Standard Operations Procedure (SOP) Template
Licensing Information
Optimal Business Growth Standard Operating Procedure Template by Optimal Business Growth
Ltd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Page1
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
Contents
File Naming Convention
SOP Type
Summary Description
NB – Continuous Improvement
SOP Detailed Actions
Detailed Description/Core purpose
System Benefits
Gotchas
Baseline Level of Skill
Inputs/Provided Resources
Checklist
Process Diagram
Tools Required
Forms
Scripts
Needed Files/Artefacts
Associated Submittal Schedule Checklist (SSC) - Optional
SOP Metadata
RACI
Process Timeline
Metrics
Reference
Execution Time
Page2
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
Efficacy History
Verification Resource
Efficacy Questions
Business Model Canvas Category (Optional)
Page3
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
File Naming Convention
The same convention can be used for all SOP types
AREA-MAINFUNC-[SUBFUNC1-SUBFUNC2-SUBFUNC3]-DOCREF-DATE
where
AREA = LE|BD|FU|OP
LE = Guide the business – ie. LEADERSHIP
BD = Get the business – ie. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
FU = Do the business – ie. FULFILLMENT
OP = Run the business – ie. OPERATIONS
MAINFUNC = 3 letters detailing main functional area
See Google Drive\OptimalBusinessGrowth
Ltd\Systemisation\BusinessFunctionsYYYY-MM-DDVx.x.xlsx
This is the repository of system docs – each versioned. The latest
should be uploaded to Smartsheet
SUBFUNC1 | SUBFUNC2 | SUBFUNC3 = Optional 3 letters detailing sub-sub
function
See Google Drive\OptimalBusinessGrowth
Ltd\Systemisation\BusinessFunctionsYYYY-MM-DDVx.x.xlsx
This is the repository of business docs – each versioned. The latest
should be uploaded to Smartsheet
DOCREF = [A-Z]xxx
where
[A-Z] = A to begin with followed by up to 999 different documents –
this will scale to 999 x 26 possible documents for a particular sub
function
Page4
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
DATE = YYYY-MM-DD
SOP Type
[System|Process|[Activity|Checklist]
where
● System is a collection of processes as well as how to set-up the
processes.
● Process is a collection of activities/task aligned to carry out a
result.
● Activity is a description of what to do (not necessarily a
checklist)
● Checklist is a description of step by step what to do - this is
the preferred way to represent SOPs
Summary Description
What does this SOP actually do (at a high level) – what is the rationale.
Page5
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
NB – Continuous Improvement
Whenever you are faced with something you need “To Do” but for
which no SOP exists – you are expected to create the SOP yourself and
submit for review to a nominated resource for review.1
Use RED to highlight areas you are unsure of in the new SOP and/or
areas you need to have a question answered.
A thorough understanding of this SOP is required before you
undertake any SOP creation.
When using an SOP, it is your responsibility to examine the system and
improve upon the SOP where you see an opportunity.
Continuous improvement is a given for all SOPs and is part and parcel of
your role as an employee of Optimal Business Growth.
When making changes, make sure you:
1. Involve others as a check and balance to ground your idea.
2. Try to test the new idea against the existing SOP control.
1 You are not expected to be an expert BUT by doing this, you will get into the swing of using the systems
and processes we need to use and by investing the time to create an initial SOP, this will help you deepen
your understanding of the are under consideration regardless.
Page6
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
SOP Detailed Actions
Detailed Description/Core purpose
What does this SOP do in detail – why is it needed?
You can use video/audio/images here to describe in detail what needs to
be done
System Benefits
What are the benefits of this system/process?
Gotchas
Optional
Are there any potential side-effects/problems when executing this SOP?
What do we need to look out for and be wary of?
Is there a potential this SOP may be risky?
Baseline Level of Skill
What does the person need to be able to do or be familiar with at a
minimum to enact this process.
Inputs/Provided Resources
What is needed to initiate the process?
