The One-Page Ops Handbook
A single page that captures how a job actually runs in your business — the document you need before you can delegate the office, hire an admin, or have anyone build you software.
Almost every owner-run business runs on knowledge that exists in exactly one head. That's fine until you want to hire an office person, take a holiday, or have somebody build you software — at which point it's the thing standing in the way. This template gets it onto one page in about forty minutes. Fill it in roughly and honestly; a messy accurate version beats a tidy aspirational one.
Section 1 — How Work Arrives
Fill this in first. It's the shortest and the most revealing.
Work reaches us through: 1. ______________________ (roughly ____% of jobs) 2. ______________________ (roughly ____% of jobs) 3. ______________________ (roughly ____% of jobs) When something arrives, it gets written down in: ______________________ The person responsible for that happening is: ______________________ If that person is away, it is instead: ______________________
Section 2 — The Stages
The words your team actually uses, not textbook ones.
Every job moves through these stages, in order: 1. ______________________ 2. ______________________ 3. ______________________ 4. ______________________ 5. ______________________ 6. ______________________ 7. ______________________ A job is "won" when: ______________________ A job is "finished" when: ______________________ A job is "closed" when the money has landed and: ______________________
Section 3 — Who Decides What
The section that decides whether you can ever take a week off.
Can be decided without asking the owner: - ______________________ - ______________________ - ______________________ Needs the owner: - ______________________ - ______________________ Discounts: anyone can approve up to $________ . Above that, ask ________ . Nobody may ever: ______________________
Section 4 — The Numbers
Where pricing lives. If the answer is 'in my head', write that down honestly.
Our rates live in: ______________________ Last reviewed: ____________ Standard markup on materials: ______% Minimum call-out / job: $__________ We do not quote below: $__________ Things we consistently under-price: ______________________
Section 5 — The Promises
What a customer is entitled to expect. Write only what you actually do.
We respond to a new enquiry within: ____________ We get a quote out within: ____________ We follow up a quote ______ times, at ____________ We invoice within ______ of finishing. We chase an unpaid invoice at ______ and ______ days. Our warranty is: ______________________
Section 6 — What Breaks
Be blunt here. This section is the reason the handbook is worth writing.
The step that goes wrong most often: ______________________ It goes wrong because: ______________________ The thing only one person knows how to do: ______________________ That person is: ______________________ If we won twice as much work next month, the first thing to break would be: ______________________
Two things happen when this is done. The first is that you can hand the office to someone else, because there's finally something to hand them. The second is that section six — what breaks — usually turns out to be the real scope of any software worth building. We ask for a version of this document before we build anything, because a business that can describe how it runs gets software that fits, and one that can't gets a system it quietly stops using by month three.
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We Build the Software Your Business Runs On.
AltaPro AI builds custom CRMs and operations software for Alberta businesses — one system for quotes, jobs, invoices and follow-up, built around how you already work. You own it outright. We keep it running. If this tool showed you a number you didn't like, that's usually the thing worth fixing first.