In this page
The problem with policies and procedures
Our story
The types of organisations we help
Successful M&A integrations
The Benefits
The types of content we create or update
What we don’t do
Case Studies and Examples
Costs
How It Works
Contact us
Ready for clear policies and procedures that help your organisation succeed?
Cherryleaf’s expert policies and procedures writers helps create customised documentation that provides staff with a reliable framework to follow.
This reduces ambiguity about responsibilities and expectations, leading to more confidence and control over day-to-day operations. With clearly written policies as a guide, employees gain the freedom to carry out tasks efficiently.
Managers benefit from enhanced consistency and accountability. Good policies and procedures documentation can give you confidence your staff are doing their jobs well.
Partnering with us means gaining the peace of mind that comes with having robust protocols in place to address priorities, enforce standards, and facilitate independent decision-making at all levels of your company.
You and your team know how to run your business. What we do is write policies and procedures documentation for you that communicates this clearly. Our proven methodology lends certainty in uncertain times.
The problem with policies and procedures
Policies and procedures should be one the first places managers and staff go to when they have any doubts about what they should do.
The problem is, people often find it hard to write them well.
It’s also one of those tasks that often doesn’t seem like a priority, when you’ve got so many other things to do.
Poor or missing policies and procedures are some of the main reasons why staff find themselves stuck, wasting time or making mistakes.
Sometimes, they have to deal with contradictory information.
They can also find it hard to find the right advice quickly.
Your policies and procedures will also come under the spotlight if things go seriously wrong.
Our story
Our journey began with a challenge few organisations face: nine government agencies merging into one.
Each member of the new senior leadership team knew their own agency inside out, but knew little about the other eight. We were engaged to capture, consolidate and improve policies and procedures from all nine agencies into a single, coherent set of online documents.
It was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. We had to see the big picture while identifying the missing pieces: the undocumented knowledge living inside people’s heads, the inconsistencies between agencies, the inefficiencies, and the opportunities hiding in plain sight. We helped leadership see more than just what existed; they could see what needed to change.
That same challenge drives every project we take on today. We capture scattered information, bring order to complexity, make the unclear crystal clear, and surface the gaps that others overlook. Today it can also involve identifying opportunities to use AI and automation to improve processes.
It’s work we genuinely love, whether it’s for a new organisation forming its policies from scratch or for a large established company grappling with complexity.
Three Types of Organisations We Help
Organisations opening new branches, reorganising, or merging
You have teams that are doing the same work in different ways. You want to have a consistent, standard, best approach to doing things, and communicate these to staff.
Organisations that need to rely less on word-of-mouth communication
As your company has grown in size, you’ve realised that relying on important knowledge being held inside a few people’s heads is no longer sustainable.
You want to move away from this informal, word-of-mouth communication to more documented policies and procedures. This will ensure critical information is captured and accessible, rather than at risk of being lost when key employees leave the organisation.
Companies getting their policies and procedures ready for new investment, an IPO/public listing, or a company sale
To demonstrate that your organisation is run efficiently and effectively, you need to have well-documented policies and procedures in place. These will show potential investors or buyers that your company is structured, managed, and poised for growth.
Your auditors might also have told you that you need documented procedures so the business is more robust.
Helping you achieve a successful M&A integration
Successful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) integration is about thoughtfully creating something new that preserves what worked whilst fixing what didn’t.
Policies and procedures are the technical infrastructure of organisational culture. They’re where values and priorities become operational reality.
This six-step blueprint provides the structure for this work:
- Create a comprehensive record of existing policies and procedures
- Form cross-functional teams and establish a clear decision framework
- Assess consequences before implementing changes
- Prioritise systematically and execute changes in a controlled way
- Communicate effectively and provide appropriate training
- Measure results, review progress, and iterate continuously
This blueprint transforms an overwhelming challenge into manageable work. It helps ensures nothing critical falls through the cracks. It brings rigour and discipline to what can otherwise feel like chaos.
The companies that navigate this well don’t just achieve the synergies promised in the deal announcement. They build something genuinely better than what either organisation had before.
Not by accident, but by attending carefully to the detailed, difficult work of integration.
One policy and procedure at a time.
Policies and procedures apps
We can show you how you can build apps for creating and managing your policies and procedures, either as part of a policies and procedures project, or as part of a policies and procedures training course for your company.
Policy and procedures audit tool
The policy and procedures audit tool is a specialised web application we’ve designed to help teams systematically assess, prioritise, and improve their internal policy and procedures documents.
