What is "standard operating procedure"

n. a prescribed procedure to be followed routinely; "rote memorization has been the educator's standard operating procedure for centuries" [syn: standing operating procedure, SOP, standard procedure]

A standard operating procedure, or SOP, is a set of step-by-step instructions created by a business to help workers carry out routine operations. Their purpose is to achieve efficiency, quality output and uniformity of performance, while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply to industry regulations.

The U.S. military sometimes uses the term standing – rather than standard – operating procedure, because a military SOP refers to a unit's unique procedures, which are not necessarily standard to another unit. "Standard" could imply that there is one (standard) procedure to be used across all units.

Standard Operating Procedure is a 2008 documentary film which explores the meaning of the photographs taken by U.S. military police at the Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003, the content of which revealed the torture and abuse of its prisoners by U.S. soldiers and subsequently resulted in a public scandal. The film was directed by Errol Morris.

Commenting on the relationship of his film to the notorious photographs, Morris has said his intent was "…not to say that these 'bad apples' were blameless… but… to say that they were scapegoats. It was easy to blame them because, after all, they were in the photographs… Photographs don’t tell us who the real culprits might be… They can also serve as a coverup, they can misdirect us… Photographs reveal and conceal, serve as [both] exposé and coverup".