An operations manual is a clear set of instructions for all persons responsible for operations, which often also enables changing employees to implement processes quickly and efficiently in regular operations. It describes in concrete terms all the contents and processes of the defined AV service and documents them in detail in the form of flow charts, tables, matrices and service texts.

These schematic representations help to quickly record the processes, for example incident management. Starting from a defined event or incident, solution paths are visualized step by step. From the moment a request or an incident is received by the user help desk, it is precisely defined which measures are to be initiated. This includes informing users by creating tickets and consulting other service partners. The fault is categorized and prioritized according to qualified keywords. Roles and responsibilities in the process are clearly defined. If the problem is known and the solution is simple, first level support can act directly. Either a service employee supports remotely or on-site support is assigned. All actions are documented. If the error cannot be resolved at this point, the case is passed on to the next responsible unit. There, the case is analyzed and a decision is made on further measures. If the problem persists for a longer period of time, workarounds may have to be offered to keep operations running. In addition, users must be informed that certain rooms may currently no longer be usable. This information must also be communicated to the room booking software to avoid unnecessary problems. For recurring user questions, the user help desk can also use a ready-made answer catalog (FAQs) to speed up support. The duration of the individual solution steps is precisely specified. Service level agreements (SLAs) specify, among other things, precise response times for individual services. How long it takes to receive and respond to inquiries or by what time on-site repairs are carried out is specified here. Such agreements ensure the quality of the service by means of measurable quality criteria known as key performance indicators (KPIs). Such criteria are assigned to each service objective. These specifications serve both as a basis for defining the quality for an AV service, but also for evaluating the performance of the various service providers and making it transparent.

This precise documentation of responsibilities and processes enables the person responsible to keep the processes and the quality of the service high, even if there are changes in personnel or different service providers (e.g. in different branches of the company).

The operations manual also includes a detailed list of the areas and premises to be serviced, together with the assets associated with each. The interrelationships and dependencies between the assets and systems are also shown, so that comprehensive function recovery can be guaranteed in the event of faults occurring. Additional information can be accessed via a link to the respective manufacturers.

For sustainable operation and long-term quality assurance, there are specifications for regular service reporting. The manual specifies the intervals and content for this. For example, daily short reviews on the maintenance of current tickets can be supplemented by detailed quarterly reports. This gives those responsible for operations the opportunity to exchange views on processes, discuss possible solutions to recurring problems, or even implement optimization measures to reduce incidents in general. With these measures, the services, but also the technical solutions and ultimately the user experience can be continuously developed and improved.

If services are to be tendered to external service providers, the operations log can be attached directly to make the tasks transparent and unambiguous to the providers. For this purpose, in addition to the process and service descriptions, the requirements for service personnel are also described in detail according to position. Based on the description of the necessary competencies and skills, the tasks can be assigned accordingly depending on the qualifications. This ensures that the required services can also be provided in regular operation. All of this is the basic prerequisite for obtaining comparable offers for services on the market.

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