How do I write an SOP an AI agent can follow?
An SOP is ready for AI when it names the trigger, each decision point, the limit on each decision and who takes the exception. Write it in seven parts: trigger, inputs, decision points, authority limit, escalation, owner and measure. Most SOPs stop at the steps. The decisions are what an agent needs.
Last updated:
The seven parts
- Trigger: the event that starts the process. "A customer asks for a refund" is a trigger. "Handle refunds" is not.
- Inputs: what the person or agent needs before acting.
- Decision points: every place the work can go two ways, written as a question with a yes path and a no path.
- Authority limit: how far each decision can go without asking anyone. A dollar amount, a count or a number of days.
- Escalation: what happens past the limit, and which role gets it.
- Owner: one role that answers for the process and fixes it when it breaks.
- Measure: one number that shows each week whether the process worked.
A worked example: approving a customer refund
Every number below is an example. Set your own.
| Part | Refund SOP |
|---|---|
| Trigger | A customer asks for a refund by email or through the support form. |
| Inputs | The order, the payment, the delivery status and the customer's refunds in the last 12 months. |
| Steps | Find the order. Confirm payment and delivery. Answer the two decision points. Issue the refund or escalate. Reply to the customer. Log the reason. |
| Decision point 1 | Is the request inside the 30-day return window? If no, escalate. |
| Decision point 2 | Is this the customer's first refund this year? If no, escalate. |
| Authority limit | Up to $500, the agent approves and issues the refund. |
| Escalation | Over $500, outside the window, or a repeat request: to the client success lead, with the order and history attached. The lead decides within one business day. |
| Owner | The client success lead. |
| Measure | Refund dollars as a share of weekly sales. |
The business owner doesn't appear in this SOP. The lead takes the exceptions and has a limit too.
Why the authority limit matters
"Use judgment" works for a person, who can walk over and ask. An agent can't. It will guess, and it will sound very confident doing that. Or it will ask every time, and nothing gets automated.
The limit settles it. Under the line, the agent acts. Over it, a person decides. Every agent runs until it hits a gate a person still owns.
Set the limits for the whole company in one place, a decision authority matrix. Each SOP points to its row.
Which five SOPs to write first
Start with the processes that touch cash or customers. For most owner-led companies, that's some version of quoting, invoicing, collections, refunds and complaints. A wrong call there costs money.
For each one, ask three questions. Could someone new run it from what's written down today? Is one named person allowed to decide the exceptions? Does one trusted number show every week whether it worked? Every no points to the next thing to write.
Collections shows why. In one engagement, $1.2M of $1.4M in overdue receivables was collected in three months once one person owned receivables.
Writing it down is the Codify state
Every company has a Bob. Somebody asks how we do something, and the answer is: "just ask Bob." If it lives in Bob's head, the AI will ask Bob too.
In SCOPE™ by Efficiency Sprint, writing the work down is Codify: make the recipe clear. A new person can run the work from what's written down. The five states run Stabilize · Codify · Ownership · Pulse · Engine, and AI starts at Pulse (what each state looks like). If the work can't go to a good operator without explaining it every time, it can't go to AI either.
You don't have to start from a blank page. Efficiency Sprint works from a library of pre-built SOPs and fits each one to how your company decides.
Find out where your company stands
Efficiency Sprint makes companies operationally ready for AI. The operational AI readiness check takes about two minutes and shows whether your processes are written down well enough to hand to an agent.
Questions
What should every SOP include?
A trigger, inputs, decision points, an authority limit, an escalation path, one owner and one measure. A checklist covers the steps. The seven parts let someone new run the process without asking the owner.
How long should an SOP be?
One page for most processes. If it runs longer, it's often two processes. Split it where the work changes hands.
Can AI write my SOPs?
AI can draft the steps from a recording of someone doing the work. It can't set the limits. Who decides, and up to what amount, is the owner's call. You always need to know who is responsible. And it can't be AI.
How do I keep SOPs current?
The owner of each SOP updates it when the process changes. The escalations show when. If the same exception reaches the lead every week, the step or the limit needs to change. Review each SOP once a quarter.
Do I need software to store SOPs?
No. A shared folder works if everyone can find the current version. An agent needs the same thing: one place, one version.