Setting up the SOP for a business at the beginning is a fun and interesting activity, but after a few months or even within days we give up the process.
There are many ways to overcome these situations
follow a simple workaround with employees
Make a blueprint of complete Business Operations, the stakeholders of the company will have to work with real-world problems and use their prior experience to explain what occurs in day-to-day operations.
After deep discussions and understanding with keys operators in a company, the SOP “Standard Operating Procedure” will be prepared and set.
The Big Question, Is How To Make Sure This SOP Been Followed?
The factors and assumptions considered while setting the SOP for a Business will differ from the reality, this may be
- Consideration of actual scenarios.
- The constant change in management decisions.
- Employees fail to understand the process.
- Regular auditing on follow up of the processes
- The discipline of the business owner.
To successfully implement SOP, the following steps need to be considered:
a) Try to follow the process in real-time even before implementing the standard process and be practical in analyzing it.
b) Any new employee who is on board, should be able to understand his role and start performing as per the SOP.
c) Ensure you have an application (Software for Retail) that captures the User and the time stamp for an audit trail.
d) Set up an approval process for 2 critical areas.
i) Purchase Order
ii) Sales order
A purchase order is the starting point for deadstock or excess stock, Make sure this process has a very stringent approval level.
Ensure to have a check on the process been followed across the organization.
SOP is not just a procedure specific to your operation that describes the activities necessary to perform tasks following industry standards, it is a set of rules and guidelines to ensure the efficiency of business is improved.
Setting up a standard operating procedure not only helps in streamlining the process but also helps in building Discipline in the business.
Business should continue building, even in the absence of the Business Owner.
By adithya J – On
