Your step-by-step operating playbook.
Proposed client-review workflow for reducing inbox overload, paperwork and scheduling friction through reliable administration. Adapt permissions at kickoff; this public template is not approved internal policy. Keep the client informed of priorities and exceptions.
The complete SOP is visible below—no download or extra click required. Tailor the selected duties, training, tools and approval limits with your team before work starts.
Complete task & responsibility scope.
Maintain reliable day-to-day administration and keep the client informed of priorities and exceptions.
Select the duties relevant to your business at kickoff. Extended duties require suitable training, supervisor approval and scoped access; this list does not automatically authorize clinical, legal, licensed or financial decisions.
- Organize email and documents
- Manage calendars and appointment reminders
- Enter and maintain accurate business data
- Prepare reports and meeting notes
- Prioritized inbox queue with owners and questions
- Document index with current versions and source links
- Checked calendar and reminder status log
- Updated business records with sources and correction history
- Draft reports with reconciled totals and data gaps
- Meeting notes with decisions, owners and follow-up dates
01 / Deliverables, ownership & kickoff
What you receive
- Prioritized inbox queue with owners and questions
- Document index with current versions and source links
- Checked calendar and reminder status log
- Updated business records with sources and correction history
- Draft reports with reconciled totals and data gaps
- Meeting notes with decisions, owners and follow-up dates
Who owns what
Assistant
- Organize assigned email, documents, calendars and records within delegated permissions.
- Prepare reports, reminders and meeting notes; verify sources before changes.
- Log completed work, questions and approval requests without substituting personal judgment.
Client owner
- Set priorities, naming conventions, authoritative sources and permitted actions.
- Approve sensitive communications, conflicting appointments and corrections requiring business judgment.
- Retain budgets, purchases, payments, filings and professional decisions; designate authorized decision-makers.
VSI coordinator or agreed Team Lead
- Confirm ownership, handoffs and review checkpoints with the client.
- Review quality samples and coach organization, communication and accuracy.
- Coordinate workload or access blockers without overriding client authorization.
Confirm before work starts
- Confirm assigned inboxes, folders, calendars and datasets; exclude unrelated records.
- Identify client approver, backup contact and coordinator escalation channel.
- Document delegated changes versus approval-required actions, including external reminders.
- Agree priorities, deadlines, time zones and appointment buffers.
- Provide naming, versioning, retention and archive instructions.
- Supply field definitions, authoritative sources, report templates and meeting-note format.
- Test individual access; agree review samples, reporting cadence and quality targets.
02 / Skills, systems & approved access
Skills and qualifications
- Organization and time management
- Clear communication
- Accurate data entry
- Organization
- Time management
- Document organization
- Report and note preparation
Verify the capability—not just the résumé
- Organization
- Sort sample messages into agreed queues and explain owner assignments.
- Time management
- Sequence competing tasks using client priorities and flag deadline conflicts.
- Clear communication
- Draft a reminder and approval request using approved wording.
- Accurate data entry
- Enter sample data and reconcile every field against its source.
- Document organization
- File sample versions correctly and retrieve the designated current copy.
- Report and note preparation
- Produce sample notes distinguishing confirmed decisions from unresolved questions.
Tools and systems
Use client-approved tools and individual role-based accounts. Examples are options, not claims that an integration or subscription is included. Never share credentials in chat.
- Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
- Shared calendar
- Client project and document management tools
How access supports the procedure
Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
Use: Client-approved email, spreadsheets and report drafts.
Access: Individual account; assigned mailboxes and files only.
Shared calendar
Use: Approved appointments, availability checks and reminders.
Access: Client-selected view or edit rights; sending rights documented separately.
Client project and document management tools
Use: Task queues, versions, approvals and administrative logs.
Access: Assigned folders and projects only; no integrations enabled by default.
03 / Inbox triage and document organization
Start when: Scheduled inbox review or receipt of assigned correspondence and paperwork.
What you need
- Assigned messages and attachments
- Priority and routing rules
- Folder index and version conventions
How to complete the work
- Check mailbox scope, sender context and attachment relevance; flag suspicious or unreadable items without forwarding them.
- Classify each item as routine administration, client decision or reference; assign an owner and requested date.
- Match documents to existing folders and versions; retain source links and flag duplicate or conflicting copies.
- Prepare routing notes and proposed filing or archive changes; obtain approval where delegated rules do not cover the action.
