The Operations function is all about procedures, more procedures and then even more procedures. Procedures are there for systems, for settlement, for payments and for dealing with instructions. Just about everything else that happens in a day for an Operations team is governed by procedures. They are at the heart of the Operations functions and are therefore critically important if the function is to be successful.

There are procedures that enable a specific process to occur and procedures that link processes. The skill with procedures is to design them carefully, review then constantly and update them as frequently as is needed. Most inefficient organizations have outdated procedures for dealing with the business they undertake.

The proper documenting of procedures is also important and this can be illustrated through a typical process of an activity within, for example, a treasury department, first, in text format at keystroke level followed by the same activity illustrated as a flow diagram. Let us look at an example.