The Effective Date Field

Our SOP templates have a field for Effective Date. It's in the "SOP Details" pane that slides out when a user clicks "View More Details" in the ellipses icon that appears in the top right when viewing an SOP.

The Definition of Effective Date

The Effective Date field is meant to be the effective date of the regulations that the SOP pertains to. Every set of published regulations from every state is issued with an effective date. Sometimes it is the date the regulations were published. Sometimes it is a date in the future, often January 1 of the following year. It's really at the discretion of the agency issuing the regulations.

This is the definition we use when we build the SOP template. It's a way for users to quickly verify which regulation set we referenced when creating the template. If a state publishes updated regulations several times a year, you will see the Effective Date of these templates change several times a year. Conversely, if a state only publishes updates every other year, you will only see the Effective Date change every other year.

When You Create a New Version from Our Template

When you create a new version of the SOP from our template, the effective date that was in our template carries forward. However, it is an editable field. You may keep the Effective Date as we defined it or use it in a way that makes more sense for your business.

• For example, some clients also use this field to indicate the date when the regulations went into effect.
• In other cases, clients use this field to simply indicate the date when their employees are to begin using the SOP. After all, the reason to save a template is so that you can customize the SOP for your business. 

The field is flexible to meet a variety of needs. Just remember that in a Simplifya-created SOP template, it is the effective date of the regulations used to build the template.