Process Guide - A tool for generating HTML process walkthrough guides using Microsoft Excel

An easy to follow process guide can improve consistency and professionalism while collecting details and performing triage

Process Guide - A tool for generating HTML process walkthrough guides using Microsoft Excel

The tool is available on Github if you just want to get started

When I was working on service desk I frequently needed to document processes and procedures for other members of staff to follow. I tried various methods of representing these processes including word documents, visio diagrams and videos. However I found what was most useful was something that could be easily followed while a service desk analyst was speaking to a customer or supplier.

I started putting together an HTML/Javascript tool for walking a user through a process, but expecting colleagues to update Javascript files every time a process was added or changed was unrealistic so I took a different approach; I wrote a spreadsheet which wrote the javascript for them.

The spreadsheet is formatted with a series of questions and answers that direct the user to another stage in the process. This can have two buttons, one button or no buttons depending on the step.

The export button then iterates over the sheets in the Excel workbook and creates a javascript array for each one containing each question as an array. This structure is then unpacked when the user opens the HTML file.

The design can be easily altered in the included CSS file and logo.jpg automatically included at the top of the page.

Possible ideas for future versions include an easy way of referencing documentation files without needing to copy file paths into Excel as well as the possibility of chaining multiple processes together so that an initial process might feed directly into a "Hardware Fault" or "Software Fault" process for instance.