Managers responsible for policy governance, compliance or enablement, can add policies or procedures, and then rate them against key quality criteria such as accuracy, usability, and accessibility.
For each document, the tool calculates an overall quality score, visualises the assessment in a radar chart for an at-a-glance profile, and generates a ranked “Priority Update Queue” to highlight which documents require the most immediate attention.
It also provides actionable suggestions for improvement based on the provided scores, streamlining the process of documentation governance and enhancement. The priority list can be exported to a CSV file for easy sharing and reporting. The list can be also used for scheduling improvements to the documents.
Evaluating policies and procedures with AI personas
We have developed a free tool for evaluating policy and procedure documents from the users’ perspective. This is an important issue because some organisations spend considerable time creating policies that might not be working for their intended audiences.
The tool helps policy and procedure writers, and UX researchers, evaluate policies and procedures from different user perspectives. By defining user personas with varying levels of expertise, backgrounds and preferences, it enables you to simulate how different staff members (and the public) would interact with your documentation.
See: Evaluating policies and procedures with AI personas
Policy and procedures dependency mapping app
Managing complex documents is a constant challenge for many organisations. A change in one manual can often affect several other policies. To solve this, Cherryleaf has developed an app that helps teams track these vital links.
The tool is designed to be simple and intuitive. Users can upload files directly to the platform. It supports standard formats, such as PDF and DOCX files. The app also handles digital content. You can provide a URL for any online documentation site. The engine will then analyse the text to find connections. The mapper focuses on two main types of relationships: dependencies and conflicts. Each result shows the source, the target, and a short description of the relationship, presented in a clear list.
See: Building a policy and procedures dependency mapping app
Policy audit simulator
The Policy Audit Simulator is an AI-driven app that simulates an audit of policy and procedure documents.
Procedure to training content converter
The Procedure To Training Content Converter creates training content from policies and procedures documents.
Industries
Here are some of the organisations we have helped write or improve their policies and procedures:
- Academy chain
- Derivatives trading company
- Energy company (oil and gas sector)
- Fire and Rescue Service
- International sport academy/professional club organisation
- NHS trust
- Pan-European medical equipment and service provider
- Retirement homes provider
- Software company
- Specialist insurance provider
The Benefits
Accessibility
Employees can easily reference procedures when they need guidance.
Autonomy
Equipped with clear guidelines, your team can operate with confidence and autonomy. Our policies foster a culture of responsible independence, where decisions are made swiftly and effectively within a secure framework.
Clarity
We create easy to follow procedures using clear English, so employees can quickly understand expectations.
Consistency
Consistent information across different departments within an organisation means that people can find information more easily. It can also ensure alignment across the business.
Effectiveness
Users want policies and procedures that are effective in achieving their intended goals and objectives, such as improving quality, reducing risk, or enhancing efficiency.
They may also want to know:
- Why does this work matter?
- What are the key beliefs and values?
Flexibility
People want policies and procedures that allow for some degree of flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances, while still maintaining compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
Relevance
We help you create policies and procedures that are relevant to people’s job duties and responsibilities, without having to sift through irrelevant or unnecessary information.
Security
Secure your foundations: Our expert team crafts policies that protect your business interests and assets. From data protection to compliance standards, we can help you ensure every aspect of your business is safeguarded against emerging threats.
