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Claude for Operators

SOPs & Process Documentation

Last verified: 13 February 2026 | Applies to: All plans (Cowork recommended for multi-document output)

In 30 seconds

Section titled “In 30 seconds”

Every business has processes that live in people’s heads. Claude turns verbal descriptions, rough notes, and “the way we’ve always done it” into structured standard operating procedures, onboarding checklists, and process flowcharts. Describe the process in plain language, and Claude produces a formatted SOP in under five minutes — ready for stakeholder review.

Step by step

Section titled “Step by step”

Convert tribal knowledge into a formal SOP

Section titled “Convert tribal knowledge into a formal SOP”

This is the most common starting point. You know how the process works — you just haven’t written it down.

I'm going to describe how we handle customer refunds at our e-commerce company. Turn this into a formal SOP with sections for purpose, scope, responsibilities, procedure steps, exceptions, and revision history.


Here's how it works: When a customer requests a refund, the support rep checks if it's within our 30-day window. If yes and the order is under $100, the rep can approve it directly. If it's over $100 or outside 30 days, it goes to a team lead. Anything over $500 needs the ops manager. We process refunds back to the original payment method. If the product was physically damaged, we need photos before approving. We don't refund digital products after download unless there's a technical issue.

Claude produces a structured SOP including:

  • Purpose and scope — what the procedure covers and who it applies to
  • Roles and responsibilities — who can approve what, with dollar thresholds
  • Step-by-step procedure — numbered steps with decision points
  • Exceptions and escalation paths — what falls outside the standard flow
  • Revision history table — ready for version tracking

Create an employee onboarding checklist

Section titled “Create an employee onboarding checklist”
Create a new employee onboarding checklist for a 25-person marketing agency. Cover the first two weeks. Include:
- Day 1: IT setup, accounts, introductions
- Days 2-3: Tool training (we use [Asana/Slack/Figma/Google Workspace])
- Week 1: Client portfolio overview, shadow sessions with senior team
- Week 2: First solo task with review, 1:1 with manager


Format as a checklist with responsible person, estimated time for each item, and a sign-off column. The office manager handles IT and access, the direct manager handles training and shadowing.

Claude produces a day-by-day checklist with owner assignments, time estimates, and completion tracking — ready to paste into a spreadsheet or project management tool.

Document an approval workflow

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Document our purchase approval workflow as both a text procedure and a text-based flowchart.


The process: Any employee can submit a purchase request. Under $500 — their direct manager approves. $500-$5,000 — department head approves. Over $5,000 — CFO approval required. Over $25,000 — needs both CFO and CEO. All approved purchases go to accounts payable for processing. Rejected requests go back to the requester with a reason. Emergency purchases under $1,000 can be made first and submitted for retroactive approval within 48 hours.

Claude produces:

  • Written procedure — formal steps with decision criteria
  • Text-based flowchart — using ASCII or markdown formatting to show the decision tree
  • RACI matrix — who’s responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed at each step
  • Exception handling — the emergency purchase path documented separately

Review and improve an existing SOP

Section titled “Review and improve an existing SOP”

Already have documentation that’s gone stale? Upload it and ask Claude to audit it.

Review this SOP [paste or upload]. Flag anything that's unclear, ambiguous, or likely outdated. Identify any gaps where a new employee would get stuck. Suggest specific improvements. Also flag any steps that could be simplified or automated.

Claude marks up the document with:

  • Clarity issues — steps that assume knowledge not covered elsewhere
  • Ambiguity flags — places where two people might interpret the procedure differently
  • Gap analysis — missing steps, undefined terms, or unclear escalation paths
  • Simplification suggestions — steps that could be combined or automated

Build a process library (Cowork)

Section titled “Build a process library (Cowork)”

For operators building out a full library of SOPs, Cowork with the Productivity plugin is the right setup. The Productivity plugin maintains context about your existing processes, team structure, and terminology across sessions.

I need to build a process library for our operations team. We have 12 core processes that need documenting. I'll describe each one over the next few sessions. For now, start with these three:


1. Client onboarding (new client intake to first deliverable)
2. Monthly invoicing (time tracking to payment received)
3. Quality review (draft work to client delivery)


Use the same format for all: Purpose, Scope, Roles, Procedure, Exceptions, Related Processes, Revision History. Start with client onboarding — I'll describe it now.

Claude creates consistently formatted documents and, with the Productivity plugin, remembers the format, terminology, and team structure you’ve established when you return for the next process.

How operators actually use it

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Section titled “Related”

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