Work Instruction Template

 also known as Job Instructions, or Visual Work Instructions

A work instructions template

makes people learn better and faster

when they see both written instructions and pictures

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Sample Work Instruction template

Sample Work Instruction example

People learn better and faster with Visual Work Instructions

If your company doesn't already own a license, you can Download this Work Instructions template now

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why

Why and When to use your

Work Instructions template

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Training

Before you begin using your

Work Instruction template

If you don't yet own it, download your free trial now

Your leaders should have already

Get Oriented

Because this is the only Systems2win template that is not WYSIWYG, (what you see is what you get)

you will want to first become familiar with the sections of the workbook where you will do your editing, so watch the Work Instructions Intro video

 

Open

Get Started

Find and open your template

Find and open your Work Instructions template (WorkInst.xlsx)

in the same way that you find and open your other 150+ Systems2win templates.

If you don't yet own a license,
you can download your free trial now.

Save your working document

following the usual document storage and naming conventions established by your leaders

Open a Blank Sheet

If you are using a template v15.1 R170726 or higher...

If you answer "Yes",

then you will be able to use the advanced features for Product or Service Families.

Empowering you to maintain instructions for the entire family on a single sheet, and then click a button to generate a separate sheet for unique instructions for each product or service — correctly including or excluding steps that are unique to only some products or services in the family.

Greatly reducing redundant data entry and mistakes!!!

If you answer, "No",

then you will have a sheet that is easier to use for a stand-alone process that does not have variations for different products or services.

Learn more about Product and Service Families

Rename your new sheet.

If English is not your preferred language

Switch to your language, just like every Systems2win Excel template.

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families

Work Instructions for
Product or Service Families

What if Our Processes are Similar but Different?

How do we handle this?

Option 1) Write vague instructions

Rely on tribal knowledge for people to "just know what's different".

And then be willing to live with the increased rework, and the reduced quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Option 2) Maintain Redundant Work Instructions

Make a separate Work Instructions document for every item in the family.

And then be willing to live with the non-value-add time that it will take to reproduce the identical steps in 10 different documents, and the inevitable mistakes as those documents slowly get out of sync with each other.

Option 3) Use your Work Instruction template

Then in the 'Show' column next to each Step,

leave it blank for steps common to every product in the family,

or enter the ID Code for only those products or services that have that Step.

so that you can easily maintain detailed Work Instructions for every product or service in a family with much less redundant data entry, and far fewer mistakes.

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Now you are ready to start using your

Excel template for Work Instructions

header

Enter your Header Data

If your leaders haven't yet personalized your master template

(as described in personalize section near the bottom of this page)

then you will want to hide header rows that you don't need

(Hide unused header rows; don't delete them)

If no Product Families

If your sheet does not have the special features for a Product or Service Family,

then you can simply edit all header fields in the top section of the worksheet

Product Families - Shared Header Data

If your sheet has the special features for a Product or Service Family,

then the data for header fields marked with an asterisk (*) must be shared by many (perhaps all) sheets in the entire workbook (remember, there will soon be separate sheets for every product or service in the family)...

In the Shared Data Table on the DV sheet

Data is required in the top row

for the overall Product Family

Data is optional in the table (below the gold column headers) for:

1. Products or parts in a product family
2. Any types of services or customer deliverables

Learn more - how to use your Shared Data Table for product families

document

Document your Work Instructions

Start with Major Steps and Key Points

To help to clarify your thinking about how to train someone for how to perform the process, perhaps start by using a concept borrowed from the TWI Job Instruction Method to start fleshing out your Job Instructions with only:

1. Major steps (in bold)
2. Key points (perhaps in colored fonts)

with no other instructional details (yet)

Flesh out the details

After outlining the major steps and key points

add more details (using normal text)

For paragraphs within a cell:

ALT+ENTER

Don't leave any cells blank in the 'Instructions' column

because Step numbering will stop when it reaches the first blank instruction.

(It is okay to leave a cell blank in the Steps/Images column, but not in the Instructions column)

Tip: If you want an Instructions cell to appear blank... enter a single character (such as a period), and make the font color white to disappear.

ISO work instruction template

To make some instructions stand out

You can use fonts and colors and shapes to make some instructions stand out

perhaps to visually highlight different types of information, such as safety tips, supplies and materials, personal protective equipment, etc.

Perhaps your leaders personalized the 'User-Defined Training' section of the Help sheet on your master template to provide guidance for unique ways that your organization uses of fonts, colors, and shapes?

Help for each shape: Right-click > Alt Text

HideTips

Hide or Show Tips

When you click the buttons to 'Hide or Show Rows, or 'Renumber Steps' or 'Generate Report' for 1 code or All Codes,

For long work instructions

Although you should usually keep your instructions brief...

1. You can MANUALLY resize row height to make room for more text.

   (by simply dragging the row separator line beneath the row number in the grey margin on the left)

   Do not use Row Autofit

   or your pictures will be distorted when you copy or move rows

   If you accidentally use row autofit, simply manually resize row height.