- Apply authorized labels and filing changes; record location, version and approval reference without deleting uncertain records.
- Check retrieval from the index, summarize priority items and escalate unanswered decisions to the client.
Items are traceable, filed or queued with owners and visible pending decisions.
If something is missing or outside scope: Pause uncertain deletion or access; request client direction and notify the coordinator.
04 / Appointment coordination and reminders
Start when: Appointment request, approved change or scheduled reminder review.
What you need
- Request and attendee details
- Calendar availability and time zones
- Scheduling permissions and reminder wording
How to complete the work
- Confirm attendees, contact details, duration, time zone and request completeness before proposing times.
- Check availability, buffers and existing commitments; identify conflicts rather than moving another appointment silently.
- Prepare suitable slots or a change proposal; obtain client authorization for conflicts and changes outside standing instructions.
- Create or update the authorized calendar entry; verify date, location or meeting link and attendees against the request.
- Prepare reminders using client-approved contact permissions, wording and channels; honor opt-outs and send only within delegated authority.
- Record booking, reminder and response status; recheck changed entries and route cancellations or unresolved conflicts to the client.
Calendar matches authorization; reminder status and attendance questions are recorded.
If something is missing or outside scope: Hold incomplete requests or disputed changes; request a client decision.
05 / Business data, reports and meeting notes
Start when: Approved data update, reporting checkpoint or assigned meeting.
What you need
- Authorized source records
- Field definitions and report template
- Meeting agenda and supplied notes
How to complete the work
- Check source dates, required fields and meeting context; list missing inputs before editing records.
- Compare incoming values with existing entries; identify duplicates and conflicting values without inventing replacements.
- Prepare proposed corrections and seek client decisions on ambiguous data; enter only authorized, supported values.
- Record source references and change history; reconcile entries and report totals with the approved source set.
- Draft the report and meeting notes; separate confirmed decisions, action owners, dates and unanswered questions.
- Submit drafts for client review before distribution; apply authorized corrections and record final versions and follow-up tasks.
Reviewed outputs link to sources; gaps and actions have owners.
If something is missing or outside scope: Mark disputed figures or decisions unresolved; escalate without presenting assumptions as facts.
06 / Daily rhythm, quality & reporting
Daily routine for this role
- Review client priorities and pending approvals.
- Triage assigned messages and documents.
- Check appointments and authorized reminders.
- Validate entries and draft outputs.
- Send completion, blocker and next-action summary.
Weekly review
- Review aging inbox items and approval bottlenecks.
- Check document versions and upcoming calendar conflicts.
- Sample data accuracy and agree corrective actions.
Quality checks and measures
Agree review standards with the client. Example measures are not guaranteed service levels.
Data accuracy
Review standard: Agree required-field accuracy target and sample size at kickoff.
Evidence: Source-to-entry comparison and correction log.
Calendar accuracy
Review standard: Agree acceptable discrepancy count across sampled bookings.
Evidence: Request-to-calendar checklist and reminder log.
Document retrievability
Review standard: Agree retrieval success target for sampled current versions.
Evidence: Index checks and duplicate exceptions.
Report and note completeness
Review standard: Agree checklist completion target before client review; targets are not guarantees.
Evidence: Source references, action fields and review record.
Reporting and handoff
Cadence: Proposed daily summary and weekly review, adjusted by client agreement.
- Completed items
- Priority queue
- Calendar changes
- Reminder status
- Data corrections
- Report and note approvals
- Blockers and owners
- Next actions and dates
07 / Approval limits & escalation
Decisions that need approval
- Use individual authorized access; never place credentials in task notes.
- Preparation does not authorize sending, deleting, sharing or committing the client.
- Use client-selected systems only; examples do not promise integrations.
- Restrict copies and recipients to client-approved locations and permissions.
- Keep professional decisions and financial commitments with the client or authorized professionals.
What to do when work cannot proceed
Unclear message priority or ownership
Action: Queue the item with context and request direction.
Owner: Client owner
Appointment conflict or disputed change
Action: Hold the change and present available options.
Owner: Client owner
Conflicting data or meeting decision
Action: Flag affected output and request source confirmation.
Owner: Client owner
Access blocker or workload collision
Action: Document affected tasks and coordinate reprioritization with the client.
Owner: VSI coordinator or agreed Team Lead
Name the owner and backup, agree response windows and permissions, and record client sign-off at kickoff. Revisit the SOP whenever scope or access changes.