What is an SOP
An SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is a set of step-by-step instructions that outline how to perform a specific task or process in a consistent and efficient manner. It serves as a guide for employees, ensuring that operations are carried out correctly, safely, and in compliance with industry standards or regulations. SOPs are essential for businesses and organizations because they:
- Ensure consistency – Helps maintain uniformity in processes, reducing errors and variations.
- Improve efficiency – Streamlines workflows, making tasks quicker and more structured.
- Enhance training – Serves as a reference for onboarding new employees.
- Boost compliance – Helps meet industry regulations and safety standards.
- Reduce risks – Minimizes misunderstandings and prevents costly mistakes. \
Now we’ll explore customizable SOP templates, each ready-made for different scenarios, making it a breeze to use one for your business needs.
1. AI SOP Template
If this is your first time making a standard operating procedure, then Creately’s AI SOP template is the place to start. With this AI-powered tool, you do not need to worry about the standard structure of an SOP, or how to fill it. Simply select the template, enter the purpose you need the SOP for, and click ‘Generate’. A new template will appear in the workspace with categories such as scope, procedure, deliverables, and responsibilities automatically suggested and filled in by the AI. Creately’s AI SOP template is perfect for beginners unfamiliar with SOPs and advanced users who want to get things done instantly.
2. HR SOP Template
An HR SOP template is a structured document designed to streamline and standardize HR processes within an organization. It can ensure consistency in procedures such as hiring, onboarding, payroll, performance management, and offboarding. This template can help pinpoint which routine HR tasks could be automated, saving time and resources. An HR SOP template can help a company meet legal and regulatory requirements, minimizing risks related to labor laws, safety protocols, and ethical guidelines. And finally, by customizing this SOP template to your company, it can serve as a reference for new employees and HR personnel, making onboarding smoother and more structured.
3. Restaurant SOP Template
By using a restaurant SOP template, restaurant owners and managers can create a well-organized, efficient, and customer-friendly environment. Using this template, they can standardize food preparation, customer service, and hygiene practices across all staff. Workflows can be outlined for opening, closing, inventory management, and order processing. Maintaining compliance with health regulations, documenting proper food handling and sanitation procedures will be easy with a customized SOP. Guidelines can be established in a customized SOP template for service quality, ambiance, and complaint resolution to ensure a positive dining experience for customers.
4. Manufacturing SOP Template
This manufacturing SOP template can serve as a guide for workers, ensuring that operations are carried out safely, and in compliance with industry standards. It can be used to establish clear guidelines for handling equipment and materials to minimize workplace hazards. The template can be refined to act as a reference for onboarding new employees and upskilling existing staff. And finally, this manufacturing SOP template can include best practices to boost quality control and troubleshooting steps to minimize disruptions in production.
5. Army SOP Template
This Army SOP template can help military units establish standardized procedures for various operations, to ensure uniformity in executing tasks across different units and provide clear guidelines for mission planning, execution, and communication. This reduces confusion, defines roles and responsibilities within a unit and establishes decision-making protocols for different scenarios. An army SOP template can be easily modified to include hazard identification and mitigation strategies as well as compliance with safety regulations and operational security measures. Mission briefings and operational planning can be enhanced with the use of an army SOP.
6. Marketing SOP Template
A marketing SOP template like this one can ensure consistency in marketing activities to maintain brand consistency across campaigns. This can reduce errors by providing structured workflows and speed up onboarding for new team members. Digital marketing strategies for SEO, content marketing, social media, and email campaigns can be standardized to ensure alignment with business goals and target audience. A digital marketing SOP template can provide guidelines for approvals and help track KPIs and metrics to measure success.
7. IT SOP Template
An IT SOP template can establish step-by-step procedures for IT tasks like system maintenance, software deployment, and troubleshooting. This is crucial to establish cybersecurity protocols to protect sensitive data. When providing support and troubleshooting, an SOP can define clear guidelines for handling technical issues and reduce downtime by streamlining incident response procedures. IT infrastructure management can be optimized, improving efficiency in hardware and software asset tracking. Finally, an IT SOP template is a great way to maintain IT documentation for easy reference, especially when onboarding and training new IT staff.
