How to Start Writing Standard Operating Procedure

Having a standard operating procedure is a great thing. However, the main question is how to write it.

Writing a SOP is much more stress-free than you might think. Just follow these five steps, and you will have a clear SOP manual of your vital policies, forms, and procedures.

1. Outline your essential processes.
2. Describe every critical business process event.
3. File every event into a sequence of steps
4. Choose the needed forms, records, and management metrics
5. Construct your reports, documents, and graphs that create your supervision system.

Outline a Process Map

For several corporations, the first five essential business processes are divided into secondary processes like human resources, accounting, quality, management, and information technology. They can also be divided into comprehension processes like sales, purchasing, product development, services, and contentment. Now that you have already defined your essential processes, you can move forward.

Define the Essential Processes

The next step is to explain every critical business process and its activities. You should consider defining the process from the top again.

File your Procedures

The third thing to do is documenting all the processes from the first step to the last, you will be good to write a standard operating procedure on your own, and the SOP will be building slowly.

Implement your Records

The fourth step is to choose the needed forms, metrics, records, and management metrics. You need a standard order form, pick sheet, authorization checklist, and invoice. You also need to know where every form is kept, how it is used, and who maintains it.

Combine into your SOP Manual

Finally, you are now ready to combine the SOP manual and begin using it. Start using it with the core process mapped out in the first step. Describe the process with the material from the second phase; divide it into individual process steps outlined in the third phase. Add a reference to every record or form needed in detailed procedure steps with the notes from the fourth step.