A written procedure template is what a business reaches for when someone outside it asks for the written procedure: a regulator, an auditor, a customer's supplier questionnaire. What they expect is a fixed shape: a control block with owner, approver, version and review date; purpose and scope; roles; numbered steps; the records; and a version history. The standard operating procedure template on this site prints those sections from your task's counts, with the reading time and the training load, free and without an account.
What the outside reader looks for first
The control block: who owns the procedure, who approved it, which version this is, when it was approved and when it is reviewed. A written procedure with no version and no review date is, to an auditor, not evidenced as current, however good its steps. The block sits on page one for that reason.
The steps they check against the record
Numbered, one action each, the role first, the system and form named. The reader compares the steps to the records the business keeps: if step 9 says the packer signs the dispatch note, they ask for a month of signed dispatch notes. Steps that name no records give them nothing to check, which reads as nothing being done.
The records and the history
The records section lists what the procedure produces and where it is kept. The version history lists each version, what changed, who approved it and when, and is the evidence the procedure is maintained. Together they turn a document into a controlled document, which is the phrase most regulators use.
Keeping it written, not just once
The approver signs each version; the doers sign that they read it; the review is done on the date and recorded. A questionnaire asking for the written procedure is usually also asking when it was last reviewed. RunbookDesk Pro keeps the versions, the sign-offs and the review dates so the answer is on file.
Questions people ask about written procedure template
Does the procedure have to be in a particular format?
Regulators publish guidance, the US EPA's is cited below; outside a regulated activity the shape above is what any reader expects.
How often should a written procedure be reviewed?
On its review date, and whenever the system, form or role it names changes. Annual is common; the change is the trigger that matters.
Is the template free?
Yes: the standard operating procedure template sizes the document without an account. Keeping the controlled versions is the paid product.