01 the business
Commercial bakery
160 staff across three shifts
The procedures exist as long documents in a shared drive. Training happens by shadowing whoever is on shift, so people learn slightly different ways. Updates to the SOP never reach the floor.
02 before
The problem
The procedures exist, but as long documents in a shared drive that new staff are told to read. Training happens by shadowing whoever is on shift, so each person learns a slightly different way, and updates to the SOP never reach the people doing the work.
- New staff are told to read long documents.
- Each trainer teaches a slightly different method.
- SOP changes are not trained.
03 the build
What the AI does
- Step 1: Reads your SOPs, checklists and safety documents from SharePoint, Google Drive or Notion.
- Step 2: Breaks each procedure into short lessons with the key steps, common mistakes and the reasons behind them.
- Step 3: Writes quiz questions and practical sign-off checklists for supervisors to use on the floor.
- Step 4: Publishes the approved modules to your learning platform or a shared space staff can open on a phone.
- Step 5: Watches the source SOPs for changes and drafts updated lessons, marking exactly what changed.
paused: waiting for a person to approve
How it was put together
- Read SOPs, checklists and safety documents from SharePoint.
- Broke procedures into short lessons with steps, common mistakes and reasons.
- Wrote quizzes and practical sign-off checklists for supervisors.
- Watched SOPs for changes and drafted updated lessons showing exactly what changed.
04 human in the loop
Where a person stays in charge
The process owner or a senior team member reviews every module and quiz for accuracy before it is published. Safety-critical steps are always signed off by the person responsible for that procedure.
- The process owner reviews every module and quiz before publishing.
- Safety-critical steps are signed off by the person responsible.
- Lessons link back to the SOP version they came from.
05 rollout
From kickoff to live in 4 weeks to first modules
- Weeks 1–2Pick the ten most important procedures and clean them.
- Weeks 3–4Produce and review the first modules.
- Month 2Roll out to new starters and turn on change tracking.
06 after
What changes
New staff learn the same method no matter who trains them. When a procedure changes, the training changes with it instead of drifting out of date.
Assume 40 procedures, each taking a trainer 6 hours to turn into a lesson and quiz by hand, against 1.5 hours to review a draft.
40 × 6 hours = 240 hours by hand. 40 × 1.5 hours = 60 hours of review. 180 hours saved.
What to measure
- Modules completed by new starters.
- Practical sign-offs completed on time.
- Errors and incidents linked to training gaps.
- Time from SOP change to updated training.
07 evidence
What the research says
Across 5,179 customer support agents, an AI assistant raised issues resolved per hour by 14% on average and by 34% for novice and lower-skilled agents.
NBER, Generative AI at Work (Brynjolfsson, Li and Raymond) (opens in a new tab) · 2023
In a study of 453 professionals doing writing tasks from their own jobs, access to ChatGPT cut the time taken by 40% and raised quality, as rated by evaluators, by 18%.
08 lessons
Mistakes to avoid
- Training from bad SOPs. Fix the source first.
- Quizzes that test memory, not practice. Add floor sign-offs.
- No change tracking. Training goes stale quickly.
09 questions
Common questions
- Which learning platforms does it publish to?
- TalentLMS, Trainual, Teams or a simple shared page staff can open on a phone.
- Can it make lessons in other languages?
- Yes, with the process owner reviewing the translation.