Standard Operating Procedures

Standard Operating Procedures
Jaap de Jonge, Editor, Netherlands
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) refer to instructions, normally written ones, that are intended to document how to perform a certain activity, process, etc. The key reasons why many companies or organization rely on SOPs is to help guarantee that consistency and a certain quality are maintained. SOPs can also be helpful when one wants to operationalize and communicate key corporate policies, government regulations and best practices.

BENEFITS OF STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
The main benefits from using SOPs are:

• CONSISTENCY / QUALITY: Helpful in workplaces that require strict procedures or adherence to a set of instructions to see to it that certain outcomes are attained.
• REFERENCE / LOOKUP: They will also serve as a good reference to employees who are required to follow a given set of procedures. Even the best employees sometimes forget something.
• TRAINING NEW EMPLOYEES: SOPs are also particularly helpful to train newly appointed employees.

One More Benefit of Standard Operating Procedures
nilakantan, Teacher, India, Member
@Jaap de Jonge: SOP also serve the purpose of TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE from one employee to the other. In that sense, it can be called the DNA arrangement for the company. Thus, in conjunction with other mechanisms, it enables to carry the company knowledge base through generations of employees. Here generations occur as and when employees leave and new ones come.

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Editor: Thanks for this good 4th benefit. Or we might also consider it as a better, more generic formulation of #3: Training of new Employees. After all, not only new, but also existing employees can learn from best practices.

Standard Operating Procedures
Patrick Parsons
I have found over the years that the approach that has worked best for me is to start with a process landscape for the business.
From there you can build your process repository and model the end to end processes up to a level 3. You do all this before the process is enabled with technology.
Each task in the level 3 process then becomes a Standard Operating Procedure i.e., how to perform the task.
Wherever a transaction is referenced in the SOP, you will require a work instruction, i.e., what fields are required to be completed to ensure a successful transaction.
In order to be customer centric you need to first become process centric.
Enterprise strategy is DRIVEN by business processes, GOVERNED by business rules, ENABLED by technology and EXECUTED by people.

Templates for Mapping Activities, Process & Procedures in Standard Operating Procedures
P.J. Fitzpatrick, Consultant, Ireland, Member
Thanks everyone for your replies.
I was wondering if there is a documented framework(s) or set(s) of templates available that can be used to help map activities, required processes and procedures to execute the activities?
Many thanks,.