Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Template, Examples, and How to Write One

The standard operating procedure template

This is the general-purpose SOP template. Copy it into Word, Google Docs or your wiki, and fill the blanks for one process. It works for most operational and administrative procedures; for a more complex process, use the hierarchical format described further down. If you are not certain an SOP is the right format for what you are documenting, the distinction between an SOP and a process document is worth two minutes before you start writing.

SOP title: [process name, e.g. "Onboarding a new client"]
SOP number / version: [ID] · v[1.0]
Effective date: [date] · Last reviewed: [date]
Owner: [role or name responsible for keeping it current]
Approved by: [name and title]

1. Purpose
[Why this procedure exists and what it achieves, in one or two sentences.]

2. Scope
[What this SOP covers, and what it explicitly does not. Note when it applies.]

3. Roles and responsibilities
[Role]: [what they are responsible for in this process]
[Role]: [what they are responsible for]

4. Materials and access needed
[Tools, logins, templates or documents required before starting.]

5. Procedure
Step 1. [Action, starting with a verb.]
Step 2. [Action.]
Step 3. [Action. If this branches, state the condition: "If X, go to step 4; if not, go to step 6."]
Step 4. [Action.]

6. Revision history
v1.0 · [date] · [author] · [what changed]

Fill it for a single process and keep it on one to two pages. If a procedure runs longer than that, it is usually two procedures, and splitting them makes both easier to follow and to maintain.

The four SOP formats, and which to use

The template above is a step-by-step SOP, which is the right choice for most tasks. But the best format depends on how complex the process is and whether it branches. Picking the right one is the difference between a document people follow and one they skim and ignore.

Use the step-by-step format for a straightforward, linear task with a handful of steps: processing an invoice, publishing a blog post, closing the office. Use the hierarchical format for a longer or more involved process with sub-steps under each main step; it needs a short table of contents and section headings so a reader can jump to the part they need. Use the flowchart format when the process branches on decisions ("if the order is over $5,000, route to the manager; if not, auto-approve"), because a decision tree shows the branches far more clearly than numbered prose. Use the checklist format for a routine, repeated task where the value is confirming each item got done: opening procedures, a monthly close, a pre-launch review.

You can mix them. A hierarchical SOP often ends each section with a checklist, and a flowchart usually points to step-by-step SOPs for each branch. Match the format to the task rather than forcing everything into one shape, and for the recurring checklists in particular, teams tend to move them out of a static document and into tracked, assignable tasks so completion is visible instead of assumed.

A worked SOP example

Here is the template filled in for a common small-business process, sending a client invoice, so you can see the level of specificity that makes an SOP usable.

SOP title: Send a client invoice
Version: v1.2 · Effective: Jan 2026 · Owner: Office manager

1. Purpose: Ensure every client is invoiced accurately and on time, on the agreed terms.
2. Scope: Covers standard project and retainer invoices. Does not cover disputed invoices or refunds, which follow the disputes SOP.
3. Roles: Bookkeeper prepares and sends; office manager approves anything over $10,000.
4. Access needed: Accounting software login, the signed statement of work, the client billing contact.

5. Procedure:
Step 1. Open the accounting software and start a new invoice for the client.
Step 2. Enter line items from the statement of work; confirm quantities and the rate match the signed agreement.
Step 3. Set the payment terms to the agreed net days and the correct due date.
Step 4. If the total is over $10,000, send to the office manager for approval before continuing.
Step 5. Send the invoice to the client billing contact and cc the account owner.
Step 6. Record the send date and mark the invoice as issued in the tracker.

6. Revision history: v1.2 · Jan 2026 · J. Lee · added the $10,000 approval step.

Notice that every step is an action a new person could follow without asking a question, the one decision point is called out explicitly, and the approval threshold is a rule rather than a judgment call. That is the bar. Once a process is documented this clearly, the repetitive parts of running it, preparing the draft, routing it for approval, recording that it went out, are exactly the kind of admin an assistant can take on while a person keeps the approval.

How to write an SOP, step by step

Start with the right process, not the easiest one. Document your most critical or most-repeated tasks first, the ones where a mistake is expensive or where the knowledge lives in one person's head. Those SOPs pay for themselves the first time someone is out sick or leaves.

Then watch the process actually happen, or do it yourself, and write down each step as you go. Do not write the SOP from memory, because memory skips the small steps that are obvious to you and invisible to a newcomer, and those are precisely the steps that break when someone else runs the process. Talk to the people who do the task; they know the exceptions and the workarounds that never make it into the official version.

Write each step in plain, active language, one action per step, and call out every decision point and exception. Then run the most important test there is: hand the draft to someone who has never done the task and was not involved in writing it, and have them follow it exactly as written. Every gap, ambiguity and missing bit of context shows up immediately. Fix what they trip on, note the version and approver in the revision record, and store it where the team will actually find it. An SOP nobody can locate is an SOP nobody follows, so keeping the current version filed and findable matters as much as writing it well.

Common SOP mistakes to avoid

A few mistakes account for most SOPs that get written and then ignored. Writing them too long or too dense, so people skim instead of read. Using passive, vague wording that hides who does what. Documenting the process from memory instead of watching it, so the small real steps are missing. Never testing the SOP on a fresh reader. And letting it go stale, so the document on file describes a process the team stopped using months ago.

The fixes are simple and worth repeating: keep each SOP to a single process on one or two pages, write in active voice with one action per step, build it from the real process, test it on someone new, and put a review date and an owner on it so it stays current. An SOP is only as good as the last time someone confirmed it still matches reality.

• One process per SOP, one or two pages, one action per step
• Active voice: "Send the report", not "the report should be sent"
• Build it by watching the real process, not from memory
• Test it on someone who has never done the task
• Put an owner and a review date on it so it does not go stale

From SOP to the work getting done

A good SOP standardizes how a task should be done. It does not do the task. Someone still has to run the procedure, every time, and the repetitive administrative steps inside most SOPs, preparing the document, routing it for approval, filing the result, recording that it happened, are exactly the work that piles up on an office manager's desk. That is where officeagent fits: it runs those steps for you, drafts what needs drafting, and holds every result for your one-click approval before anything is sent or filed.

Nothing executes in your name until you approve it, so the standard your SOP sets is the standard that actually gets applied. See how the assistant handles document filing, task tracking and routine data entry, or read how teams automate the office admin that SOPs are meant to standardize. Prefer to keep it manual? The template and example on this page are yours to copy.