SOP Management on SharePoint: Why it's Trending
As new regulations make their way into today’s industries on a daily basis, organizations are tasked with staying on top of their compliance landscape and adapting to these changes. To help with that process, many businesses need some sort of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) management system in place to handle new regulations and make sure the organization remains compliant.
When businesses recognize they need a better way to handle SOPs, they may shop around for a third party solution, adding a level of uncertainty considering the lack of familiarity. Fortunately, these organizations are realizing how SharePoint, the platform they’re already using for collaboration and management, is a great option to handle SOP management.
One of the biggest trends in SOP management is how some of the country’s biggest organizations are migrating to SharePoint and adding new functionality to their existing platform. Some of the reasons why SharePoint is so attractive for SOP management include:
Collaborative Workflows
By extending SharePoint’s built-in collaboration features, multiple teams within an organization are able to effectively create, track, edit and manage their SOPs on one platform. Workflows created in SharePoint ensures your entire organization is on the same page and can quickly identify the lifecycle stage of your SOPs. In the past, creating and approving SOPs on a manual platform or by using email communication was very time consuming and derailed upcoming deadlines. SharePoint’s workflows capture all of the data your business needs to function and organize it effectively.
Access Control and Security
When creating new Standard Operating Procedures or simply updating them, businesses understand how important access control and security are in ensuring only the right constituents can view them. One of SharePoint’s great features is the power it gives administrators to dictate who can be a part of the creation, distribution, approval and training phases of SOP management. Since all drafts and documents relating to your SOP management are located within SharePoint, businesses avoid having unauthorized individuals accessing important documents by email or other communication channels.
Centralized Automatic Distribution
Unlike manual SOP management platforms, extending SharePoint’s features allows businesses to publish and distribute procedures in an automated and centralized location. Before SOP management solutions, employees struggled with finding and acknowledging SOPs, leading to confusion and unclear expectations. By leveraging SharePoint as a centralized automatic distribution platform, employees are able to search for SOPs using custom metadata and efficiently gain a grasp on your procedures. Compliance teams no longer need to worry whether SOPs are appropriately communicated to employees and can rest easy knowing only valid material is accessible to them.
Integration with Microsoft Platforms
If your business already operates on Microsoft platforms like Office and Outlook, SharePoint works as a great complement, especially for SOP management. Some SOP management solutions fail to leverage your existing IT environment by introducing complicated features your employees may not be familiar fit. By customizing SharePoint’s interface, anyone can operate it without worries. SOP management on SharePoint is synced with your Microsoft Office and Outlook platforms, allowing you to collaborate and receive alerts on the SOP creation, distribution and training phases.
Thankfully, ConvergePoint’s SOP Management Software and Office 365 Add-In help organizations create, track, publish and manage their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by adding a full-featured template add-on to their existing SharePoint platform. The SOP Management software utilizes industry best practices by creating a centralized platform to streamline SOP management, improve compliance, and stay within regulations.
Talk to a compliance specialist to learn how our SOP Management expertise can be applied to your business by scheduling a demo now.
