According to one recent research, one out of ten employees stated inadequate resource accessibility as the main reason for quitting their job. You could easily solve this problem by thoroughly documenting your business processes and operations and making them accessible to everyone, especially new hires.
This will not only help your employees learn faster but can also boost overall productivity and allow everyone to get a better understanding of workflows.
With business procedures becoming more complex, it’d be time-consuming to do all of this manually. Thankfully, you don’t have to! There are dozens of process documentation tools that can streamline this operation for you.
6 best process documentation software & tools: a detailed overview
MagicHow
MagicHow is an AI-powered software with browser and desktop versions, both of which come with an intuitive, user-friendly interface and advanced customization.
Our software allows you to create instructive training manuals, step-by-step guides, tutorials, training materials, SOPs and all other types of guiding documentation.
Many industries use MagicHow's automated guides, for example:
- HR
- Customer Support
- Sales
- IT
- Healthcare
- E-Commerce
- Education
Besides powerful integrations like Confluence, Webflow and others, these are the strongest sides of our tool:
- Automation technology: Automated formatting allows for the creation of process descriptions by analyzing each step of the process and creating a comprehensive guide.
- Process recording: You don't need to create your guides manually! Just press the Recording button to record the whole process and stop recording when you finish. Then, the app will break it down into logical steps, creating a step-by-step visual guide and saving you plenty of time.
- Customization: You can create personalized guides by adding titles and descriptions, logos, cropping pictures, changing style and replacing the slides.
- Easy share: You can share your documents in a way that suits you the most, like exporting it in PDF, copying it as HTML or Markdown, using URL configuration settings or integrating it with other apps.
- Sensitive data blurring: We value your privacy! It's possible to blur any sensitive employee or customer-related information from screenshots with only one click.
If you want to see MagicHow in action, check out how to use it for:
- Creating process documentation
- Onboarding of new employees
- Implementing new tools and software
- Creating your knowledge base
Pricing:
- Starter plan: free for up to 25 users
- Advanced plan: $4.50 per user per month (blurring sensitive data, branded guides, customizable screenshots)
- Business plan: $11.70 per user per month (unlimited projects, workflows and users)
Process Street
This modern process documentation software was one of the first AI-powered process management tools on the market. It promotes teamwork and accountability by creating project lists that let team members know who is responsible for which part of the project and when the due date is.
Several industries can benefit from this business process documentation software, such as:
- HR
- Property Management
- Marketing
- Sales
- IT
- Finance
Apart from classic process documentation features, this tool integrates with Trello, Asana and other project management tools.
Here are its main features:
- Approvals: You can make any process that needs authorization by another person more efficient by creating single-instance, multi-stage or sequential approvals.
- Task management: You can assign tasks to single users and groups, giving them responsibility for those tasks – this ensures that the right team members are working on the right tasks.
- Scheduling tool: It's possible to schedule instructions to run automatically. For example, you can schedule an employee onboarding process to run on the date of the next onboarding process, thus eliminating the most common reason employee training doesn't bring the desired outcome – lack of dedicated time.
- Conditional logic: This unique feature allows you to make dynamic workflow runs using if-this-then-that logic, which can help you automate more complex workflows.
Unfortunately, Process Street has two big downsides. It doesn't have templates for all types of process documentation, and editing templates can be a bit clunky. If you need a more intuitive tool with a more extensive template library, you may want to check out Process Street alternatives.
Pricing:
- Startup plan: $100 per month (up to five users)
- Pro plan: $415 per month (branding your process documentation)
- Enterprise plan: $1,660 per month (custom integrations)
Scribe
Scribe is a good process documentation software that turns your clicks into a written word by simply clicking a record button. It has a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, perfect for small and mid-size businesses.
Businesses that can use this business process documentation tool are:
- HR
- IT
- Marketing
- Sales
- Customer support
Creating process documentation is easier because of integrations like Confluence, Notion and SharePoint.
Here are its main features:
- Automation technology: You can forget about manually typing in information because the process documentation tool automatically generates how-to guides by detecting all your processes on the web or desktop.
- Customization: You can customize your guides in just a few clicks by adding your company logo, branding and colors.
- Easy share: You can share your process documentation via email, export it to PDF or embed it in your wiki or LMS.
- Sensitive data redaction: This software automatically redacts employee or customer-related information from screenshots.
On the con side, customization and redaction are available only as a part of the Pro plan, which can get a bit pricey. If you're looking for something more affordable, check out Scribe alternatives.
Pricing:
- Basic plan: free
- Pro plan: $23 per seat per month, or $12 per seat per month for teams with five seats minimum
- Enterprise plan: custom price available upon request
Tango
Tango is a business processes documentation tool that promotes creativity. It's suitable for all business sizes, freelancers, non-profit organizations and public administrations.
What's interesting about this business process documentation software is that it also supports the Spanish language.
