SOP template, build the procedure step by step.

A standard operating procedure, or SOP, is a written set of steps for doing a task the same way every time. A good one lets a new person do the job correctly without asking, and lets the owner see what has changed. This free SOP template builder gives you the usual parts in a form: document details, purpose, scope, terms, roles, what you need, warnings, numbered steps with optional tick boxes, related documents and a revision history. You see the real PDF as you type, with no sign-up.

How to write an SOP with this template

1. Pick Start from an example to see a finished one (opening a shop, onboarding a client or backing up a laptop), or begin with a blank form.
2. Under Document details, give the SOP title, a Document number, the Version, the Effective date and who owns it.
3. In Purpose and scope, say why the procedure exists, and who and what it covers. List any Terms a new person might not know, as Term = meaning, one per line.
4. Click + Add a role for each person or team involved and write what they are responsible for.
5. Under Before you start, list What you need, and add a warning if something can go wrong.
6. Under Procedure, click + Add a step for each action. Put the role in Who and a tip or check in Tip or check. Move steps with the arrows.
7. Fill in the revision history, then click Download PDF, or Copy as text to paste it into a handbook or a wiki.

What goes in each part

Writing steps people can follow

• One action per step. If a step has the word "and" in it twice, split it.
• Start with a verb. Check, press, send, count, write down. It makes each step something a person can do.
• Say who. When more than one role is involved, the Who column removes any doubt about whose job a step is.
• Put the check where it matters. If a step has a result to confirm, such as an amount or a message on a screen, say so in the tip.
• Keep it short. If a procedure runs past about ten or twelve steps, it often helps to split it into two SOPs.
• Never write passwords. Say where they are kept, not what they are.

Tick boxes and a revision table

With Add a tick box beside each step on, the PDF has an empty box in front of every step. Print it and tick off the steps as you do them, which turns the SOP into a checklist you can file. Switch it off for a clean reference copy.

The Revision history is the part that keeps an SOP trustworthy. Every time the steps change, raise the version, add the date, say what changed and who changed it. The version and the document number also print in the footer of every page, so a loose printed page can be traced back to its version.

Keeping the SOP alive

• Ask someone who has never done the task to follow it. Where they stop and ask, the SOP is missing something.
• Name an owner and pick a date to review it. An SOP that nobody owns slowly stops matching the real work.
• Store the current version in one place and remove old printouts.

Your draft is kept in this browser as you type, so you can come back to it. To plan who attends the training on a new SOP, make a meeting agenda. To draw a process as boxes and arrows, use the flowchart maker, and to show who reports to whom, the org chart maker. To write the role itself, see the job description builder.