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Guide • SOP Videos

SOP Video vs Written SOP: When to Use Each

You do not have to choose. A written SOP is the record; a video is the teaching layer built from it. Here is what each does well and when video earns its cost.

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Written SOP and SOP video side by side

Written SOP

The approved record of the procedure.

Strengths

  • Precise wording, easy to version and approve
  • Easy to search, print and audit
  • Quick to edit when something changes

Limits

  • Hard to follow for physical or visual tasks
  • Often not read in full by busy people
  • Harder for people who read English as a second language

SOP video

The procedure being done, shown.

Strengths

  • Shows how the task is done, on your equipment
  • Delivers the same instruction to every person and every shift
  • Can carry captions or voiceover, and open at the work area from a QR code

Limits

  • Slower to change than a document
  • Goes out of date if the procedure changes and the video does not
  • Is not by itself the approved record of the procedure

When video is worth it

Video earns its cost when a procedure is.

It is less worth it for procedures that are rarely done, change often or are mostly about recording information.

  • Repeated often, so the cost is shared across many viewings
  • Physical or visual, where seeing it beats reading it
  • Important to get right, such as a safety or quality checkpoint
  • Done differently on different shifts or by different people
  • Taught to many new or casual staff

Use both

The strongest setup keeps the written SOP as the source of truth and builds the video from it. Review the written procedure before filming, so the video shows the approved steps, and update both together when the procedure changes.

That is how we make SOP videos: built from your approved procedure, and designed to sit alongside it. Read about SOP video production.

A video shows a procedure consistently. It does not replace supervision or practical competency assessment where those are required.

Keep reading

Related pages

  • Which SOP to film first

    A checklist for choosing the procedure that earns the most from video.

  • SOP videos

    What is included and how it works.

  • Pricing

    The SOP Video Starter is $2,100 + GST.

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