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Companies and organizations need to mandate house rules, regulations, and protocols for both their employees and their clients. This is why SOPs or Standard Operating Procedures are made. These are sets of steps and instructions that anyone involved in the organization will have to follow. The SOPs will also be beneficial for the company since it ensures that every individual working or associated with them are following a process that the management has tested and have approved compared to other procedures which are not explored by the management yet. In addition, an SOP acknowledgment form must be handed to every member of the organization after he has accepted a copy of the SOP, and after each item in it has been explained to him.

SOP Acknowledgment Form Sample

What Is an SOP Acknowledgment Form?

An SOP acknowledgment form is a document which is to be created by companies and organizations for their members, clients, customers, and their employees and staff. The person who will sign the acknowledgment form is implying and documenting that he was able to read, understood, and will be executing his actions based on the enlisted SOP whenever there are incidents and events where the SOP will be necessary to be followed.

What Should Be Included In an SOP Acknowledgment Form?

There are hundreds of various standard operating procedures that one company can consider following depending on the subject being tackled in the SOP. And in making an SOP acknowledgment form, a company will have to base the contents of the form to their objective and their needs which must be agreed and signed by their target users. However, regardless of the type of company, the main subject of an SOP, and the people who will be signing the SOP acknowledgment, the following elements must always be present in an SOP acknowledgment form that a company will be sending and requiring to their employees, clients, members, and staff:

• User confirmation – This section or element of the form should be a stated which will indicate the confirmation and the affirmation of the user in lieu of the SOP acknowledgment. The organization’s or the company’s expectations regarding the responsibilities, obligations, and the roles of the user should be clarified in this element along with the implication that the user fully understood each of the expectations listed in the form. In addition, the confirmation of the user about the company’s capability in explaining the details of the acknowledgment and the SOP to the user by conducting a meeting can also be stated to document to prove that the company did not fail to engage the user about the SOP and the necessity in signing the acknowledgment form.

• Disclaimer statement – The purpose of having this element or section is to inform the user of the SOP acknowledgment form that any contract agreements or any legal form which had been signed prior to the acknowledgment form will not be affected. For instance, if the SOP acknowledgment form is given to an employee of a company, then a disclaimer statement about the employment of the employee which will not be changed or be affected when he signs the form must be indicated. Additionally, the exceptions of the disclaimer and of the acknowledgment can also be included in this portion of the SOP acknowledgment form.

• SOP version number – Companies who had been around for longer than a year might have different SOPs over time since they must meet the updates in the industry and the needs of their clients as well. And if there are various revisions of an SOP, then it is important to specify which among the SOPs revisions is the subject of the acknowledgment. This can be done by stating the revision or version number of the SOP. On the other hand, if the there is only a portion of the SOP which needs the acknowledgment of the target individuals, then the reference number of that protocol must be specified in the form.

• Signature block – This is where the user will be able to affix his signature along with the date of when he signed the form and the signature of a witness who is present when the SOP acknowledgment form was given and explained to the user.

Examples of SOP Acknowledgment Forms

Consortium SOP Acknowledgment Form – This is a common example of an SOP acknowledgment form which is solely made for organizational use. In the form, the name of the organization or consortium is indicated at the topmost portion along with the title of the form right below it. Then, a statement regarding the preparedness of the organization in sharing the rules and regulations which must be followed by their members to the user of the form. After the short statement or introduction about the intent or purpose of the form, an area is incorporated to be filled out by the user which is composed of a line to cater the user’s full name.

Consortium SOP Acknowledgment Form

Moreover, the title of the project or the assignment where the user will be participating in is also necessary to be disclosed in the acknowledgment form along with the user’s signature and the date of when he is acknowledging his participation and his knowledge about the SOP of the organization.

SOP Acknowledgment Signature Form – Compared to the aforementioned SOP acknowledgment form, this form is not only to be filled out and be signed by one person or one member of an organization, rather by a number of members or all the members of the organization who have received the SOP. The form includes a table composed of five columns and a number of rows to cater all the members. In the form, the people who will be signing or the members must provide their names in a list along with their individual identification numbers, electronic mailing addresses, signatures, and the date of when they were able to sign the form.

SOP Acknowledgment Signature Form

SOP Manual Acknowledgement Form – This example of an SOP acknowledgment form has a simple format as it contains only three sections which are the header, the body, and the area for the signature of the SOP recipient. The header is where the name of the company and the title of the form is stated, while the body is where the statements explaining the acknowledgment will be indicated which is then followed by the signature area to have the name and the signature of the user.

SOP Manual Acknowledgement Form

Making SOP Acknowledgment Form FAQs

What happens when an individual will not sign the SOP acknowledgment form?

SOP or standard operating procedures acknowledgment forms are not legal forms. With this, there is no legal ground which can be used by a company or an organization to require anyone in signing the form. However, there are other agreements which should be noted by the individual who will not sign the form. For example, if he is an employee in the company who made the SOP, then he should be aware that his declination in filling out and in signing the SOP acknowledgment form can be sufficient proof for an act of insubordination to the employer or the company. This can lead to either a warning or a termination of the employee’s employment, depending however to the grievance level of the employee’s violation.

On the other hand, a company can also consider other options such as assigning a witness from their employees who know the employee and the intents of the employee to refuse to sign the form. The witness must sign and submit a witness statement indicating that the employee was informed about the SOP, have read the SOP, yet chooses not to sign the SOP acknowledgment form.

When must an SOP acknowledgment form be served?

An SOP acknowledgment form must be served as soon as an SOP manual or information sheet is given to the user. After the acknowledgment form is served and signed, a duplicate of the signed form must be provided to the user or the one who signed the form for his own personal copy of the acknowledgment.

Formats to Consider When Making SOP Acknowledgment Forms

There are two common formats which can be considered by organizations when making an SOP acknowledgment form: “.DOC” or in word document format, and the “.PDF” or the portable document file format.

A “.DOC” format is the most basic format that organizations often use since this format is to be made using word processing software applications. This format is also the building block of other formats, including the “.PDF” format. One benefit of choosing to use this format is that it can be made easily and can also be navigated, edited or customized with less hassle compared to the latter. Another is, a “.DOC” format can also be made into a “.DOCX” format where macros are added.

The “.PDF” format, on the other hand, is the type of format to choose if the form will be sent online since this has the feature of locking fields and areas to not allow any customization to be done by the users of the form. Aside from the protection that it offers, a “.PDF” format can also be made with codes so that the data which are inputted by the user will be sent directly to the organization via internet submission.

However, regardless of the type of SOP acknowledgment form or the type of format to be used by an organization, the SOP must be explained well to the one who will be signing the acknowledgment in order for him to fully confirm and know what his responsibilities are in lieu of the document that he will sign.