SOP template examples: four complete procedures, four formats
A template shows you the headings. An example shows you what good looks like under them. Each SOP below is written out in full, from purpose to records, and each uses a different way of laying out the steps so you can pick the one that fits your process.
Need finance, HR, IT, procurement, sales or operations SOPs? The SOP Template Kit has 36 more, complete and editable in Word: $79.
None of these four is in the paid kit; they are here so you can see complete SOPs before you write your own. Every bracketed value, such as [12] months, is one you should set for your organisation.
MKT-01: Website Content Publishing SOP
Format: Numbered steps
The plain numbered table suits a linear process where every item goes through the same steps in the same order.
Document no.
Department
Version
MKT-01
Marketing
1.0
1. Purpose
Publish website pages and blog posts that are accurate, on-brand, legally cleared and easy to find, with a named approver for every change.
2. Scope
All new pages, blog posts and edits to existing pages on [company website], including campaign landing pages. Excludes product documentation, which follows the docs release process, and urgent service notices, which the Communications Lead may publish first and have reviewed the same day.
3. Roles and responsibilities
Role
Responsibility
Content Writer
Drafts the page and makes the corrections asked for.
Editor
Checks accuracy, style and links; signs off the copy.
Subject Owner
Confirms prices, product facts, legal wording and customer names in their area.
Web Publisher
Builds the page in the CMS and publishes it.
4. Procedure
Step
Who
What to do
1
Content Writer
Open a request in [content tracker] with the page goal, the reader it is for, the search query it should answer and the Subject Owner, before writing starts.
2
Content Writer
Write the draft in the shared draft template: a title under 60 characters, a meta description under 160, headings, and a source link beside every number or claim.
3
Editor
Within 2 working days of the draft being marked ready, check spelling, house style and that every claim has a source; return changes as tracked comments.
4
Subject Owner
Confirm prices, product facts, legal wording and any named customer in writing in the tracker. No written confirmation, no publication.
5
Web Publisher
Build the page in the CMS staging area with the agreed URL, alt text on every image and links to at least two related pages.
6
Editor
Check the staging page on a phone and a desktop, click every link and confirm no draft notes or bracketed text remain.
7
Web Publisher
Publish, then within 1 hour load the page as a logged-out visitor and request indexing in Google Search Console.
8
Content Writer
Record the live URL, publish date and next review date in the tracker: 12 months ahead, or 3 months for pages that show prices.
5. Controls
The person who publishes a page is never the person who wrote it.
Pages showing prices, legal terms or customer names need the Subject Owner's written confirmation in the tracker before step 7.
A renamed or removed page gets a redirect on the same day as the change.
6. Records
Tracker entry with all sign-offs: kept for the life of the page plus 2 years.
Sub-steps keep a long inspection readable: the main step says what stage you are at, the lettered lines say exactly what to look at.
Document no.
Department
Version
WH-01
Warehouse
1.0
1. Purpose
Check every forklift before it is used on each shift, and keep any truck with a safety defect out of service until it has been repaired.
2. Scope
All powered industrial trucks at [site]: counterbalance forklifts, reach trucks and ride-on pallet trucks. Covers the pre-use check only; planned servicing follows the maintenance schedule.
3. Roles and responsibilities
Role
Responsibility
Operator
Trained and authorised driver; does the check and refuses an unsafe truck.
Shift Supervisor
Takes defect reports, assigns another truck and reviews the checklists.
Maintenance Technician
Repairs defects and signs the truck back into service.
Warehouse Manager
Owns this SOP and audits the records monthly.
4. Procedure
Operator: Before the first use on your shift, take the truck's checklist and make sure the truck is parked on level ground with the forks lowered, controls in neutral, parking brake on and key out.
Operator: Check with the truck switched off:
Forks and carriage: no cracks, bends or uneven tips; fork locking pins in place.
Mast, chains and hoses: no broken links, leaks or chafing.
