How To Cost The SOP Project

The bottom line is the cost. How much will it cost to document these procedures?

To get to that figure, you need to scope what's involved. Here's one approach.

• Identify the number of existing procedures.
• Estimate how long it will take to write each new procedure.
• Estimate how long it will take to train new writing staff.
• Estimate how long it will take to gather information and perform Needs Assessment.
• Calculate the approximate number of days required to perform these tasks.
• Based on Daily Rates, calculate how much each resource will cost the project.
• Add costs for software licenses, equipment, and additional hardware.
• Factor in 10% for unknown costs.

Once you have the project costs-or at least an estimate-send it to the Project Stakeholder. You can't proceed until these are approved. Indeed, if the costs are higher than expected, you may want to be a more in-depth Needs Assessment to see what is involved and to define a Scope of Work document.

Ok, you got the funding, now what?

The next step is to set the wheels in motion. Contact the Procurement Dept and request the necessary software, hardware and equipment.

After this, look at:

• Getting the necessary office space for the new team.
• Make sure their PCs are setup
• Software is loaded correctly
• Passwords have been assigned to network drives
• Swipe cards are created with the necessary access rights
• Technical books and Style Guides are ordered.

Once you have these in place, you can arrange to bring in the writing team and start working on documenting the procedures.

Tomorrow we will look at organizing the Procedure Writing team and what's involved in this activity.
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Table of Contents

1. Before you Start Writing Your Standard Operating Procedures
2. How To Find Procedure Writers
3. How to Get a Budget
4. How To Cost The SOP Project
5. How to Get Management Support For Your SOP Project
6. How to Find An Executive Champion
7. How To Setup the Procedure Writing Team
8. How To Define Roles in the Procedure Writing Team
9. How to Create SOP Writing Guidelines
10. How to Organize the Information Gathering Phase
11. How to Test the Current As Is Business Process
12. How to Examine Alternatives To The Current As Is Process
13. How to Write Standard Operating Procedures
14. How to Write Your First Procedure
15. How to Number Each Step in the Procedure
16. How To Capture Exceptions in Procedures
17. How to Use If Then Tables For Complex Procedures
18. How to Test Standard Operating Procedures
19. How to Get SMEs to Test Procedures
20. How & When to Sign Off the Procedure
21. How to Publish the Standard Operating Procedures
22. How to Control Documents
23. How to Use Track Changes
24. How to Use Naming Conventions
25. How to Convert SOPs to PDF
26. How to Upload SOPs to the Document Management System
27. How to Create a SOP Document Archive
28. How to Backup SOPs Archives & Store Offsite
29. How to Implement Procedures
30. How to Schedule Assessments