Organizations with well documented knowledge can operate like a well oiled machine. Having centralized documentation can capture the secret sauce of an organization and help it thrive, however this isn't a 'one size fits all' area of business. Documentation often comprises of SOP, Policy, Procedure, and Process. While these aren't all the same understanding their differences and how they work together is important to ensure teams and operations can run smoothly.
So, if you are unsure about your SOPs vs Procedures or your Policies vs Processes, we’ve got you covered. Let's discuss each of them in detail.
What is an SOP?
An SOP, also known as Standard Operating Procedure, is a step-by-step guide compiled by the organization that helps employees to carry out business operations and tasks. You can consider it as a guideline to perform repetitive organizational activities efficiently. An SOP resembles a procedure, as both share structural similarities.
However, the purpose of an SOP is to ensure that employees don't make any mistakes while performing daily tasks and the business gets consistent output. For instance, if you work in a manufacturing industry, your SOP will have guidelines about the activities your team must perform to make a product.
Examples of SOP
Here are some other common examples of SOP:
- Adding all workers to a zoom meeting by following the given steps.
- Guidance about how to import all the contacts into a salesforce.
- Standard methods adopted by HR departments for hiring and onboarding employees.
Businesses will typically have a standard operating procedure format that can be consistent for all operations. The components of that format will likely include a title, scope, purpose, glossary, procedure, and references.
What is a Procedure?
Typically, a procedure is a series of steps that instruct workers about each specific aspect of the task and help them achieve desired results. For instance, if you want to know the procedure for making tea, the procedure is like this:
- Take some milk in a bowl
- Add tea powder and sugar
- Let it boil …
From a business perspective, a procedure is a series of detailed instructions given to employees to perform certain tasks. Each step of a standard procedure format starts with an action that pushes the workers toward a specific goal.
What makes procedure different to an SOP is that it's granular - often a procedure will be a part of a standard operating procedure. Procedures will also often keep changing and improving. You should regularly add more steps, clarification, or new details in the procedure to make it more comprehensible.
Styles and methods of sharing procedures can vary based on the audience, complexity of activity. Rarely a simple verbal procedure would be effective but documented procedures can range from a bullet point list on a post-it note, to a detailed guide with annotated images and videos. While it was traditionally difficult and time consuming to create effective procedures, you can simple create and share highly effective procedures using Shots by Waybook.
Examples of a Procedure
Let's look at a few other examples of a procedure so that you can understand it better. Here's what a retail business procedure looks like:
- What to ask the customer
- How to sell products
- What to do with a returned item
For giving a loan, the employee should know the procedure of handling a loan application. Here's what the employee needs to do:
- Confirm the applicant's credit card score
- Update their timeline
- Check if the applicant has taken any loan from the bank before
What is a Policy?
A policy is a set of rules and regulations of an organization that you must follow to ensure compliance and consistency throughout your organization. Typically, a policy provides employees answers about their "what, when, who, and why." Team members are often provided a core set of policies when joining a business, for them to know what is allowed in a business and what are prohibited.
The policy contains information like what the policy is, its classification, who is responsible for following it, why it's required, and when it's used. The general sentiment of a policy is similar to when you drive on the road; there are certain road rules and speed limits that you need to follow. It doesn't matter which route you take; these rules, aka policies, remain unchanged.
Examples of a Policy
Here's an example of a bank policy to help you get a better idea of what a policy is:
- Banks have policies surrounding all their transactions, so if someone comes to refinance a loan, the bank would tell them about the refinance policies. The policy will share the conditions one must fulfill to get the refinancing.
What is a Process?
When comparing a Process to an SOP or procedure, the process is a series of related tasks that turn inputs into outputs. A process shows you the bigger picture of all the pending tasks and the things that need to be done. Typically, you can consider a process a roadmap for your employees, which helps them know and complete all the undone tasks. Processes will typically visualise the flow of tasks and activities, often supported by Procedures and SOPs as they will provide employees with information about how all the pending tasks will be completed.
While the former are a set of guidelines that help the employees carry out routine tasks. Additionally, a process tells you who's responsible for all the tasks, which task needs to be done first, and the order of task completion. For instance, if you are running a hamburger business, the whole process is simple. First, you'll take the order, the cook will start working on the burger, then it's served, and the bill is collected.
Examples of a Process
This is an example to give you clarity between SOP vs Process:
- For a retail business, the process starts with doing everything that is required for a returned item, checking the receipt to ensure the item fits the return policy, finding out if the item has been used, etc.
Conclusion
While some of the differences between policies, procedures, processes and SOPs feel minimal, having the right mix of documentation that link with one another is essential to best mapping the organization and training and guiding your team to work effectively.
While creating effective documentation is important, ensuring that documentation is shared with your team, easily accessible and clear to understand is essential, that's why Waybook exists.
Waybook enables the effortless creation and sharing of your organization's Processes, SOPs, Procedures and Policies, to create a business playbook for your entire team.
With a few taps, you can create and share this knowledge as high impact training, onboarding and reference matrial for your team to stay on the same page.
If you're ready to optimize your organization and run like a well oiled machine explore Waybook today and enjoy some smooth scaling.