Businesses that use Tango include:
- HR
- Marketing
- Sales
- Customer support
This documentation software offers integrations such as Motivosity, Qualtrics CoreSM, Pipefy and other tools.
Here are its key features:
- Low-code environment: This tool will automatically document your steps using zero code.
- Customization: The app prides itself on customization tools by offering customizable branding, fields, reports and templates.
- Rewards and recognition: This unique feature provides customization tools for reward links, and Reward Genius is an admin dashboard for users to send and track employee gift cards.
- Sensitive data redaction: As with most process documentation tools, you can redact or blur any sensitive personal or company data in texts or images with just one click.
On the con side, customer support and communication with the company could be better. There is no phone support; the only way to contact them is via email, which can take days. If you need more support setting up your process documentation tool, you may want to check out Tango alternatives.
Pricing:
- Free plan: up to 25 users
- Pro plan: $16 per user per month
- Enterprise plan: custom price available upon request
SmartDraw
SmartDraw is a visual representation tool that you can use to create process documentation with its diagram templates, workflow charts and organizational briefs. It's ideal for visualizing processes with clarity and precision.
Businesses that use this process documentation tool are:
- HR
- Customer support
- Sales
- Marketing
SmartDraw integrates with apps you use daily, such as Google Docs and Microsoft Word. Its main features include:
- Process mapping: You can create process maps that give insights into documenting processes, help with brainstorming and improve communication.
- Intelligent formatting: SmartDraw is the only one of the process documentation tools with this feature – you can add, delete or move shapes, and the diagram automatically adjusts and maintains its arrangement.
- Automation technology: This feature refers to spacing, alignment, sizing and colors, giving your schemes a professional finish.
- Collaboration: Team members can easily collaborate from anywhere; even remote workers or new employees won't feel left out.
On the con side, some users of this process documentation tool report a steep learning curve and a not-so-much intuitive user interface.
Pricing:
- Single user: $9.95 per month
- Multiple users: $8.25 per user per month, three users minimum
- Site: $2,995 for the entire organization
ProcessMaker
ProcessMaker is a business process reengineering tool that helps you simplify complex projects and break them down into manageable steps. The software comes with a drag-and-drop dashboard, ideal for creating your visual process map and brainstorming about complex technical issues.
Many industries use this business processes documentation tool, such as:
- Banking
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Healthcare
Integrations that come with this process documentation tool are numerous, including LinkedIn, Slack and Oracle.
Some of its core features include:
- Business process management: This feature provides an overview of a process, analysis and real-time process monitoring.
- Customization: This low-code app development feature enables effortless document management and offers a variety of customizable templates.
- Hyper-productivity: Combining AI and advanced automation boosts your productivity and efficiency, allowing you to handle more process documentation in less time.
- Data control: This feature refers to changing data sources and continuously updating data and encryption to prevent external users from accessing sensitive data.
On the con side, some users say that it takes time to figure out how to use the app and that the user interface could be more intuitive. Also, AI comes only with the most expensive plan.
Pricing:
- Platform plan: $1,475
- Pro plan: custom price available upon request (includes document management, photos and videos)
- Enterprise+ plan: custom price available upon request (includes AI)
The best process documentation software & tools: Comparison table
The best process documentation tools & software: Selection criteria
Here are the selection criteria we used to choose the process documentation software and tools.
Features
Most of the tools have similar functions, but the difference lies in their nuances, making a particular tool more suitable for one industry than the other.
These are the features you should look for if you want a comprehensive process documentation tool that will save you time and eliminate the need for additional software:
- Advanced automation
- Customization
- Low-code environment
- Process recording
- Process mapping
- Sensitive data redaction
Pricing
It's essential to find the right balance between features and costs. The acceptable price depends on the size of your company and the number of business processes you need to document. Most tools come with a free plan, where you can try them out for a certain period.
Integrations
Choose a business process documentation software that integrates with your existing tools. This can mean different things for different industries, from collaboration tools to task management.
Conclusion
If you’re a business dealing with many procedures and documentation, having an efficient process documentation tool is necessary to streamline your processes and make sure everyone is on the same page.
There are a couple of excellent tools on the market, some of which are specialized for particular industries or types of documentation. For example, Scribe is great for creating quick how-to guides, while Tango is more suitable for creative industries such as marketing and design.
However, if you’re looking for a universal tool to help you create and optimize all types of process documentation (from SOPs and tutorials to streamlining employee onboarding), MagicHow may be a perfect tool for you. Our platform is versatile, and multiple industries can use it, with a particular focus on HR, sales, customer support and IT.
We believe that process documentation management should streamline your business procedures and boost your team’s productivity instead of adding even more tasks to your plate. Our key advantages are automation and AI capabilities that allow you to document processes with only a few clicks.
Try it out today and see how it works!