   Default Row Height = 127.5

2. If this document will be used electronically...

   you can add hyperlinks to related documents

   and you can even make active hyperlinks in your ISO 9000 controlled PDF's

3. You might refer to one of the Comments text boxes at the top or bottom of the document.
4. Use a text box to utilize unused space in the Image column

   How? Copy the 'Text box - clear background' shape

   (found in the Favorite Shapes at the top of the page)

   and then either use that text box instead of an image,
   or group the text box along with another image

   (See example on the Sample sheet of your template)

images

Add Images

After selecting a cell in the wide column,
click the 'Add Image' button to insert a picture,

which might come from your camera,
or from a computer screen shot

Image Size — as it appears to the human eye

The image will be automatically sized to fit

the default height of 1.7 inches

or the Default Row Height that you overwrote on the DV sheet.

the default width of 2.1 inches

unless you choose Normal Width? = No
in the dialog window

To re-size an image

Simply drag the bottom right corner of the image

If this is a regular image, the proportions will remain correct when you drag the bottom right corner.

If this is a text box, shape, or a grouped shape, then you will need to manually keep proportions correct.

If you made the image bigger than the current cell height...

Do not manually re-size row height to fit image height

Instead, click the 'Renumber Steps' button —
which will automatically increase row height to fit the new image height.

If you made the image smaller than the current cell height...

then it is okay to manually re-size row height.

And if you need more or less room for Instructions, it is also okay to manually re-size row height.

Never use Row Autofit

or your pictures will be distorted when you copy or move rows

If you accidentally use row autofit, simply manually resize row height.

Default Row Height = 127.5, or the value that you override on the DV sheet.

Image Size — megabytes of your Excel file

When adding images to your Work Instructions template, it is VERY important to first use your favorite image editing software to reduce image file sizes

so that the megabyte file size of your Excel file does not become unmanageable.

Learn how to use Excel as a Drawing Tool

You might want to schedule an hour to study our online training and videos to learn how to use Excel as a drawing tool

so that you know how to add arrows and shapes to make your illustrations more clear.

Optional — small shapes

To make your illustrations and instructions even more easily understood...

you can optionally add small drawing shapes, arrows, circles, text labels, safety icons, tool icons, etc.

using Systems2win's Shapes, Excel's standard Drawing Tools, and your own custom shapes.

Systems2win menu > Copy Shapes

Don't Rotate images

If you need to rotate an image, you should use your favorite image editing software
(such as Microsoft Paint, or the free Irfanview).

If you use Excel to rotate an image, it will mess things up when you 'Generate Report'
(unless the rotated image is part of a Group)

Grouped shapes

Each cell can have unlimited small shapes, but only one big image...

unless you Group multiple pictures and shapes together

so that they are treated as one big shape.

(for example a picture within a picture, side-by-side pictures, a picture with a text box, arrows pointing to something within a picture, etc.)

copy

Copy, Move, or Delete a Row

To delete a row

Be sure to delete any shapes first, before deleting the row.

Caution: If you delete a row without first deleting the shapes, then the shapes will still exist as squished invisible images that might mess things up when you Generate Report.

steps

Step Numbers

Every time that you click the button to 'Renumber Steps',

1) Step numbers are auto-regenerated

2) Row heights are re-sized

IMPORTANT: Do not use RowAutoFit

Skip Steps

What if you want to skip step numbering?

(Perhaps you want to use an extra row to provide additional clarification, or training for a complex sub-step, or an alternative way to do something for special situations...)

Simply enter text in the Images column

Auto-numbering will skip any cell in the Steps/Images column that contains text that does NOT start with the same text as the Step Label field on the DV sheet.

The default Step Label text is "Step", but you can change the word(s) for the Step Label that appears before the number.

(perhaps you prefer the word "Task", or perhaps some other language). Learn more.

rows

Add Rows

To add a row

Click the button to 'Add Rows'

This feature is new as of June 2015.

If using an older version, simply copy an existing similar row.

Tip: Your new row will be a copy of one of the hidden rows, that can be easily personalized by your leaders.

Either: 1) A row for Working Data, or
2) a Header Row for a Page Break

To add a Page Break Header Row

Why use a Page Break Header Row

How? In the Systems2win menu in the Ribbon bar, click the button to 'Add Rows'

then select the radio button for 'Page Break Header Row'

then edit the large merged cell

You can resize this row, enter multiple lines of text, use every formatting trick you know, include images...

You cannot, however, leave a Page Break Header Row blank. It must contain at least one character of text.

If your leaders personalized your master template

with a library of several types of rows commonly used in your organization,

then they should also provide you with one-on-one mentoring for how and when to use each of those (user-defined) types of rows.