Tyres and wheels: no missing chunks; correct pressure on pneumatic tyres; wheel nuts present.
Overhead guard, load backrest and seat belt: fitted and undamaged.
Fuel or power: LPG cylinder secured with no smell of gas, or battery cables and connector undamaged.
Capacity plate: readable, and right for any attachment fitted.
Operator: Check with the truck running:
Horn, lights and reversing alarm work.
Service brake stops the truck smoothly; parking brake holds on the slope test area.
Steering turns freely without excess play.
Lift, lower and tilt move smoothly, the forks do not drift, and the levers return to neutral.
No warning lights on the dashboard.
Operator: Tick each line on the checklist, then sign it and write the time.
Operator: If any line fails: do not use the truck. Take the key out, hang a DO NOT USE tag on the steering wheel stating the defect, and tell the Shift Supervisor straight away.
Shift Supervisor: Within 1 hour, log the defect in the maintenance request system and give the operator another truck.
Maintenance Technician: Repair the truck, test the function that failed, and sign the tag and the request off. Only then may the tag come off and the truck return to use.
Warehouse Manager: Each month, compare the checklists with truck usage and follow up any shift where a truck was used without a completed check.
5. Controls
A truck with a failed line stays out of service until a technician signs it back in.
Only operators on the authorised list may carry out the check or drive.
The Shift Supervisor reviews the week's checklists every Friday and signs the bottom of the sheet.
6. Records
Completed checklists: kept for [12] months.
Defect tags and repair requests: kept for the life of the truck.
Operator authorisation list: kept current, with training records.
Why the check is before each shift: OSHA's powered industrial truck standard, 29 CFR 1910.178(q)(7), requires trucks to be examined before being placed in service, at least daily, and after each shift where they run round the clock; 1910.178(p)(1) requires a defective or unsafe truck to be taken out of service until it is restored to safe operating condition. Source: OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178, checked 1 October 2026.
When the next step depends on an answer, write the question into the step and put the rule in a table. The matrix replaces a paragraph of if-then text.
Document no.
Department
Version
ITS-01
IT
1.0
1. Purpose
Give every incoming IT ticket the right priority and owner within 15 minutes during service hours, so outages are handled first and no request is lost.
2. Scope
Tickets raised by [company] staff through the portal, email, phone, chat or in person during service hours. Security events are identified here and then handled under the security incident procedure.
3. Roles and responsibilities
Role
Responsibility
Service Desk Analyst
Logs, classifies, prioritises and either resolves or assigns each ticket.
Service Desk Lead
Watches the queue, re-assigns and escalates tickets at risk of missing their target.
Resolver Group
Network, Applications or End-User Computing; fixes what is assigned to it.
Major Incident Manager
Runs any P1 from declaration to closure.
4. Procedure
Step
Who
What to do
1
Service Desk Analyst
Log every contact as a ticket before working on it, including phone calls and people who walk up to the desk.
2
Service Desk Analyst
Ask: is this a security event, such as a clicked phishing link, a lost device or a suspected breach? If yes, set the category to Security, phone the security on-call and follow the security incident procedure. If no, go to step 3.
3
Service Desk Analyst
Set the impact: High if a whole site, department or customer-facing service is affected; Medium if one team or several users; Low if one user.
4
Service Desk Analyst
Set the urgency: High if work has stopped with no workaround; Medium if work is slowed but a workaround exists; Low for an inconvenience or a request.
5
Service Desk Analyst
Read the priority from the matrix below and set it on the ticket.
6
Service Desk Analyst
If the priority is P1, phone the Major Incident Manager at once; do not rely on email or the queue.
7
Service Desk Analyst
For P3 and P4, try the knowledge-base fix for up to 15 minutes. If it works, close the ticket with the resolution and confirm with the user.
8
Service Desk Analyst
Otherwise assign the ticket to the resolver group for its category, with a three-line summary: what is broken, who is affected, what has been tried.
