# Incident management SOP template ## How to use this template - Fields written as `[fill in: ...]` are blanks — replace each one with the value for your process. - Lines starting with `>` are guidance, not part of the SOP — delete them once you've filled in the real content. - Recording this process in Ledgerium generates a filled-in version of this SOP automatically. ## Document control - Process owner: [fill in: process owner] - Version: [fill in: version] - Effective date: [fill in: effective date] - Last reviewed: [fill in: last reviewed date] - Approved by: [fill in: approver name or title] ## Applies to / Use when > Who uses it: On-call engineers and operations staff who respond, the incident commander who coordinates, and the service owner who runs the post-incident review. Managers reference it for response targets. > When to use it: Use it when onboarding on-call staff, standardizing how incidents are classified and escalated across the team, or documenting a response process for a review. - Applies to: [fill in: who this applies to in your organization] - Use when: [fill in: when your team should follow this procedure] ## Purpose > Why the procedure exists and the response and reliability targets it supports. [fill in: purpose details] ## Scope > Which systems and incident types the procedure covers, and what is out of scope. [fill in: scope details] ## Roles > Who responds on call, who commands the incident, and who runs the review. [fill in: roles details] ## Procedure > The ordered steps from detection to a resolved, reviewed incident. [fill in: procedure details] ## Exceptions > How to handle major incidents, escalations, and cross-team response. [fill in: exceptions details] ## Records > What is logged during the incident and where the post-incident review is filed. [fill in: records details] ## Worked example — steps from a real recording > Example steps from a real recording — replace with your own. 1. **Detect and log** — Open the incident and record the first symptoms and time. 2. **Classify severity** — Set severity from the classification rules to drive response. 3. **Escalate on call** — Page the on-call owner and escalate if severity requires. 4. **Contain and resolve** — Mitigate the impact, then apply and confirm the fix. 5. **Review and close** — Run the post-incident review and close the incident. 6. [fill in: step] 7. [fill in: step] ## Review checklist — common mistakes to avoid - [ ] Leaving the severity classification out, so response is sized inconsistently - [ ] Documenting the fix but not the on-call escalation path - [ ] Closing incidents without a post-incident review, losing the root cause ## Limitations of this template A template is a starting structure. Your real severity rules and escalation path are captured best by recording an actual incident response rather than filling in a blank outline. --- Template: https://ledgerium.ai/sop-templates/incident-management · Generated automatically from a real recording, or fill in by hand. Template last updated: July 2026 From Ledgerium recordings: A generated incident management SOP captures the severity classification and on-call escalation step by step and times detection to resolution, so it shows where response time is lost, which a happy-path template never captures. See the full recorded workflow: https://ledgerium.ai/workflow-library/incident-management-workflow