What are standard operating procedures?
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) refer to an organization’s internal documents that describe how specific tasks should be carried out. These documents help organizations ensure consistency, efficiency, and quality in their processes, irrespective of the involved employees.
Benefits of an SOP
A standard operating procedure helps you document the process for a specific task. As a result, you can expect several organization-wide benefits:
- Consistent operations: SOPs provide a consistent framework for performing a task. As a result, you get the same output across different teams and individuals.
- Smoother onboarding: An SOP is a valuable training resource for any individual who enters an organization, is promoted, or transfers to a different role. It can be critical for employee retention as 71% of business leaders believe that employees leave a job if they don’t get access to the necessary tools and information they need.
- Easier compliance: SOPs help define roles and responsibilities across the team, which allows an organization to comply with industry regulations, legal standards, and internal quality guidelines.
When to use an SOP template?
This free SOP template is designed for businesses documenting critical processes
as they grow. Use it when you're:
- Scaling from 1-5 to 5-20 employees: The template is perfect when you're moving from "everyone knows how we do things" to "we need documented procedures for consistency."
- Documenting 5-20 core processes: Start with your most critical or frequently performed tasks. If you need to document 50+ processes with version control and approval workflows, you'll need knowledge base software.
- Training new hires frequently: If you're onboarding 1-2 new employees per quarter, documented SOPs dramatically reduce training time and ensure consistency.
- Experiencing quality inconsistencies: When the same task produces different results depending on who does it, SOPs
create standardization.
- Want to reduce key person dependencies: If critical knowledge exists only in one person's head, SOPs make that knowledge
transferable and protect your business from turnover.
What does an SOP include?
A standard operating procedures (SOP) document typically consists of several sections—each serving a specific purpose for conveying the essential operational information. That said, here are the five most common parts of an SOP:
1. Title page
The title page is the first page of an SOP. It concisely describes the task or process an SOP covers.
2. Purpose
The purpose section gives an overview of the SOP’s objectives. It provides context and helps employees understand where the procedure fits into the larger organizational framework.
3. Scope
In the scope section, you define the boundaries of the SOP by mentioning its covered tasks, activities, and processes.
4. Procedures
As the heart of an SOP, the procedures section contains step-by-step instructions to perform covered tasks. You may also break down individual steps into substeps and include associated details, such as required resources.
5. Responsibilities
The responsibilities section lists the roles of involved individuals in the process. Plus, you can mention the duties and expectations to establish accountability and coordination.
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