Last Updated on May 28, 2025 by Owen McGab Enaohwo
Having envisioned growing your business for so long, it can be disheartening when the moment you’ve been waiting for finally arrives, only to realize that you weren’t fully prepared. Juan Pablo Roscoe, co-founder and CEO of GDL Systems, faced this challenge as he attempted to scale his business but encountered significant bottlenecks due to inadequate documentation. Determined to overcome this obstacle, he took action and implemented SweetProcess, a workflow tool designed to streamline business operations. Three years later, he’s grateful for that decision, as he and his team continue to experience smooth operations, seamless training, and consistent service delivery, among other benefits.
About GDL Systems
GDL Systems is a Mexico-based marketing agency that assists businesses with selling products online. It specializes in creating e-commerce websites using Shopify and helps clients list their products on Amazon and Mercado Libre, a major online marketplace in Mexico. With a team of account executives, developers, graphic designers, and administrative staff, GDL Systems offers customized services for the expanding e-commerce sector in Latin America.
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The Pain Point of Poor Documentation
Documenting business procedures is not a new practice for many companies; they usually have some form of documentation tool. Juan and his team used Google Docs initially, but it became unsustainable as they attempted to scale their operations, especially as there was no consistency across the organization due to ineffective documentation in Google Docs.
“It’s very complex… You must choose the right folder in the Google Drive structure and use that template to document the procedure… There are several steps you can fail. You can put a document in another folder and lose it,” Juan laments.
Documenting procedures in Google Docs was tedious, and retrieving information was a pain. Team members were overwhelmed by the system and didn’t use it much. Consequently, they often worked without standard procedures, which led to errors that affected service delivery consistency. Failing to address this issue could jeopardize the company’s existence.
How SweetProcess Improved Daily Operations at GDL Systems
Juan recognized the need for a workflow tool to streamline operations across his organization and support their growth plans. He was overwhelmed by the numerous tools available on the market that claimed to meet his needs. After trying several options, SweetProcess stood out to him, particularly because of its user-friendly interface. Since implementing the software, he has experienced several benefits.
1. Simple Procedure Creation
When individuals performing certain tasks are indisposed, assessing how well others can handle the same tasks using existing procedures is essential. Even though there were procedures in Google Docs, the team members struggled to implement them effectively, defeating the aim. Implementing SweetProcess got them to engage with documented procedures.
“In SweetProcess, you just create a procedure and write the steps… You can create a procedure in two minutes and refine it later,” Juan says.
Creating procedures in SweetProcess simplifies routine tasks for the team. Everyone knows exactly what to do, allowing them to channel their creativity into more critical activities.
2. Sustainable Quality Assurance
Maintaining high quality for customers is essential for a service-based business. The team at GDL Systems could attain and maintain such a standard by utilizing SweetProcess as a comprehensive knowledge base containing information about their operations. The procedures are user-friendly due to the multimedia features in SweetProcess.
“We visualize our procedures as a tree with branches; if a branch isn’t connected to the tree, it becomes useless. Each role is linked to specific procedures detailing daily, weekly, and monthly tasks,” Juan reveals.
Procedures with multiple steps are interconnected, providing users easy access to all necessary information within one system. This simple access minimizes performance errors, enabling team members to achieve outstanding results.
3. Faster Onboarding
Employee onboarding had consistently been a challenge for the organization, as new team members often took a long time to grasp the workings of the business. Getting new hires through onboarding quickly was vital to their success.
“But you need the right tool to accelerate the onboarding process,” Juan points out.
SweetProcess fast-tracked the company’s onboarding process, allowing them to train new employees by sharing documented procedures in SweetProcess.
“If you want to know if the team is following the procedures, you can audit that in SweetProcess,” he adds.
4. Measurable Daily Operations Performance
SweetProcess has become an integral part of GDL Systems’s daily operations, serving as a reference point for maintaining operational standards. Employees document their tasks as daily procedures and must complete them by the end of the day, ensuring that no task is left undone.
They also use a scorecard to measure performance in the daily tasks. Failing to complete these tasks leads to lower scores, prompting employees to step up and perform their responsibilities effectively to increase their scores.
5. Productive Systems Mindset
Adopting a systems mindset eliminates the reliance on individual tribal knowledge, as all essential information is readily available. SweetProcess inspired the team to document their expertise in a system. Instead of relying solely on personal skills, employees began to work collaboratively, ensuring that all effective task processes were documented in SweetProcess and made accessible to everyone.
“We now have a systems mindset. If you see a problem, you solve the problem, and you document how you solved the problem,” Juan explains.
Sharing information that would typically be limited to a few individuals improves overall team alignment and accelerates operations throughout the organization.
Useful Tips for Effective Documentation
Based on his experience, Juan advises against starting a business based solely on the ideas in your head. Your documentation doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect from the beginning; just get your thoughts down to establish a baseline, and you can refine it over time.
Avoid wasting time using ineffective tools for documentation, as many businesses tend to do. Implementing the right tools early on will give you and your team a significant advantage and help you get started more efficiently.
“Just write how you are doing everything at this time. You have a baseline. If you have a baseline, you can improve it. If you don’t, you can’t improve what is not written,” Juan advises.
Utilize Effective Documentation Systems to Grow Your Business
SweetProcess has proven to be more than just a software application at GDL Systems; it has been a tool for transformation by simplifying standard operating procedures (SOPs), facilitating scaling, and supporting consistent, high-quality service for the past three years.
If you are facing similar challenges in your business, start by documenting your current processes in SweetProcess, just like Juan did. It could be the first step toward achieving operational clarity and growth. Sign up for a 14-day free trial now without a credit card.