The Types Of Content We Create or Update
HR policies and procedures
- Anti-bribery
- Anti-modern slavery
- Betting and personal financial transactions
- Conflict of interest
- Delegation of Authority
- Disciplinary and dismissal
- Diversity
- Equality
- Grievance
- Intellectual Property and knowledge assets
- Maternity
- Onboarding
- Performance management
- Recruitment and staff induction
- Relocation and travel
- Serving the community
- Staff handbook
- Training and development
- Whistleblower protection
Health and Safety policies and procedures
Supply Chain and procurement
- Roles, responsibilities & authority
- Preparation for procurement
- Selecting the right procurement procedure and contract
- Supplier selection
- Negotiation
- Award of contract
- Management of the procurement
- Close out and learning
- Managing large capital projects
Sales and marketing policies and procedures
- Brand marketing
- Customer acquisition
- Sales team training and on-boarding
- Customer credit finance approval
Finance policies and procedures
- Accounting standards
- Bank reconciliations
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Capitalisation
- Claims and reinsurance accounting
- Cost control
- Creditors and accruals
- Dividends
- Finance manuals
- Financial reporting and management accounts
- Fixed assets
- Foreign exchange transactions
- Funding
- Hedging
- Income, debtors, and prepayments
- Inter-company charges
- Internal controls and risk management
- Investment accounting
- Invoice/expense accounting
- Long term projects (including DevEx and CapEx)
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Payroll
- Premium accounting and unearned income
- Revenue recognition
- Tax (Corporation, VAT)
- Travel and expenses
- Treasury and cash management
- Year-end accounts
Operating procedures
- Complaints handling
- Workplace security
Board level policies
- Crisis management
- Corporate risk
- Executive compensation
- Global operations (Board composition and responsibilities, Group structure)
IT security and data privacy procedures
- Anti-virus malware prevention and detection policy
- Business continuity
- Controlled document procedure
- Cybersecurity events and incidents
- Disaster recovery plan
- email and Social Media
- Home and mobile working policy
- Information governance
- Monitoring and response policy
- Network security
- Policies that ensure you conform to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Removable media policy
- Risk register
- Systems updates procedure
- User access permissions policy
- Using Artificial Intelligence
Public Relations
- Crisis and emergency communications
Writing chatbot-ready content
Our procedures writers can format content so it can be readily imported and used by large language models. This helps AI efficiently access materials and provide clear, precise responses to staff.
What We Don't Do
We can’t tell you how to run your own business.
We are also not experts in law, so we cannot advise on compliance with national or state regulations.
We do not sell boilerplate templates for ISO 9000, staff handbooks etc. We do have a number of policies that we have written in the past, which we may be able to adapt and repurpose for your situation. However, you need to know what you want your policies and procedures to be.
Case Studies and Examples
Case Studies
Creating an easy to use Listener Guide for the Samaritans and the Prison Service
Developing procedures for a rapidly expanding company
Case Study: Samaritans procedures clarified and put online
Examples of policies and procedures
On our examples page, you’ll find examples of:
- HR policies (employing new staff policy)
- Controls-based financial procedures (VAT reporting and payment)
- Management processes and staff roles and responsibilities (in a responsive web layout)
- An online employee portal
Tailored Policies And Procedures, Priced To Fit Your Needs
When it comes to documenting an organisation’s processes, the time and cost can vary significantly.
Factors that influence the cost
The overall cost is based on a few key variables:
- The number of policies and procedures you want
- The more documents you need us to create, the higher the total cost will be.
- The length and complexity of each procedure
- More complex procedures take longer to document than simpler, shorter write-ups.
- A procedure can be more complex in situations where staff are using lots of different applications to complete a task, multiple people are involved in the activity, or you need to explain what to do in a number of different or exceptional situations.
Refining your own content
In some situations, we collaborate with your subject-matter experts (SMEs) to change raw information, whether from interviews, notes, or other sources, into polished, professional documents.
We apply our expertise in on organising and structuring the content to ensure a logical flow, making sure the final document serves its intended purpose.
While your SME remains responsible for accuracy, they can stay focused on their core responsibilities, trusting us to deliver a high-quality result. Minimal but essential communication between our team and your SME ensures success and smooth collaboration.
Where it’s required, we carry out more in-depth revisions. That can include re-structuring and rewriting parts of the document to enhance clarity, accuracy, and readability.
Our collaborative approach
To provide you with an accurate quotation, we’ll work closely with your team to scope out the full project. Together, we’ll:
- Develop a comprehensive list of the policies and procedures that need to be documented
- Assess if any existing content can be repurposed
- Determine the appropriate level of detail required for each procedure
There’s no obligation to move forward after receiving your quotation. We’re happy to provide this upfront consultation at no cost, so you can make an informed decision about how to best document your processes.
Ready to get started? Contact us today to discuss your policy and procedure requirements.
How It Works
You’re unique, and your polices and procedures will be different from anyone else’s.
Our simple process makes it easy to get the policies and procedures you need:
- We discuss your requirements and scope the project
- Our writers interview your subject matter experts to understand your operations
- We write clear draft policies and procedures tailored to your needs
- You review the draft and provide feedback
- We incorporate edits and finalise the documents
- You receive professionally written procedures you can immediately implement
Contact Us
Get in touch today to discuss how we can provide your company with clear and actionable policies and procedures.
Our clients are based mostly around the UK, Europe and the USA (although if you are based elsewhere, we still may be able to help).
Tell us about your situation.
We will contact you to discuss this further.
Email:
info@cherryleaf.com
You also can talk to us via Microsoft Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting, or another video conferencing platform of your choice. Email us if you’d like to arrange a date and time for a video call.