A standard operating procedure document is a fixed set of sections in a fixed order, and the order exists so that three different readers find what they need without reading the rest: the new hire reads the steps, the auditor reads the title block and the records, the owner reads the version history. This page is the document from top to bottom. The standard operating procedure template on this site prints these sections, with the reading time and training load, from the steps and roles you give it.
Title block, purpose, scope
The title block holds the procedure name, owner, approver, version, approval date and review date; it is what an auditor reads first. Purpose is one sentence on what the procedure achieves. Scope is one sentence on where it applies and where it stops, the sentence that prevents two procedures overlapping. Three short sections that carry most of the document's authority.
Roles, materials, systems
Roles are named by position, not by person, so the document survives staff changes. Materials and systems list what the steps use: the software, the forms, the equipment, named exactly. A step that says the usual form is not followable by someone who does not know the usual; this section is where usual is defined.
Steps and decision points
The steps are numbered, one action each, the role first, in the order the work happens. Every point where the next step depends on what was found is a decision point, written as its own step saying where to go. Sub-steps sit lettered under the step they belong to. This is the section the doer reads with a finger on the page, and its length is what the template's reading-time figure measures.
Records and version history
Records say what the procedure produces and where it goes: the checklist, the note, the sign-off. Version history lists each version, what changed, who approved it and when, and is the evidence that the document is maintained. Both sections are short; both are what make a run of the procedure evidenceable. RunbookDesk Pro keeps them automatically.
Questions people ask about standard operating procedure document
Does every procedure need all of these sections?
The title block, steps and records always; materials and decision points only when the task has them. An empty section is better removed than left as a heading.
Where does a flowchart go?
After the steps, for a procedure with several decision points; it is a view of the steps, not a replacement for them.
Can I see a finished example?
The standard operating procedure example builder on this site prints a worked document from your task's steps and roles, free and without an account.