Standard Operating Procedures for any organisation are of utmost importance.
They provide the organisational workforce with predefined roles and expected
actions which are easily identifiable in the event of service failure.
Since an 'SOP' is a specific description of how to undertake a particular task,
then it stands to reason that SOPs provide detailed written instructions to
achieve uniformity of the performance of specific functions. Where an SOP is
in place, it is expected that procedures would be followed as described by all
of the relevant members of staff referred to within the procedure. If an SOP is
not followed, this would be seen as a breach of process from the point of view
of an audit (management).