An SOP outline is the skeleton the procedure is written into: the header fields, the seven sections in order, one line per step with the role beside it, the decision points marked as branches, and the records at the end. Writing the outline first is what stops a procedure being written as a story and then cut into steps afterwards. The standard operating procedure template on this site sizes the outline from your steps, roles and decision points and prints the reading time the finished document will carry.
Header and sections as headings
Title, number, version, owner, approver, dates; then purpose, scope, roles, materials or systems, procedure, records, history as seven headings with nothing under them yet. The outline is complete when every heading exists, not when any is filled.
One line per step, role first
Under the procedure heading, one line per step in the order the work happens, each starting with the role: packer picks, packer checks, dispatcher labels. No sentences yet. The step count is what the template sizes the run time and reading time from.
Mark the decision points
Wherever the next step depends on what was found, mark the branch: if out of stock, then. Each is its own step in the finished document and its own section in the template's count, because decisions buried in prose are the lines read two ways.
Records and history close the outline
What the procedure produces and where it goes, and the version block that will hold the history. The outline that ends there is a document that already knows what evidence it leaves behind, and where a reader finds it.
Questions people ask about sop outline
Why write an outline first?
Because a procedure written as prose and cut into steps afterwards has steps that contain two actions and decisions hidden in clauses. The outline makes each step one line before it becomes one action.
How detailed should the outline be?
One line per step and one mark per decision. The words come after, from the walkthrough.
Can I build the outline with the free tool?
The standard operating procedure template sizes it and prints the section list free; filling it in and approving it is the paid product.