How to keep SOPs current / updated / make sure they are followed!
GEMBADOCS.COM
How to keep SOPs current / updated / make sure they are followed! SOPs can’t be viewed as monuments. By that I mean that once they are put in place, that they are never supposed to be moved! A well implemented SOP culture views SOPs as the baseline, the standard that we all must follow. However there must also be a process in place that facilitates change and improvement. This is most often the place intentioned SOP efforts fall down.
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Outdated methods, such as creating and editing in excel mean that adding or moving a process step turns into hours of effort. As well as managing a proper document control system to cope with revisions.
How to keep SOPs current / updated / make sure they are followed! Often these tasks fall on one over-burdened individual who becomes the bottleneck and eventually people just start to bypass the system. When that happens or if there are other reasons as to why the process to make changes is too cumbersome, it won’t be long before the SOPs just turn into “wallpaper.” By that I mean that they look good, but because they are now out of date, nobody is following them and they probably provide more harm than benefit as they are a false source of security. This particular pain-point is one of the primary reasons that we developed the GembaDocs software.
How to keep SOPs current / updated / make sure they are followed! Edits can be made in seconds, approved in minutes by the appropriate people and put live instantaneously. All done on the Gemba by the appropriate team of people to make and approve the Process Change. No running backwards and forwards to a computer for hours. Minutes. We don’t know of a better way. It makes SOP’s living, breathing and useful!