"sop", the almost universally accepted abbreviation simply means
"standard operating procedure". In any organization, there are set
ways of doing things, accepted by most of the organization, as the
"correct way" to do something. This "sop" may be a written down
document (e.g. procedures or working instructions) or some
practices that have long been established to have been recognised
as the only way to do certain things, at least within that
organization.