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Tuesday, 18 November 2014

SOP: Contents of SOP

What sells in the market? PRODUCT

What is Product? Product is defined as below:

Webster Dictionary:
Something that is made or grown to be sold or used
Something that is the result of a process
Business Dictionary:
A good, idea, method, information, object or service created as a result of process and serves a need or satisfies a want. It has combination of tangible and intangible attributes (benefits, features, functions, uses) that a seller offers a buyer for purchase.
Law: A commercially distributed good that is (1) tangible personal property, (2) output or result of a fabrication, manufacturing, or production process, and (3) passes through a distribution channel before being consumed or used.
Marketing: A good or service that most closely meets the requirements of a particular market and yields enough profit to justify its continued existence.
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product.html
ISO 9000: 2005
product (3.4.2) is defined as “result of a process (3.4.1)”;
process is defined as “set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs”.
If the term “process” is replaced by its definition, as follows:
product then becomes “result of a set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs”.


Quality attributes of the product are directly related to a process used to create it. The process is defined in a set of procedures which when followed as intended results in a product of consistent quality. Thus, a procedure directly affects the quality of the product.
In technical writing these procedures are called as Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs. SOP can be administrative or technical (manufacturing, cleaning, testing, equipment operating, instructions etc). A format, structure, sequence, record forms shall be defined and shall be consistent in all the standard operating procedures for consistency and traceability. This starts with first procedure that is ‘Writing a Standard Operating Procedure’.
The primary purpose of an SOP is to standardize working procedures to ensure control. An SOP takes guesswork and uncertainty out of process equation.

Every good quality system is based on its SOPs.

A good documentation system shall ensure that a laid down procedures are elaborate, systematic and unambiguous so that the created product is of consistent quality. Records provide evidence that the procedure was executed as intended.

Quality Product is created by following quality procedures.

Your favorite dish has a recipe which when followed impart flavor (quality attributes) to a dish. These attributes are result of ingredients added in specific quantity in a defined sequence at different stage during dish preparation. For someone else to prepare the same dish with same quality attributes a recipe is not enough. A demonstration is required along with a recipe, in other words trained to cook your favorite dish. Training is required to execute a perfect procedure. Training becomes much more important when a critical task is being performed or complex equipments/machines are handled.

Thus a good documentation system shall ensure that the personnel shall be trained in established procedure to create product of desired quality.

Lay down the procedures and provide training.

However in Quality System the buck doesn’t stop at preparing SOP, training and implementation. Next step is improvement. SOP needs continual review and development to ensure that they integrate new aspects. The aspects related to changing regulatory, technical & organizational requirements and experience gained.

When the cycle of creation, training and improvement is followed SOP becomes a High Level View of the Process.

Remember, the most frequent reported deficiency, during the inspection are the lack of written SOPs and /or failure to adhere to them.

WHO, EU, FDA and other countries make references to written procedures throughout the documents. Nevertheless, SOPs do not have to ‘’fit into a box’’. Formats can vary. An attempt is made to provide an acceptable format with content in this post and following posts.


SOP has 3 parts:
  •     Approval Page
  •     Contents
  •     Record Forms (has different formats as per requirement)





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