Bell System Practices

[1] Covering everything from accounting and human resources procedures through complete technical descriptions of every product serviced by the Bell System, it includes a level of detail specific to the best way to wrap a wire around a screw, for example.

With sections regularly updated, printed and distributed, the BSPs were the key to the standardized service quality throughout the Bell System.

They enabled employees, who had never met previously, to easily work with one another in the event of a service outage, a disaster, or merely when relocating.

Starting in the 1970s the most frequently used BSPs were bundled in convenient handbooks each covering general subject matters, such as the Station Service Manual.

Specifically, the AT&T Practices covered most equipment topics that stayed with Bell Labs, which acquired the name AT&T.