A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) about Writing an SOP

Created on 30 Jul 2014 by AllIncontext Limited.

SOP's define how an Operation is performed. They support Business Goals and the Business Strategy and are, in effect, the translation of those two things into the nuts and bolts that deliver them both. They are therefore very important to a Business and can benefit businesses large and small. The simplest acronym to remember is BOSCAR:

• B - Background. What is the SOP for!
• O - Objective. What is the SOP to achieve and deliver. If there are a number of steps to be followed to complete the objective, they can be put here or, for clarity, they can be referenced here and then added under a separate section in the SOP or even a separate document. Whatever you do must be clear and concise and follow any business rules for SOP layout, such as the Notes below.
• S - Scope. What is the extent of the SOP (Group or Department wide or for the business as a whole). Does it cover specific levels of management or everyone in the business?
• C - Constraints. If these are not in the Scope, then are there any specific constraints that need to apply to the SOP. For example, the SOP might be just for the Legal or Regulatory Affairs department. There might also be specific legal constraints outside of the Legal department.
• A - Assumptions. An SOP that does not have at least one assumption is probably not a good SOP. For example, if the SOP is dependent on a budget, the assumption might be that there is a 10% contingency in it before it has to be referred back to a steering group (see Reporting below) for an increase in the budget.
• R - Reporting. Who, or what, is the target of the SOP (for example an SOP in the Accounts department might be intended for only the Finance Director, or a steering group chaired by the Finance Director). Note that reporting is not necessarily the same mechanism used for SOP review and sign-off.

Notes
In addition to this acronym, an SOP needs:

1. A good explanatory Title.
2. A creation date. Please use DD MMM YYYY, as in 30 Jul 2014, otherwise, people get confused. In the EU 01/11/2014 is 01 Nov 2014. In the US it is 11 Jan 2014. You should not need an SOP to define your date format! (unless there is a legal requirement for a specific date format in which case the Last updated item above should be a link to an SOP on date formats and information about any Legal requirements).
3. A last revised (or updated) date, when changes were last made. Good practise dictates that before a change is mode to an SOP, the current version is retired by making a copy of it with a retirement date in the title of the file copy. For example, if this SOP were updated on 31 Jul 2014, the retired version will have the filename Write_SOP_30_Jul_2014.htm indicating that it was valid up to 30 Jul 2014 (and yes, these housekeeping rules probably require an SOP).
4. You might want to say who created and who made the last revision of the SOP.
5. To be reviewed and signed off by the person, or people, responsible in their accountabilities for the SOP. This will be the case where the person accountable delegates the responsibility for the SOP to someone else.

Points to Consider
Of course, the actual way you do your SOP housekeeping will depend on the Business House Style or Legal Requirements (for which there will inevitably be an SOP). To ensure that SOP's are undertood and used, people need access to them. This is where you can make good use of the Intranet/Internet/Cloud and ensure a suitable density of information in the SOP. Please consider security implications, especially if an SOP moves outside of your direct control (and yes, there will be SOP's for these circumstances too).

SOP's are living documents in your business. They need to be kept up-to-date and used by those in your employ on a day-to-day basis. If they are consigned to a file folder and put on the shelf, gathering dust, having SOP's is just a waste of your time and effort!!! Remember: In the 21st Century, the Internet and the Cloud provide unparalled opportunities BUT you, and whoever you are dealing with, needs to have, at least, some knowldge of your SOP's (and they of yours). This then becomes about how you actually deliver data exchange and this is where Infomation Security becomes paramount.