Roles & Responsibilities
Important
This section is a fundamental building block of any SOP
The ‘Roles & Responsibilities’ section of an SOP outlines the specific duties and accountability of individuals or teams involved in the execution, oversight, and authorisation of the procedure. Role titles (e.g. Bioinformatician, Lab Technician, Quality Manager, Head of Laboratory etc) should be used rather than individual names to ensure the SOP remains current even when staff change.
Depending on the procedure, this section should describe:
Roles involved: Identify all personnel or teams responsible for performing, reviewing, or approving steps within the procedure.
Responsibilities: Describe the specific duties for each role (e.g., performing laboratory procedures, data processing, quality control, result authorisation, report authorisation etc).
Example content:
🧬 Bioinformatics QC Procedure
Example content from a bioinformatics SOP outlining the procedure for assessing the quality of Illumina sequencing data prior to downstream bioinformatics analyses.
Responsibilities
The duty bioinformatician is responsible for performing the QC procedure outlined in this SOP. Responsibilities primarily consist of:
Pipeline execution and monitoring: Running the QC pipeline in automated or manual mode, ensuring all steps are completed according to the SOP.
QC assessment: Reviewing QC metrics via the QC database (AutoQC), confirming pass/fail flags, and validating outputs from MultiQC and Centrifuge.
Database annotation: Recording explanatory notes in AutoQC for all failed samples.
Issue escalation: Notifying the laboratory team via Slack when runs contain failed samples.
👩🔬 Staff Training Procedure
Example content from an SOP outlining a training procedure
Roles & Responsibilities
Role |
Responsibility |
|---|---|
Training Coordinator |
Plans and schedules training; ensures materials are current; verifies prerequisites; maintains training records; compiles feedback and updates the training matrix. |
Trainer |
Delivers training following this SOP; demonstrates procedures; supervises trainee practice; assesses competency; completes training documentation. Trainers must be competent in the training topic. |
Trainee |
Completes prerequisite learning; participates in all training activities; performs supervised and independent tasks; submits required assessments; provides feedback. |
Project Lead / Approver |
Approves training plans and materials; assigns qualified trainers; ensures documentation compliance; monitors training progress and gaps. |
🌌 Galaxy Training Procedure
Example content from a training SOP detailing the standardised procedure for training on the Galaxy platform
Roles & Responsibilities
Role |
Responsibilities |
|---|---|
Training Coordinator |
Plans and schedules training sessions; ensures training materials are current and version-controlled; maintains training records in the QMS system; coordinates assessment scheduling and feedback review. |
Trainers |
Delivers structured, hands-on instructional training using this SOP to demonstrate workflow development tasks on the Galaxy platform; guide trainees through the Show–Do–Apply stages; assess trainee competency according to predefined criteria and document results. Ensure trainees understand data organization and good documentation practices. |
Trainees (Laboratory / Institute Staff) |
Complete all assigned training modules; follow this SOP and training instructions; demonstrate competency by independently building and executing a Galaxy workflow using the TB dataset; provide feedback after completion. |
Project Lead / Approver |
Approves the final training materials and assessment tools; assigns qualified trainers; ensures training records and assessments are completed and stored in the QMS; monitors trainee progress and overall programme compliance. |
🧪 Laboratory Procedure
Example content from a wet-lab SOP outlining the procedure for preparing sequencing libraries using the Illumina DNA Prep kit.
Roles & Responsibilities
The steps outlined in this SOP must be carried out by laboratory staff who have been trained and signed off as competent for this procedure. This includes team members at the Associate Practitioner, Healthcare Scientist, and Specialist Biomedical Scientist levels. Associate Practitioners must be supervised by a Healthcare Scientist or Specialist Biomedical Scientist while performing the procedure.
Laboratory staff are responsible for following the SOP, documenting all steps accurately, and reporting any deviations or issues in accordance with laboratory quality management procedures. Senior staff and supervisors are responsible for ensuring that personnel remain competent and for reviewing performance and compliance with this SOP.
💻 Code Update & Review Procedure
Example content from an SOP outlining the procedure for updating and reviewing code within the Luma Genomics Unit (LGU).
Responsibilities
Responsibilities for code review are distributed across the roles of Reporter, Developer, Reviewer, and Team Leader.
Reporters identify and document requirements for new or changed code.
Developers implement, test, and submit code changes following agreed standards.
Reviewers assess merge requests, highlight required and suggested improvements, and approve merges when criteria are met.
Team Leaders oversee prioritisation of issues, assignment of roles, and closure of non‑essential tasks.
A detailed description of these responsibilities and the step‑by‑step actions required is provided in the Procedure section of this SOP.