9
Service Desk Lead
Every 2 hours, review unassigned tickets and tickets near their target, and re-assign or escalate them.
Priority matrix (impact by urgency)
Impact
Urgency High
Urgency Medium
Urgency Low
High
P1
P2
P3
Medium
P2
P3
P4
Low
P3
P4
P4
Targets by priority (service hours; set your own)
Priority
First response
Resolution target
P1
15 minutes
4 hours
P2
30 minutes
8 hours
P3
4 hours
3 working days
P4
1 working day
10 working days
5. Controls
Priority comes from the matrix, not from who is asking.
A P1 is never closed until the Major Incident Manager confirms service is restored.
The Service Desk Lead samples 10 closed tickets a week for correct priority and a usable resolution note.
6. Records
Ticket history with priority changes and their reasons: kept for [2] years.
The layouts differ, but the same five habits make each one usable on a busy day:
A role on every step. Not "the invoice is checked" but who checks it. A step without an owner is a step nobody does when things get busy.
Numbers instead of adverbs. "Within 1 hour", "every 2 hours", "any difference over [$5]". Words like promptly, regularly or as needed leave the decision to whoever is in a hurry.
The failure path is written down. The forklift check says what to do when a line fails; the till count says what to do with a difference. Most real trouble starts on the path nobody documented.
Controls are separate from steps. The rules that stop errors and fraud, such as two-person cash counts or never publishing your own draft, are listed on their own so a reviewer can test them.
Records say where and how long. A record nobody can find at audit time is no better than no record.
Before and after: rewriting weak steps
Most first drafts fail the same way. Here are typical weak steps and how the examples above would phrase them.
Weak step
Problem
Stronger step
Inspect the forklift.
No owner, no timing, no definition of what to inspect.
Operator: before the first use on your shift, check forks, mast, tyres, guard and fuel with the truck off, then horn, brakes, steering and hydraulics with it running.
Tickets should be prioritised appropriately.
"Appropriately" means whatever the analyst feels like that day.
Service Desk Analyst: set impact and urgency using the definitions in steps 3 and 4, then read the priority from the matrix.
Make sure the content is approved.
Approved by whom, recorded where?
Subject Owner: confirm prices, product facts and legal wording in writing in the tracker before publication.
Cash up at the end of the day.
One person, no tolerance, no record.
Keyholder and Second Team Member: count each till together and enter takings against the till report, explaining any difference over [$5].
The free SOP builder runs the same test as you type: it flags steps without a role and steps that use vague timing words.
Turn an example into your own SOP
Download the example closest to your process and change the title, number and department.
Walk the process with the person who does it and rewrite each step to match what really happens, not what should happen.
Replace every bracketed value with your own limit, deadline or system name.
Ask someone who has never done the task to follow it. Wherever they hesitate, the step needs more detail.
Get it approved, set a review date and add it to your SOP manual or register.
Prefer a blank page? Use the free Word templates, or plan the sections first with the SOP outline. For department-by-department starting points, the SOP library shows the opening steps of all 36 kit procedures.
36 more SOPs, written out in full
Questions
Can I copy these SOP examples for my business?
Yes. Download any example as a Word file, change it to match how your organisation works and use it internally. Review it with the people who do the work before you approve it.
Which SOP format is best?
It depends on the work. Numbered steps suit a linear process, sub-steps suit long inspections, a decision table suits processes that branch, and a checklist suits routines repeated every shift. Many SOPs combine two of these.
How long should an SOP be?
As short as it can be while still letting a trained person do the task correctly without asking. The step-based examples here have 8 to 9 main steps each. If an SOP passes twenty steps, consider splitting it into two procedures or moving screen-by-screen detail into a separate work instruction.
Are the regulatory references in the forklift example enough for compliance?
No. They show why the check happens before each shift, but compliance depends on your equipment, your operators' training and the full standard. Read the cited OSHA standard and adapt the checklist to the manufacturer's instructions for your trucks.
SOP Template Kit