Checklist
Step by step description of what needs to be done
☐ Step 1
☐ Step 2
☐…
Page7
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
Process Diagram
Optional – Diagram showing what needs to be done
Tools Required
Optional – What if any are required for this process?
Forms
Optional – Does information have to be captured in a structured way?
Scripts
(Optional) Are there any associated scripts (telephone scripts, greeting
scripts, stand up presentations, customer service calls, product
demonstrations etc…)
Needed Files/Artefacts
Any exhibits, mixed media, hypertext /text resources, illustrations, charts,
graphics, photos, screen captures, animations, audio, video.
❑ bits and mixed media, including text, hypertext, illustrations, charts, graphics,
Associated Submittal Schedule Checklist (SSC) - Optional
Optional - This is a communications checklist – it is associated to SOPs
which need to have 1 or more people communicate prior to executing a
particular SOP.
Reference to the SSC
Should be using format: SSC-[A-Z]xxx-YYYY-MM-DD
It is a document similar to the SOP template but with much less
information and a different file-naming convention shown below
Page8
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
See Google Drive\OptimalBusinessGrowth
Ltd\Systemisation\SSCTemplateYYYY-MM-DDVx.x.xlsx
This is the repository of system docs – each versioned. The latest
should be uploaded to Smartsheet
SOP Metadata
RACI
Who is
●
●
●
●
Responsible
Accountable
Consultative
Informed
Process Timeline
How does this process unfold over time, are there any dependencies etc…
Metrics
What are the measurements needed and what are the associated
benchmarks?
Benchmarks – what are the typical numbers, what are the best ones?
Thresholds – what level must not be breached?
Operating Rnage/Tolerance – what are the acceptable parameters of
operation
Reference
Where did the information for this SOP come from – list URLs, courses,
books, videos, articles etc…
Page9
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
Execution Time
(How long does it take to do)
Efficacy History
If new version, it would be good to know why the previous version is no
longer effective
History for this Template:
Date – Changed By
2014-10-27 - Tom O’Brien
● Removed the need for a version suffix for SOPs - it was not really
being used. Differentiation for similar SOPs can be done by ensuring
appropriate descriptions and tagging is used in the SOP Master List
2014-10-16 - John Nairn
● Re-formatted Template for Google Docs
2014-09-13 – Tom O’Brien
● Changed Risk Notes section to Gotchas section
2014-09-05 – Tom O’Brien
● Included Changed by into the date change so we can see at a glance
who has created and/or updated the SOP.
● Updated the NB – Continuous Improvement section to put onus on all
team members to start creating SOPs.
2014-09-03
● Changed footer to be white background (too much grey ink wasted in
printing)
2014-07-26
● Added Needed Files section
2014-07-04
● Changed the document naming structure to reflect OTKB naming
structure of AREA-MAINFUNC-[SUBFUNC1..N]
● Baseline level of skill included.
● RACI Section included
● Process Timeline included
Page10
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
● Inputs/Provided resources included
● Added System Benefits section
● Added Metrics section
● Scripts section added
● Forms section added
● Added Tools Section
2014-06-29
● Did not have SUBFUNC3-4 naming info possible
● Primary Reference field has been changed to Reference and
annotation updated.
● Included Continuous Improvement info
2014-08-18
● Removed the Items Better Recorded as meta-data for each document
section
Verification Resource
(Go To person to verify current efficacy)
Efficacy Questions
(List of questions to verify efficacy validity)
Page11
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB
Business Model Canvas Category (Optional)
☐ Key Partners
☐ Key Activities
☐ Key Resources
☐ Cost Structure
☐ Value Proposition
☐ Customer Relationships
☐ Customer Segments
☐ Channels
☐ Revenue Streams
Page12
© 2014
http://OptimalBusinessGrowth.com
Phone: 0044 208 123 6274
Optimal Business Growth Ltd Registered in England & Wales Reg.No. 03566457 VAT
Number: GB 880 0341 48
Address: 10 Jolliffe Road, Poole, BH15 2HB