Documentation Is Not Busywork. It’s ROI.
- Katrina Wills Holland
- Feb 26
- 2 min read
Most institutions don’t lose ROI because the system can’t do something. They lose it because the knowledge about how things actually work lives in people’s heads.
And in the cloud? That gets expensive fast.
What Shifts When This Essential is Working
When process knowledge is intentionally captured:
Documentation is current, usable, and connected to the system
New staff ramp faster instead of shadowing for months
Troubleshooting is proactive, not reactive
Leaders trust the data because they understand how it’s produced
Reliable data is used to make future-oriented decisions
This isn’t glamorous work, but it’s vitally foundational.
Example in Practice: Western Colorado University
At Western Colorado University, the process for incoming students involved multiple departments. Each team owned a piece and each team did their part well. Yet, the process kept breaking down.
Why?
The reason is because in a cloud system, everything is interconnected. Working in silos doesn’t just create minor confusion, but it also creates downstream impact.
WCU had solid technical documentation, but it didn’t show the whole picture.
Legato was invited to work alongside their team and together we mapped the entire end-to-end process, blending functional and technical steps. This new tool became an anchor.
Instead of solving the same issues repeatedly, teams could:
See what was coming into their part of the process
See what their work triggered downstream
Identify weak points before errors showed up
Troubleshoot in minutes instead of hours
It reduced problems, reduced friction and put real ROI into view.
Where You Can Begin
To find value in documentation, you don’t have to document everything. You simply start with one.
Try This: One-Process Survival Guide
Select one high-risk or frequently asked-about process
Document current steps and decision points
Validate it with one experienced staff member
Publish it somewhere shared and discoverable
That’s it.
We’re not talking about fixing your entire documentation ecosystem. This is just about creating momentum.
For this one, it’s starting with a single process.
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