 

Brands like Dell, Cisco, and Deloitte rely on Miro, an easy-to-use process documentation and mapping software that allows you to map critical business-related information. Easily scalable, the platform lets the team members connect and optimize the business processes using the built-in mapping tools. 

Features 

• Embed business processes and steam maps into tools like Confluence, Coda, and Notion.
• Jira integration to review the business process, map customer journeys, and track particular actions.
• Different packages for project management, customer journey mapping, and business process mapping.
• Easily import process maps from platforms like Microsoft Visio, Draw.io, and Lucidchart.
• Rich library of templates to offer the best experience to your customers and cater to their needs. 

Miro offers tools like Flowcharts, BPMN diagrams, Value Stream Mapping, and Swimlanes, which help you analyze specific scenarios and improve resource utilization. 

This way, you can visualize the business plans and effectively communicate strategy and transformation to the team members. 

Document360

Check out Document360, which helps impart better customer experiences to over 10,000 users in more than 80 countries. Offering standard operating procedures, the platform allows you to streamline the different business processes for a better understanding of your employees. 

Features:

• Operational process to provide a clear understanding of the approved business processes and to spread awareness about employee roles and responsibilities.
• Change management for a seamless transition from obsolete business processes to brand-new ones.
• Employee training module to ensure that the new employees can efficiently grasp the knowledge and improve their capabilities.

With Document360, you can ensure that the business processes are clear and consistent, which will indirectly improve productivity across your organization. 

Process Street

Designed for conscientious teams, Process Street is a popular process documentation software that vouches to boost your team’s performance. This intuitive tool comes in handy when you need to document all the core organizational processes so that all the employees stay on the same page. 

Features:

• Drag and drop editor to create and update the templates in minutes. 
• Standardized checklists with features like stop tasks, approvals, and dynamic due dates to track each process properly.
• The automatic update feature to update the checklists once the changes are made. 
• A centralized platform allows easy collaboration and document search.  
• Simplified user experience to deliver a faster training process. 

Businesses can choose Process Street to document all sorts of business processes like Git workflow, new client setup, employee onboarding, daily and weekly tasks, candidate screening, invoice generation, and internal audit processes.

Heflo 

Featuring a modern and professionally designed layout, Heflo is a business process documentation tool that lets you perform the processes such that the documents are generated automatically. Thanks to Heflo, real-time collaboration to design the business process is now possible in a few clicks. 

Features: 

• Support for BPMN 2.0 notation. 
• Download documentation as a picture or export it to a different platform. 
• WYSIWYG editor to format texts and designs. 
• Categorize processes into query libraries and process documentation into item headers for proper identification. 
• Define business rules and integrations and perform optimization within the new BPM cycle. 

You are free to model, analyze, map, optimize, automate, and document the business processes and download them in different formats like PDF, Word, HTML, and Excel or export them in BPMN. With Heflo’s cloud storage feature, it is possible to access the process documentation from anywhere and anytime. 

Creately

Creately, a work management platform offers process documentation templates to streamline the business process documentation process. This helps list down the business processes systematically executed in your organization. 

Features: 

• Rich library of customizable templates to depict different processes, team workflows, swimlanes, and more.
• Drag and drop tools to easily describe complex documentation processes. 
• Import reports, screenshots, and images needed to create a comprehensive process document. 
• Export all types of data from different platforms for easy retrieval and analysis.
• Link shapes to build navigational structures in and across workspaces to remove inconsistencies.

Possessing compelling documentation capabilities, the software offers rich shape libraries and diagramming tools such as flowcharts, value stream maps, BPMN, process maps, activity maps, and more. With Creately, real-time collaboration is possible, which is necessary to support cross-functional team workflow during the documentation process. 

Choose FlowShare to create interesting process documentation and demos for all applications used by your organization. More than 1,000 companies have already created in-depth guides to set up interactive training sessions for their employees using this tool. 

Features: 

• Dynamic tracking engine to capture all the actions and automatically form a guide. 
• Capture screens and actions such as mouse clicks as well as shortcuts. 
• Blur all sensitive data using the built-in tool. 
• Automatically generate text descriptions, including the names of elements – buttons, menus, tabs, etc. 
• Bulk crop screenshots and images to avoid redundant tasks. 
• Export into formats like PDF, PPTX, DOCX, HTML, Interactive Demo, PNG, RPA, SCORM, xAPI, etc.

FlowShare will not only cut down the time and reduce the errors that occur due to manual processes, but it also lets your organization adapt a standard documentation procedure. The app allows you to quickly amend the existing documentation without having to recapture it again. 

ProProfs

Preferred by Dell, Sony, Cisco, and other notable corporations, ProProfs is a process documentation software that allows you to import files to quickly create documents and, if required, create documentation directly from scratch. 

Features 

• Import the content from Word docs or PDFs directly into the document
• Context-sensitive help for a holistic understanding of technical jargon
• Include tooltips, pop-ups, and light boxes for providing additional info 
• Add images, videos, and infographics for a better explanation of the business process
• Rich library of fonts, designs, and themes for aesthetics and branding. 

ProProfs’ platform allows you to add images and videos for a better explanation of the processes to your employees and customers. It is equipped with the WYSIWYG editor that enables you to choose from a range of text styling and formatting options.

Last Words

Documenting the various processes ongoing in your organization is vital to avoid inconsistency in performing the operations and to present a roadmap for your employees as well as customers. But what’s more important is choosing the best software to create the documentation for your company, as with the right process management software, you’ll see improved business growth. 

The platforms listed in this guide are tried and tested by us and proved quite useful. However, the ideal choice for your organization will solely depend on your individual needs. 

Next up, document automation software to save work hours.