Procedural documentation in government departments and public administrations

Useful information: Definitions, regulatory frameworks and structured guidelines

Procedural documentation is a key tool of public administration and ensures that processes are designed to be traceable, legally compliant and reproducible.

The creation of procedural documentation serves to systematically describe an administrative procedure, taking into account technical, organisational, legal and technical aspects. There is no standard that explicitly stipulates that public bodies must create procedural documentation. Nevertheless, public authorities are obliged to work in a verifiable, traceable, transparent and legally compliant manner.

This is precisely why procedural documentation is required. The obligation therefore arises from the combination of various legal requirements. The effort involved in procedural documentation is reduced enormously with intelligent solutions such as linqi, as the platform centrally structures the relevant processes and documents and maps them directly in an audit-proof manner.

Find out more about linqi!

Glossary of terms relating to procedural documentation

Definition: Process documentation

Procedural documentation provides a complete and structured description of how an administrative procedure is carried out. It encompasses organisational steps, technical processes, responsibilities and all necessary supporting documents required to make a procedure traceable and verifiable. With the growing use of modern specialist procedures, it is becoming increasingly important to manage procedural documentation online or digitally.

Definition: Administrative procedure

An administrative procedure is a legally regulated process in which a public authority makes decisions or performs public-law tasks. The creation of procedural documentation provides a comprehensible record of these processes.

Definition: Process documentation

Process documentation is the component of procedural documentation that focuses on the sequence of individual process steps. linqi promotes comprehensible process documentation by logically linking workflows and visualising them clearly.

Definition: Specialist procedure

A specialist procedure is a technically defined administrative process with clearly regulated tasks, responsibilities and decision-making steps. In modern administration, the term usually refers to the IT specialist procedure, i.e. the software that digitally maps this process and provides technical support. Its integration is relevant as it presents key sections of the procedural documentation online or digitally.

Definition: Electronic file (e-file)

The electronic file (also known as an e-file) is a digital representation of official record-keeping. Supplementary procedural documentation may also be required in HR-related specialist procedures, for example in the case of digital personnel files.

Implement procedural documentation, administrative procedures, specialist procedures and process documentation digitally on a single platform!

Normative basis for procedural documentation

The requirements for reliable procedural documentation in public authorities and public administrations arise from various legal and organisational frameworks:

Administrative law

Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG): requirements regarding transparency, record-keeping and traceability.

E-Government Acts

Federal and State E-Government Acts (EGovG): Foundations for electronic administrative processes, digital record-keeping and standardised interfaces.

Data protection law

GDPR and BDSG: Requirements regarding documentation, processing activities and technical and organisational measures.

Archives legislation

Federal Archives Act (BArchG) and State Archives Acts: Requirements for archiving, retention periods and immutability.

IT security

BSI Basic Protection Compendium: Requirements for operation, technical security, logging and access protection, which are also incorporated into the creation of procedural documentation.

Technical guidance

GoBD: Not binding for authorities and public bodies, but frequently used as a framework for structure, completeness and audit-proof processes.

For the legally compliant, straightforward implementation of these normative principles with linqi

Guide and components of procedural documentation

Quality-assured procedural documentation follows a standardised structure that reflects both legal and technical requirements. linqi facilitates the implementation of the individual components, as processes, responsibilities and evidence are recorded directly in day-to-day work.

1. General section

• Objective and purpose of the procedure
• Binding legal basis
• Responsibilities
• Definitions
• Relevant documents and procedural documentation

2. Organisational procedure

• Detailed process description
• Roles and responsibilities
• Exceptions and special cases
• Control and verification steps

3. Technical procedure

• Description of the specialist procedures used
• Data flows and interfaces
• Illustration of the digital processing steps
• Authorisation and security concepts

Modern process documentation software such as linqi helps to clearly record technical details and link them to the organisational structure.

4. Document and data management

• Document types, metadata, versioning
• Requirements for procedural documentation in the digital personnel file
• Archiving and retention requirements
• Deletion and disposal policies

5. Quality assurance and maintenance

• Systematic updates
• Coordination with data protection, IT and legal departments
• Documentation of changes
• Integration of a suitable process documentation tool for ongoing maintenance

Implement all 5 steps step by step – with linqi

Step by step towards creating procedural documentation

A proven process includes:

1. Preparation and definition of the scope
2. Recording the current process
3. Modelling of the processes
4. Documentation
5. Review
6. Approval
7. Ongoing maintenance

Modern solutions such as linqi make it possible to map these steps entirely digitally or online, thereby implementing them more efficiently.

Key facts about process documentation

• The creation of procedural documentation is necessary to reliably reflect legal, technical and organisational requirements.
• Missing or incomplete procedural documentation records can compromise the traceability of a process.
• Manual maintenance of process documentation, Excel lists, etc., often leads to a high risk of errors and significant maintenance effort.
• Modern process documentation software significantly simplifies the process by centrally consolidating all workflows, records, documents and responsibilities.

Discover the smart solution for process documentation

Procedure documentation: simple, fast and reliable with linqi

Comprehensive procedure documentation requires numerous structured records, process descriptions and technical documents. Creating procedure documentation can therefore be challenging, particularly if the work is spread across multiple files or the documentation is maintained using Excel.

However, the use of modern digital solutions makes the creation of procedure documentation significantly more efficient. A specialised tool for process documentation such as linqi helps to consistently map processes, data flows and supporting documents, and also to integrate areas such as digital personnel files in a structured manner. With the help of such intelligent solutions, process documentation can be created easily and in a standardised manner by integrating it directly into the relevant workflows and consolidating data from a wide variety of sources.

Request a linqi live demo now