How Councils Are Capturing Their Know-How Faster Than Ever with AI SOPs
When council staff leave, their knowledge often walks out the door with them.
Whether it’s how to process a building consent, log a customer request, or raise a purchase order, so many council processes still live inside people’s heads – or in the “mystery Word doc” buried on someone’s desktop.
It’s no surprise that onboarding drags, training takes longer than it should, and audits feel like a treasure hunt.
That’s why councils across Australia and New Zealand are rethinking how they capture the way work really gets done. And for many, the answer has been surprisingly simple: record the process as it happens.
With Flowingly’s SOP Recorder, councils are turning every click, every step, every how-to into a clear, visual guide – in seconds, not hours.
No screenshots. No formatting. No chasing people for documentation. Just instant know-how, captured once and shared forever.
The process problem every council knows too well
Ask almost any council team and you’ll hear the same story:
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SOPs live in Word docs and PDFs no one can find.
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Screenshots sit in someone’s “to upload later” folder.
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Staff are too busy to document processes properly.
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Everyone documents things differently (if at all).
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And when the one person who knows the process leaves… well, chaos.
As the sales deck says, most SOPs today are hard to find, harder to update, and impossible to govern.
Here’s the contrast councils are now seeing:
The old way
- Type, screenshot, crop, paste, format, upload
- Processes rely on tribal knowledge
- Inconsistent formats across teams
- “Tap someone on the shoulder” training
- Lost knowledge when staff move
The new way
- Click “Record” and do your job
- Everything saved centrally in Flowingly
- Clean, automatically standardised SOPs
- Visual guides that train themselves
- Know-how captured permanently
How the SOP recorder works
The SOP Recorder captures a procedure as you perform it – every click, field, and screen and turns it into a step-by-step SOP with screenshots and descriptions automatically.
When you finish, Flowingly:
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Generates a clean, formatted SOP
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Saves it to a central library
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Tags it by team, owner, category
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Makes it searchable
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Lets you embed it directly into process maps and workflows
No more manual screenshots. No messy formatting. No abandoned documents.
Just fast, clear, governed knowledge capture – exactly what councils need.
When council staff leave, their knowledge often walks out the door with them.
Whether it’s how to process a building consent, log a customer request, or raise a purchase order, so many council processes still live inside people’s heads – or in the “mystery Word doc” buried on someone’s desktop.
It’s no surprise that onboarding drags, training takes longer than it should, and audits feel like a treasure hunt.
That’s why councils across Australia and New Zealand are rethinking how they capture the way work really gets done. And for many, the answer has been surprisingly simple: record the process as it happens.
With Flowingly’s SOP Recorder, councils are turning every click, every step, every how-to into a clear, visual guide – in seconds, not hours.
No screenshots. No formatting. No chasing people for documentation. Just instant know-how, captured once and shared forever.
What councils are recording
Every council has those processes that are just tricky enough to explain but too important to get wrong.
This is where recorded, visual SOPs shine.
Below are the most common procedures councils are capturing – plus why visuals make all the difference.
Customer service & frontline teams
Common SOPs recorded:
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Logging and triaging service requests
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Creating customer cases
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Updating customer details
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Processing refunds or adjustments
Why visuals help:
Frontline teams move quickly and often across multiple systems. A recorded SOP gives clear, visual direction so staff can see exactly where to go and what to do – reducing mistakes and helping new team members build confidence faster.
Building, planning & compliance
Common SOPs recorded:
- Issuing and updating building consents
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Uploading supporting documents
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Entering inspection results
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Managing LGOIMA requests
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Handling public submissions
Why visuals help:
Regulatory processes often involve detailed steps and specific fields. A visual guide shows each screen and requirement, helping teams stay consistent and making it easier for new planners and compliance officers to get up to speed.
HR & people management
Common SOPs recorded:
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Running onboarding processes
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Managing leave and approvals
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Completing health & safety training steps
- Understanding the payroll or HR software
Why visuals help:
Recorded SOPs replace long procedural documents with clear, step-by-step screens that make training easier and more consistent across the organisation.
Finance & procurement
Common SOPs recorded:
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Raising purchase orders
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Processing and approving invoices
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Running budget reports
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Entering financial adjustments
Why visuals help:
Finance systems are detail-heavy. A recorded SOP ensures the correct fields, approvals and steps are followed, promoting consistency and compliance.
Governance & administration
Common SOPs recorded:
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Preparing agendas and meeting packs
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Registering minutes and resolutions
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Uploading documents to records systems
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Responding to audit and compliance requests
Why visuals help:
Governance processes often happen infrequently, which makes visual SOPs especially useful for ensuring accuracy and reducing the need for one-on-one knowledge handover.
Why this matters so much for councils
Councils don’t just need efficiency – they need continuity.
Lost knowledge can lead to slower service, increased risk, and frustration for new starters who rely on colleagues to explain processes verbally.
Flowingly’s approach shifts councils away from ad-hoc documentation and towards clear, centralised, visual know-how that teams can rely on.
We’ve had actual feedback saying:
“This is a gamechanger. I feel like clapping.”
“We’ve tried documenting with Word – this would’ve saved us hours.”
“I need that SOP Recorder.”
These reflect exactly what councils have been asking for: an easier, faster way to capture how work gets done.
The 3-minute setup
- Install the Flowingly SOP Recorder in Chrome or Edge.
- Click “Record.”
- Complete your process as usual.
- Stop recording, review the auto-generated SOP, and publish or embed it.
💡 And for Flowingly customers – you get 10 free SOPs to start with. Give it a go!
The Bottom Line
Councils don’t need more tools.
They need a simple, reliable way to capture what their people know – before that knowledge disappears.
Flowingly’s SOP Recorder makes it effortless:
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No typing
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No formatting
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No lost knowledge
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Just clear, fast, repeatable process recording
Because less paperwork means more progress.
And that’s exactly what good process should feel like.