A step by step procedure template is the steps section of an SOP given the discipline that makes it followable: numbered, one action each, the role first, the system and form named, decision points as their own steps, sub-steps lettered under the step they belong to, and the steps that leave a record saying so. Everything else in the document exists to make this list trustworthy. The standard operating procedure template on this site sizes the list from your counts and prints the reading time, so the list stays the length of the task.
The step line
Number, role, action, system, form, in that order. Step 4: the packer prints the dispatch label from the carrier portal using the standard label. A step that starts with the action and leaves the role implied is the step two people both assume the other does. A step with two actions is two steps.
Decision points and sub-steps
Where the next step depends on what was found, the decision is its own numbered step: step 7, if stock is short go to step 12, otherwise step 8. Sub-steps, lettered under their step, are for actions that only make sense inside it; a sub-step that stands alone is a step. The template counts decision points as sections because each one changes the reading.
Records at the step
The steps that produce evidence say so in the line: step 9, the packer signs the dispatch note. Those lines are cut into the checklist with the same numbers, and the ticked checklist is the audit trail. A step list that never says what it produces gives an auditor nothing to read.
Length and the split
As many steps as the task has actions, and no more. Past twenty or so, the task is usually two procedures with a hand-off between them. The template's reading-time figure against the run time is the check; a procedure that takes as long to read as to do has stopped being a step list.
Questions people ask about step by step procedure template
Should steps be sentences or fragments?
Short sentences with the role as the subject. Fragments drop the role, and the role is the part that prevents two people assuming the other does the step.
How are exceptions handled?
As decision points: a numbered step that names the condition and says where to go. Exceptions in a footnote are the ones nobody reads.
Is the template free?
Yes: the standard operating procedure template sizes the list and the example builder prints a worked one, both without an account.