If this advanced personalization capability sounds interesting, contact us to learn how

show

Hide/Show Rows

Optional feature for Product Families

Which rows get hidden and unhidden

Hide or Show Tips

There is also another feature to Hide or Show Tips

Step Renumbering

When you use the 'Hide/Show Rows' button,
notice that it also automatically Renumbers Steps based upon which rows are now unhidden.

report

Generate the Report

Click the 'Generate Report' button

to automatically create a work instructions sheet in WYSIWYG format (what you see is what you get)

This is the end deliverable that will be printed

(or distributed in PDF format)

You usually DO NOT EDIT any generated report sheet,

because all of your changes will be lost the next time that you 'Generate Report'.

When you click the button to 'Generate Report', you then choose one of four radio buttons:

If you have Product Families

with products that are very similar, but slightly different

then you will save a lot of time and reduce a lot of errors using the next two options

3. 'Rows that contain this code' generates a single report worksheet
   for the code that you select from the dropdown list

   The name of the generated sheet is the same as your selected code
   (which might be your part number, or a shorter code that corresponds with your long part number)

4. 'All Codes' generates multiple report worksheets with the click of a single button

   One sheet for 'All Rows', and separate sheets for every part number that you defined in the 'Show' column on your DV sheet

   As of May 2019, you have the option to Skip Status Codes that begin with 'X-'

   For example, X-Expired, or X-Obsolete, or X-Exclude

publish

Make these Work Instructions easily available

These Job Instructions need to be EASILY accessible to the workers that need them.

If short...

the entire report might be laminated and taped to the wall in front of the worker, so that he or she can easily glance at it whenever needed.

If longer...

the report pages might be put in clear plastic sleeves in a three-ring-binder mounted in a way that allows the worker to easily flip pages.

or be made available in PDF format — so pages can be displayed on a computer screen.

If even longer...

then it is often wise to consider breaking the process into shorter sub-processes.

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advanced

Advanced Training

for your Work Instructions Template

Revision Control

Use the Revision Log ('RevLog' worksheet) to summarize changes over time

Whenever you make a change to a workbook that has a Revision Log:

1. Make an entry in the 'RevLog' sheet.
2. Save an archive copy of all old versions of your document

   following your company's Document Storage and Naming conventions.

And ALL related documents need to be kept in sync:

This Visual Work, as well as any other process documentation, such as Standard Work, Layout Diagram, Standard Procedure, training videos, etc.

Long Processes

If possible — split them into smaller sub-processes — small enough for a worker to digest in a single training session.

Or perhaps have the worker learn a segment of the job, while the instructor completes some other aspects of the job for a while until the learner is ready to take on more.

Or perhaps the only option is a very long and attentive mentoring relationship — with close supervision for an extended time period.

Note: The licensed version supports a maximum of 500 Steps, and the Trial version is limited to 10 Steps.

Other Standard Work Templates

It is common for a single process to have multiple types of documents for standard work

ideally stored in a single folder - in order to avoid breaking hyperlinks between related documents - as described in our online training for suggested Document Storage and Naming Conventions

It is common to use a Cross Training Matrix

to keep track of who needs what training, and how are they coming with that?

Although your Work Instruction template has columns for user-defined fields, they are almost never used.

Why would you want to waste your valuable time re-inventing formulas when there is already a template that has all Standard Work Analysis formulas pre-programmed?

Continuously Improve

Use the scientific method

to continuously improve best practices

Establish a culture

where workers and process engineers work together to continuously improve methods to reflect the very best practices that can be scientifically proven to minimize time and cost while maximizing quality and safety.

When ANYONE has an idea

there needs to be a quick, thorough, and fair evaluation of their idea using the scientific method: hypothesize, test, analyze, implement, and extend.

If the proposed method proves to be better

then it should be taught to all other workers — so everyone can do it the better way.

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personalize

Personalize your Work Instruction Template

Your leaders might have already personalized your master Work Instructions template for:

2. Your default dropdown lists (on the DV sheet)

   Including the special fields for Default Row Height and Step Label

3. Your own conventions for how to use colors, fonts, and shapes to communicate different types of information

   Simply edit the User-Defined section of the Help sheet.

4. Your personalized starting point for new rows

   When your users use the button to 'Add Rows', the newly added rows will be copied from the master rows that you can personalize by simply unhiding the top rows in your (hidden) Template sheet.

   (be sure to re-hide those rows before you publish your personalized master template)

   You can even have more than 1 type of row.
   Contact us to learn how.

   icons

Personalize your own palette of icons

because pictures are better than words

Your Systems2win templates come with features to make it easy to personalize your templates
to make it easy for your users to quickly find and open your personalized palette of icons. Learn how.

Link to your own palette of icons

Studies have proven that our brains read and interpret the meaning of pictures and symbols much more quickly and accurately than words.

This is especially true when instructions are being communicated to people that speak different languages.

Let us help you

Once you have followed the usual instructions for how to personalize your Systems2win templates

before you distribute your personalized template to your users, it is a good idea to email it us for a (free) final review.

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