Business document templates

Standard operating procedures

A starting structure for a standard operating procedure: what to write in each section and how to write it so it survives an audit and a second author.

A repeatable sequence for bringing a new hire from accepted offer to productive first month, so nothing is left to memory or to whoever happens to be around.

A complete, accountable sequence for ending a working relationship — access revoked, work handed over, records kept — so nothing is lost and no account is left live.

A single controlled checklist for opening and closing a premises or shift, so the same things are checked every time and a forgotten step has an owner.

A controlled schedule for routine equipment checks and servicing, so maintenance happens on a calendar rather than after a breakdown.

A consistent way to receive, record and resolve a customer complaint, so the same standard applies every time and a resolution is never lost.

A controlled path from need to paid invoice, with an approval step at the point where money leaves, so purchases are authorised, recorded and traceable.

A repeatable inspection with a written result, so quality is checked against a fixed standard rather than a mood, and a failure has an owner.

A scheduled, tested backup routine with an owner, so the data a business runs on survives a failure and the recovery has been proven, not assumed.

A structure for describing how work actually happens today — the starting point for improving it, and the difference between process documentation and an SOP.

Employee handbook

The scaffold for an employee handbook: every section a handbook contains, what each is for, the questions to answer before writing it, and which sections vary by state and must be checked.

The smallest defensible handbook scaffold for a business of around twelve people: which sections are legally driven, which are cultural, and what a twelve-person company needs versus a two-hundred-person one.

Business plan

A starting structure for a business plan: what each section is really asking, who the reader is, and how that reader changes what you write.

The lean, single-page version of a business plan: the answers that matter in one page, for when one page is enough.

Incident report

A form for recording what happened, with facts, times and names and no conclusions or blame — the record that is actually useful later.

A short form for recording a near miss — an event that did not cause harm but could have — because near misses are the early warning that an incident is coming.