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Process Documentation Effectively Communicates School Facilities Roles
Wicomico County Public Schools (WCPS) Facilities Services provides all services necessary to care for and maintain the 24 facilities in its district, totaling approximately 2.23 million square feet. Facilities Services and their process documentation evolved over time into five Service Groups that meet all the facility needs.
WCPS, like many school districts across the country, was struggling to maintain and increase funding for critical programs. They were getting questions that indicated key oversight and funding groups did not fully understand their organization. WCPS needed to clearly document its roles, functions, and responsibilities in order to effectively communicate both internally and externally what they are as an organization and the important services they provide.
Additionally, the district realized only two people on staff completely understood all the inner workings of the organization and that it was critical to document and transfer that knowledge.
Contiem worked with WPS to identify a document solution that would meet its multiple requirements: to allow them to quickly and effectively explain who they are, how they fit within the school system and how they would support the schools year round to the public, the Board of Education, other departments and new employees.
In addition, WCPS wanted the document to provide a baseline from which to develop a more comprehensive process and procedures manual.
To get started, Contiem performed a needs analysis to understand the varied target audiences and the goals and objectives for the documentation. During the needs analysis, Contiem conducted information-gathering sessions with subject matter experts and worked with WCPS to identify the appropriate level of detail for the resulting manual.
Contiem created a document structure and template to WCPS standards, then distilled a wide array of information from interviews, internal documents, and simple notes into a cohesive document that accurately explains WCPS and the valuable services it provides.
Contiem was able to synthesize critical processes and procedures stored in employees’ hands, informal disparate documents, and scattered pieces of information into a cohesive story. The resulting documentation provided WCPS with a critical communication vehicle to professionally and clearly demonstrate its value and contributions to Wicomico County Public Schools. The district also has successfully transferred vital process and procedure knowledge from a few employees to all current and future employees. Additionally, Contiem has provided WCPS with the overall foundation to build on for future process and procedures manuals.