If necessary, you can include a table of contents after the title page of your SOP, as this will help those who use the document find the information they’re seeking with relative ease. that helps teams share knowledge by connecting any type of digital content. Documenting standard operating procedures (SOP) allows you to preserve key organizational knowledge so that knowledge doesn’t leave the organization if an employee does. A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of written instructions that describes in detail how to safely perform work involving hazardous materials (biological, chemical, radiological), hazardous equipment or hazardous operations. But, you also may want to have the document reviewed by those with less experience with the processes in question. This will reinforce the idea that the new SOP is and will be the new way of doing things, and will not be put to the backburner after the novelty of the new process wears off. Again, if you’re working for a large multinational, everything you do is going … This will allow you to make specific and focused amendments to your SOP before “officially” unrolling it. SOPs provide consistency of operations and ensures a smooth workflow. Having employees collaborate with you in this process is a no-brainer. How will following SOP impact the company’s bottom line? Once you have spoken to your employees and have enough data points to start, immediately move to your document editor and start adding your notes. Once done creating the document, you can go through the document with your employees and management and ask for their feedback and input. This can cause the ground-level team to run into a variety of obstacles that the executives may not have anticipated—meaning the SOP in question actually isn’t in-line with what would be considered “best practices” for the given circumstances. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a document . This may include: While the “meat” of your SOP should be as detailed as possible, this section will ensure that your team members continue to adhere to SOP to the best of their abilities—and are also able to identify areas in which they may need to make improvements moving forward. The goal is to use as specific language as is needed to communicate instructions in full—and to minimize any ambiguity that may exist within said instructions. Flowcharts are best used to illustrate SOPs when multiple outcomes are possible at certain points throughout the process. Process Improvement Plan: What, Why, and How to Make It? (For example, in defining SOP for handling of customer service requests, your customer service reps would be the key individuals the document was created for.). Checklists are the easiest to create as you can simply create a header (the process you are creating guidelines for) and add relevant checklist items that employees need to follow in order to complete the task. If you are unable to explain a task in a single step and at the same time, don’t want to make the SOP lengthy, adding hierarchical steps can be beneficial. Operations Manual: What is it & How to Write it? While SOP typically refers to internal, behind-the-scenes processes, said processes will likely impact the customer experience in some way or another—meaning you should never let your target audience slip to the back of your mind as you develop SOP within your organization. A standard operating procedure, or SOP, is a step-by-step set of instructions to guide team members to perform tasks in a consistent manner. Here, you might set up different scenarios in which certain team members play different roles, allowing each individual to get a feel for the new processes. Making your standard operating procedures interactive will boost your engagement levels as employees are surely going to find them more useful and even entertaining! Still, a whopping 57% of employees report not being given clear directions and 69% of managers report they are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general! Media like these can help make your SOP’s pop while providing a visual aid to otherwise bland steps. More on this in a bit.). This is why a centralized internal knowledge base is vital to the implementation of new SOP. Directed by Errol Morris. Often, the difference between a productive, successful business and a not-so-successful one is whether or not these myriad “parts” are moving in concert with one another. A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out complex routine operations. SOPs are also critical to ensuring efficient effort with little variation and high quality in output. Now, let’s discuss in more detail what the process of developing SOP documentation should look like. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a document consisting of step-by-step information on how to execute a task. What processes are complex and require a lot of time? Even if your team can perform all necessary tasks with ease, consistently, and without any external aid or documentation, you still need to create an SOP document. 3.4 Corrosive Chemicals – Procedures for Safe Handling and Storage While many organizations view creating SOPs as a one-time process, that’s hardly the case. Before you even begin writing an SOP, you need to have a clear-cut answer to the question of why you’re creating the document in the first place. This, in turn, will enable new hires to quickly get “up to speed” with SOP once they come aboard. In this section, then, you’ll want to include documentation that allows them to do so. A huge part of running “like a machine” is consistency. It’s essential that your team members are able to assess their performance with regard to SOP on a case-by-case basis, and at specifically-defined intervals over time. Moreover, even if your new SOP aligns with absolute best practices, it won’t do any good if your team isn’t able to access it. Having a clear answer to why you are creating the SOP document should be your number one priority. List out all steps of the process. While companies are free to develop their internal SOP documents in a format that works best for their team, most organizations choose from one of the following formats. 3.3 Chemical Fume Hoods – Procedures for Proper and Safe Use. An SOP (or standard operating procedure) is a set of super clear, written directions for how to complete complex routine tasks. Now you know what a standard operating procedure is and why your organization needs to create one, it’s time to actually get down to business and create one. That said, the idea of training your team with regard to new SOP deals only in part with the actual procedures in question, while focusing more on instilling in your team a growth mindset. A Standard Operating Procedure refers to a document created by an organization/company management highlighting clear-cut directions and instructions on how things need to be done when completing certain processes. The procedure elements are: The policy which describes the mission or standard that your procedure … For example, if an SOP is created solely by C-level executives, it may focus more on the goal to be attained than the process required to attain it. That said, the process of developing SOP needs to involve all stakeholders at all times. We recommend using a collaboration software like Bit to bring your entire team inside a common document and collaborate effectively. As we’ve said, developing SOP better enables your organization to run like a finely-tuned machine. The accounting SOP manual helps to streamline and optimize the collection cycle time, credit policy, sales, invoicing, and billing process, with a focus on the legitimacy and accuracy of bills and invoices. Processes in which a step-by-step format is likely sufficient include: The hierarchical format for SOPs borrows from the above format in that it involves listing the steps of the process to be completed. Throughout this stage of the process, all involved parties should take note of any questions, concerns, or other issues they uncovered while reading through the document. Since one of the goals of creating SOP is to leave no stone unturned in terms of contingent circumstances, you'll have a better idea of what these potential circumstances are—leaving you better prepared to train your employees as to how to navigate them. 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