If you are responsible for documenting your business practices, wouldn't it be nice to know if anyone is using the documentation? If the employees find it useful?

You might want to consider surveying the users of the documentation on a regular basis. There are a number of free survey tools online (search for "free survey tools"), and you can have a survey ready in a matter of minutes. It's as simple as gathering a list of questions and a list of email addresses.

For the questions, here are some suggestions.

• How often do you access the policy and procedure site?
• How useful is the site?
• How easy is it to navigate the site?
• How often are your questions answered on the site?
• What suggestions do you have to make the site more useful?

You may want to consider just asking a few questions each month so that employees can complete the survey in less than 5 minutes (you'll get more responses). Make sure you have several comment boxes in the survey so that the employees can give suggestions. As the users of your documentation, the employees may have some terrific ideas that will enhance the usability of your policy and procedure site.

It would be great to hear your suggestions for how to survey the users of your documentation.

Mary R. Keane
Senior Development Manager, Oracle BPM and Tutor