Question 1

How does the SOP generator work?

Accepted Answer

Enter the SOP title, ID, version, department, last reviewed date, purpose, and scope. Then add roles as `role,responsibility` per line, process steps as `step_number,action,duration_minutes` per line, tools (one per line), troubleshooting as `issue,solution` per line, and references (one per line). The tool auto-calculates the next review date (1 year after last reviewed), sums total process duration, validates required fields, and renders the SOP as text, printable HTML, or Markdown plus a one-page quick reference card.

Question 2

What format are the CSV-style fields in?

Accepted Answer

Roles use `role,responsibility` per line (e.g. `Manager,Approves final deliverable`). Process steps use `step_number,action,duration_minutes` per line (e.g. `1,Gather requirements,30`). Troubleshooting uses `issue,solution` per line. Tools and references are one per line. The parsers strip surrounding quotes, skip blank lines, and report per-line errors for malformed rows.

Question 3

How is the next review date calculated?

Accepted Answer

If you set the Last Reviewed date (YYYY-MM-DD), the tool auto-fills Next Review Date as exactly one year later. This keeps your SOP library on a predictable annual review cadence. You can still override it manually.

Question 4

What extra features does this tool have compared to others?

Accepted Answer

(1) Roles parser (CSV: role, responsibility). (2) Process steps parser (CSV: step, action, duration). (3) Tools list parser. (4) Troubleshooting parser (CSV: issue, solution). (5) References parser. (6) Next review date calculator (+1 year). (7) Total process duration calculator. (8) Text SOP renderer. (9) Printable HTML SOP renderer (inline CSS). (10) Markdown SOP renderer. (11) Quick reference card generator (one-page summary). (12) Copy + Download .txt/.html/.md. (13) History (localStorage, last 20). (14) Shareable URL (encode inputs in hash). (15) Summary stats (step count, total duration, role count, tool count). (16) SOP ID auto-suggester (department + sequence). (17) Required field validator. (18) 8 department presets (Engineering, HR, Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing, IT, Legal).

Question 5

Is my data sent anywhere?

Accepted Answer

No. All SOP parsing, duration calculation, date math, and rendering happen 100% locally in your browser. History is stored in localStorage on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.

SOP Generator

How to use