How to Write an SOP: Practical Tips for Streamlining Your Operations and Creating a Paperless Office

The efficiency of business operations directly affects growth, sustainability, and revenue. Some tasks your staff face might be one-off or new. But let’s be honest. 90% of success relies on the same routine operations performed day to day.

So, what happens when these processes aren’t well-understood or performed to the desired standard? It kills business efficiency. Often, it leaves you with slow onboarding, inconsistent work, and poor productivity. And, often, there are tons of repeated questions that must be answered over and over again.

A standard operating procedure (or SOP) is a practical fix that helps eliminate operational pain. A SOP library provides clear and consistent explanations of business processes and how to handle them to the standard.

In this guide, we’ll define the value of SOP in business and tell you how to create your own library step by step to improve operations.

What Is an SOP and Why Does It Matter in Business?

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of written guidelines that describe routine processes and steps to perform them. The primary goal of these instructions is to ensure operational consistency and compliance with business standards and relevant industry regulations.

The potential benefits of SOP creation include:

• Improved understanding of daily tasks
• Reduced repetitive questions
• Reduced errors
• Faster onboarding
• Greater efficiency and profitability
• Safer work environment

What is SOP in business, in practice? For example, blog publishing is one of the repeated business operations that you want to work smoothly and up to a defined content quality standard. Then you need to create a content publishing SOP. This SOP should define all the steps of content creation and publishing, for example:

1. Weekly brainstorming of blog post ideas (handled by content manager).
2. Topic narrowing and approval (content manager + the head of content).
3. TA creation and task assignment to writers.
4. Draft revision and approval by copy editors.
5. Publishing of the final draft on a blog with cross-promotion on social media.

SOP in Business: What It Is and What It Is Not?

Now that you have a general definition of SOP in business, we must look at a number of other business documents that might look similar and thus cause confusion. In brief, here’s what SOP is not:

• SOP vs Policy: Policies tell what (and why) employees should adhere to. SOPs explain how to do it in practice.
• SOP vs Checklist: Checklists are typically shorter and don’t provide much explanation. You can consider checklists as brief reminders. SOPs are more detailed instructions.
• SOP vs Job description: Job descriptions only provide role expectations. SOPs explain the execution method for each relevant task in detail.

Briefly, SOP is a roadmap to performing specific tasks accurately and consistently. It’s appropriate whenever you want to ensure efficiency and safety in a recurring task, be it payroll, hiring, content creation, client onboarding, etc.

Preparing for SOP Writing: Things to Do First

Now that you understand the SOP meaning in business, you might be wondering how to create SOP that will actually improve your daily operations. Despite the common belief, the process doesn’t start with writing. Before you get there, you need to take a few preparatory steps.

Understanding Which Processes Should Be Documented First

The first thing you need to handle in regard to SOP development is to define which processes you need to document. As was mentioned earlier, you can create SOPs for nearly any repetitive task that requires consistency and safety. But when you are just getting started with your library, it’s best to focus on the tasks that require SOPs the most.

This includes:

• High-frequency tasks.
• Tasks that involve high performance risks (e.g., require using hazardous materials or dangerous machinery).
• Tasks that are critical for complying with complex regulations or customer expectations.
• Tasks that are complex and error-prone.
• Tasks shared by multiple people that require a consistent, shared approach.
• Emergency protocols.

Defining Ownership, Accountability, and Review Cycles

It’s important that your business has a defined list of people responsible for creating, approving, and maintaining SOPs. This helps prevent inconsistencies in SOP writing. It also helps create accountability for keeping documentation up-to-date.

You need to decide:

• Who writes SOPs
• Who approves them
• Who reviews and updates them

Then make a review plan. For example, you can set fixed review cycles every 6 or 12 months.

How to Write an SOP That People Actually Use

Now that we’ve got past the basics, let’s answer the main question: how to write SOP. This process consists of the three main steps:

• Choosing a suitable format;
• Identifying the core SOP elements;
• Writing instructions.

In the following sections, we’ll cover each of these steps in detail.