8. Customer Service SOP Template
A customer service SOP template can define greeting protocols to ensure a professional and friendly approach during customer interactions. It can help improve complaint handling & escalations by outlining steps for acknowledging, documenting, and resolving complaints efficiently to boost satisfaction. A customer service SOP template is an effective way to define KPIs for customer service teams, such as response time and resolution rate. Service quality can be improved and new employees can be trained to ensure consistency in service delivery.
9. Warehouse SOP Template
A warehouse SOP template can be used to define step-by-step procedures for receiving, storing, picking, packing, and shipping goods. This can reduce errors, minimize workflow interruptions, ensure compliance with industry standards and establish safety protocols to prevent workplace accidents. Inventory management can be standardized to maintain accurate stock levels, and reduce discrepancies. A warehouse SOP template can empower staff to implement guidelines for inventory tracking and audits. And finally, an SOP is needed to optimize order fulfillment, by improving packing and shipping procedures to reduce delays.
10. Document Control SOP Template
A document control SOP template can standardize machine documentation, ensuring consistency in machine operation manuals, maintenance logs, and safety procedures. This allows engineers and operators to meet regulatory requirements to track revisions and approvals for maintaining audit-ready documentation.Maintenance and troubleshooting can be enhanced and downtime reduced with clear step-by-step procedures for technicians. A document control SOP template is necessary to strengthen version control when managing updates and revisions for documentation.
11. Employee Training SOP Template
The employee training SOP template is crafted to help organizations create a well-organized, effective, and scalable training framework. It enables you to standardize training procedures, ensuring all employees receive uniform training. New hires can be provided with clear guidelines, making their transition smoother and training sessions can be set to maximize knowledge retention and skill development. The training SOP template can be customized to establish benchmarks for evaluating employee progress.
12. SOP Template with Process Diagram
The SOP Template with a Process Diagram is a powerful combination that provides structured instructions with visual workflow representation. In addition to documenting procedures, this template provides a step-by-step visual guide for employees both old and new, making it easier to understand complex workflows. This template can be used to streamline processes by identifying bottlenecks and optimizing workflows. This type of SOP template with process diagram can be especially useful in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and customer service, where precise execution is critical.
Helpful Resources for SOP Templates
Use this AI-powered tool to speed up your SOP creation.
A practical guide to writing your own standard operating procedures manually.
Browse our collection of SOP templates.
The Perfect Tool for making Standard Operating Procedures
Creating an SOP is most effective when you have a dynamic, intuitive tool that simplifies how you can create and customize it to your specific needs. That’s where Creately excels. Designed for seamless collaboration, Creately provides a powerful platform for building SOPs that teams can develop, refine, and implement together—whether in the office or remotely. With visual workflows and interactive diagrams, it ensures clarity, efficiency, and compliance across operations.
Whether you’re in HR, manufacturing, or the restaurant business, Creately offers multiple SOP templates which can be easily customized with drag-and-drop functionality, and the ability to edit shapes and colors to fit your theme. You can easily annotate shapes with notes, upload attachments, and designate task owners. Enhance clarity by linking reference files and embedding data fields for deeper context.
FAQs About SOP Templates
What is the format for an SOP?
A standard SOP format typically includes the following structured components:
- Title & Purpose – Defines the procedure and its objective.
- Scope – Specifies who the SOP applies to.
- Step-by-Step Instructions – Detailed guidelines for execution.
- Roles & Responsibilities – Identifies who is responsible for each step.
- Compliance & Safety Measures – Ensures adherence to regulations.
- Process Diagram (Optional) – Visual representation of workflow.
Can I use AI to make an SOP template?
Can SOP templates be customized?
How often should SOPs be updated?
Resources
Barbé, B., Verdonck, K., Mukendi, D., Lejon, V., Lilo Kalo, J.-R., Alirol, E., Gillet, P., Horié, N., Ravinetto, R., Bottieau, E., Yansouni, C., Winkler, A.S., van Loen, H., Boelaert, M., Lutumba, P. and Jacobs, J. (2016). The Art of Writing and Implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Laboratories in Low-Resource Settings: Review of Guidelines and Best Practices. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, [online] 10(11), p.e0005053. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005053.
Garg, A. (2023). Policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). pp.511–613. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6203-7_17.
Hollmann, S., Frohme, M., Endrullat, C., Kremer, A., D’Elia, D., Regierer, B. and Nechyporenko, A. (2020). Ten simple rules on how to write a standard operating procedure. PLOS Computational Biology, [online] 16(9), p.e1008095. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008095.
