Managing the Standard Operating Procedures

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a set of instructions that describes all the relevant steps and activities of a process or procedure.

When you define an SOP, you define activities that are included in the SOP. SOP enables an administrator to organize personnel, information, and tasks in response to events and incidents in order to achieve a comprehensive control of the operation. A SOP comprises of these components:
Standard Operating Procedure Definition
An SOP definition is the template that is used when a SOP is instantiated in response to a particular occurrence. A SOP Definition is made up of activities that are described by Activity Definitions.
Activity Definition
A SOP Definition contains one or more Activity Definitions. An activity definition sets the individual instructions that need to be performed as part of the SOP.
SOP Instance
A single Instance of an SOP in response to a particular event or occurrence. One SOP Definition can be used for many SOP Instances. An SOP Instance can be in one of these states.
  • Active
  • Started
  • Stopped
  • Completed
  • Canceled
Activity Instance
An Activity Instance is the instantiation of a single Activity Definition. A single Activity Definition can be used to create multiple Activity Instances. An Activity Instance can be in a number of states:
  • Active
  • Waiting
  • Started
  • Skipped
  • Completed
References
Supplemental information which is relevant to a Standard Operating Procedure or Activity. References can also be used to define e-mail templates.
Roles
There are two abilities, Owners and Readers. These can be set against administrative and user roles.
  • A Reader can monitor the activities that are associated with a standard operating procedure.
  • An Owner can monitor and complete the activities that are associated with the standard operating procedure.
Activity Type
The Activity Type describes the response to the activity. The activities can be of different types and execution models. Any combination of different activities in an SOP is allowed.
  • Manual: This type of activity must be manually carried out by the owner of the SOP.
  • If-Then-Else Activity: A conditional activity that allows branching based on specific criteria. The user can choose which of the SOP definitions to instantiate when starting the activity. Either enter or select values for Then and Else.
  • Alert Activity: This activity displays an e-mail template for the SOP owner to complete and send an email notification to predefined personnel.
  • REST Activity: An activity that creates a REST service call. The user can specify the service URL and any required authentication information to be invoked when the activity is started.
  • SOP Activity: An activity that starts another standard operating procedure.

Roles for Standard Operating Procedures

The abilities for each of the roles for SOPs are as follows:

SOP Administrator roles
  • View and delete an SOP definition
  • Launch, view, and edit an SOP instance
  • Start and complete activities in an SOP instance
SOP author roles
  • Create, edit, view, and delete an SOP definition
  • Create an SOP draft
  • View, edit, and delete an SOP activity
  • Submit an SOP draft for approval
  • Approve an SOP draft
Reference Librarian Role
Create shared references
Owner Roles (SOP definition)
  • Create an SOP draft
  • View, edit, and delete an SOP definition
  • Edit and delete an SOP activity
  • Submit an SOP draft for approval
  • Approve an SOP draft
  • Launch, view, and edit an SOP instance
Reader roles (SOP Definition)
  • View an SOP definition
  • View an SOP instance from My Activities
  • View an SOP activity, provided the user has Reader role in the Activity definition
Owners roles (SOP activity)
  • View an SOP instance from My Activities
  • Start and complete activities in an SOP instance for their own activities from My Activities
Reader roles (SOP activity)
View SOP instance from My Activities

Approval life cycle for an Standard Operating Procedure

An SOP definition can assume different status during its life cycle.
  • Draft: When the SOP is first created, a draft version is saved initially. From an approved version of an SOP, it is also possible to create another draft version, when it is necessary to change the SOP definition using the approved version as a base. A draft can be edited, submitted for approval, or discarded.
  • Pending approval: This is a draft SOP definition submitted for approval, ready to be approved or disapproved. The name of the version is defined in this status and it will name the SOP definition version if approved. If this version is not approved, the SOP definition goes back to the draft version status.
  • Approved: When an SOP definition is approved it is ready to be launched.