Choosing the Right SOP Format

There are 4 main types of SOPs:

1. Step-by-step SOPs: Detailed instructions that explain how to perform a task in chronological steps. This format works best for simple, routine processes like uploading a document in a business workspace, scheduling video meetings in a work chat, setting up email forwarding, etc.
2. Checklist-based SOPs: A more generalized list of steps (not necessarily sequential) that staff can mark checked in the process of completing the task. This format works great for more flexible, routine processes like editing content, troubleshooting software issues, etc.
3. Hierarchical SOPs: More in-depth instructions that typically cover multiple smaller tasks within one operation; subtasks are organized under headings, in a hierarchical order. This format works for large-scale tasks like implementing new tech solutions, product development, etc.
4. Visual SOPs: Flowcharts, diagrams, and other visual instructions. This format is best for tasks, the outcomes of which are affected by multiple points, such as handling client inquiries, troubleshooting complex issues, etc.

Core Elements Every SOP Should Include

When you decide on the format, make a plan for further SOP writing based on the following must-have elements:

• Title & purpose – A descriptive title and purpose explain the goal of an SOP and make it easier to navigate to it in your library.
• Scope – A scope helps communicate the applications and limitations of a given document.
• Roles & responsibilities – This element clarifies who is responsible for a specific task (e.g., who this SOP is meant for).
• Tools or systems used – An outline of the tech stack required to perform the task.
• Step-by-step instructions – A list (or visualization) of steps.
• Version history – This element helps track SOP updates and communicate the changes made.

Writing Clear and Actionable Instructions

When you do the necessary planning, you can finally move on to SOP development. Basically, this process requires writing the actionable instructions and other SOP elements as described above. But it’s important to do it right.

Here are some practical tips on how to write a SOP that’s clear and effective:

• Don’t merge. Cover one specific action in every step to avoid confusion.
• Keep it straightforward. Imagine that you’re writing for a completely inexperienced user.
• Avoid complicated terms and internal jargon. Use plain language instead.
• Prompt immediate activity by using action-oriented language.

Organizing and Maintaining Your SOP Library

After you write the first SOPs, focus on organizing your library:

• Group related SOPs by department.
• Set up access permissions.
• Follow consistent naming protocols for simple navigation.

Also, define the preferred file format for your SOPs. PDF is usually the most commonly used file type. It allows simple access. Besides, you can seamlessly edit PDF files after creation, which allows for simple maintenance.

Tools for Editing and Updating SOP Documents

Documentation needs to stay up-to-date to continue performing its function well. That is, you will have to regularly review and sometimes update your documents after you create a library.

To understand the importance, here are a few real-world scenarios in which you might need to edit your SOPs:

• The industry’s safety or privacy regulations have changed, and you must update SOPs for compliance.
• Your internal processes have been updated, and you need to refine the steps in existing SOPs.
• You need to convert SOPs into different formats for accessibility.
• It’s a review period, and you need to re-sign a document after approval.

These are just a few of the many situations in which you might need to edit and/or update your documentation. And to do this effectively, you need to have a well-defined tech stack in advance. It just makes the editing process simpler.

Since PDF is the most common file type for SOPs, your tech stack, first of all, needs a multifunctional PDF editor. Look for editors that include all the common operations, such as:

• PDF file compression for reducing the size of your documents.
• File splitting and merging for organizing different versions of your documents.
• PDF signing for when you need to sign an approved document.
• A possibility to convert to PDF and convert PDF to other formats for documentation accessibility and uniformity.

Some practical tools that you can use for this include PDFAid, Adobe Acrobat, and Smallpdf.

Conclusion & Key Takeaways

SOP in business stands for efficiency. It helps organize a productive workflow and helps all staff members understand their routine tasks better. And that’s why creating your own library matters.

The main keys to creating effective standard operating procedure documents are:

• Clarity
• Ownership
• Ongoing maintenance

Use the steps and tips we shared here to create your own SOPs. But remember to start small (with the most high-frequency tasks) and gradually build your library.