SOP Starter Template

You do not need software to write your first standard operating procedure. You need one page, six blocks, and the discipline to describe the work the way it actually happens. This template is the structure we use to start every SOP library. Copy it into a document, fill it in for one process, and you have done more for your business than most operations software ever will.

Start with the process that only one person knows how to do. That is the one costing you the most.

The six blocks

Every SOP on this template is one page with six blocks, in this order.

1. Header block

Five lines at the top of the page so anyone can tell at a glance what they are holding:

• SOP name: what the work is called on the floor, not a formal title nobody uses.
• SOP number: any simple scheme works. Department code plus a number is plenty.
• Owner role: see block 3.
• Last updated: the date this page last matched reality.
• Trained roles: which jobs are expected to know this procedure.

2. Purpose

One or two sentences: what this procedure produces and why it matters. If you cannot say why the process exists, that is worth knowing too. Write it for the newest person on the team, not for yourself.

3. Owner role

The role, not the person, responsible for this procedure being current and correct. “Warehouse lead,” not “Danny.” People leave; roles stay. When the owner role changes how the work is done, they update the page and the date in the header.

4. Steps

Numbered steps, in the order the work happens, each starting with a verb. Name the exact things involved: the software screen, the button, the form, the bin location, the phrase to say on the phone. “Enter the PO number in the top right field” beats “process the order” every time. If a step needs a decision, write the rule for deciding. Aim for seven to 15 steps. If you pass 15, you probably have two procedures.

5. Exceptions

The three to five situations where the steps above do not apply, and what to do instead. Real exceptions only, the ones that actually come up. This is the block that captures the judgment your experienced people carry in their heads, and it is usually the most valuable ink on the page.

6. Training record

A short table at the bottom: who was trained on this procedure, by whom, on what date. An SOP nobody has been trained on is a document, not a system. The record is how you know the page is doing its job.

Worked example

Here is the template filled in for a process most product businesses have.

SOP name: Receiving a supplier delivery
SOP number: WH-003
Owner role: Warehouse lead
Last updated: [date]
Trained roles: Warehouse staff, driver (backup)

Purpose: Every delivery is checked against its purchase order and on the shelf the same day it arrives, so inventory counts stay true and shortages are caught while the claim window is open.

Steps:

1. Sign the carrier’s paperwork only after counting the pallets or boxes against the delivery note.
2. Pull up the matching purchase order in the inventory system before opening anything.
3. Open and count each line. Check the quantity received against the quantity ordered.
4. Mark any shortage, overage, or damage on the delivery note and photograph it before the driver leaves.
5. Enter received quantities into the purchase order screen, line by line, as counted. Never receive “all” without counting.
6. Label each item or case with its bin location if it does not already carry one.
7. Put stock away in its labeled bin the same day. Nothing sleeps on the receiving floor.
8. File the delivery note and photos in the receiving folder for that month.
9. Tell the purchasing owner about any line that was short, damaged, or substituted.

Exceptions:

• Driver will not wait for a count: sign “subject to count” and count within the hour.
• Item has no purchase order: do not receive it into stock. Set it aside and ask the purchasing owner.
• Cold-chain or time-sensitive goods: these jump the queue and are put away first, before any other delivery.

Training record:

Name	Trained by	Date

How to use this template

Write the first draft yourself in 20 minutes, then hand it to the person who actually does the work and let them correct it. The corrections are the real SOP. Print the finished page and put it where the work happens. A binder in the office trains no one.

One page, one process, owned by a role, with proof of training. Do that ten times and you have the start of a company-owned knowledge base: how your business runs, written down, in a form you own. A business can’t scale if the founder is the only one who knows how it runs. This page is how that stops being true.