# Neotask SOP Retrieval Troubleshooting ## Verify The Procedure And Its Source 1. Open **SOPs** and select the procedure. 2. Confirm the active version and publication state. 3. Open the related run and inspect the cited source. 4. Review a pending revision before publishing it. ![SOP procedure library](https://neotask-marketing-assets-417007889150.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/landing/agents/surfaces/2026-08-13-r1/sops-procedure-library-1280.webp) Use this page when the caller says: - “My agent isn’t using my SOP.” - “I uploaded an SOP but the company ignored it.” - “An SOP I just published isn’t showing up in the work.” - “How do I approve the SOP my agent proposed?” --- ## How SOPs Are Meant To Work Two things to keep in the back of your mind before troubleshooting: - A company follows its **published** SOPs. A draft, including an SOP an agent proposed, is not active until a person publishes it. - When an agent starts work, the company automatically attaches the SOPs that are most relevant to that task. The caller does not have to point an agent at a specific SOP; the right ones are found by meaning. So “the agent isn’t using my SOP” is almost always one of: the SOP is not published, it is in a different company, or it simply was not the most relevant guidance for that particular task. --- ## First Checks (in order) ### 1. Is the SOP actually published? The most common cause. A proposed or uploaded SOP that is still a **pending draft** is not yet active guidance. Have the caller open the company and go to the **SOPs** tab: - if the SOP is a pending draft (for example one an agent proposed), they need to review and **publish** it - if it was uploaded but never published, the same applies Once published, it becomes active operating guidance. ### 2. Is it in the right company? SOPs are scoped to one company. A company only ever uses its own SOPs. Confirm the SOP lives in the **same company** the caller is running the work in. An SOP published in Company A will never appear for Company B. ### 3. Was it just published? Newly published SOPs become available to retrieval right away, matching updates on publish, so a fresh SOP can be picked up on the very next task. There is no long wait. If the caller published an SOP and then re-ran a task, the new SOP should be eligible immediately. If a task was already in flight when they published, have them start a fresh task or action so the new guidance is considered. ### 4. Was this task simply not relevant to that SOP? Open the source review for the related run. It shows which procedure and supporting material the agent actually received. ![SOP source review](https://neotask-marketing-assets-417007889150.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/landing/agents/surfaces/2026-08-13-r1/sops-source-review-1280.webp) The company attaches the SOPs that best fit the task by meaning. If an SOP did not show up for a given task, it may be because that task was not closely related to it, not because anything is broken. Have the caller try a task that clearly relates to the SOP’s subject. If relevant SOPs attach there, retrieval is working as designed. --- ## “An Agent Proposed An SOP, How Do I Approve It?” When the proposal changes an existing procedure, use the diff to review the exact additions and removals before publishing. ![Pending SOP revision diff](https://neotask-marketing-assets-417007889150.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/landing/agents/surfaces/2026-08-13-r1/sops-pending-diff-1280.webp) Route the caller to the **SOPs** tab in the company. 1. open the company → **SOPs** 2. find the pending draft the agent proposed 3. review it, if it updates an existing SOP, they can use the diff to see exactly what changed 4. choose to **approve / publish**, **edit then publish**, or **discard** Only after they publish does it become guidance the company follows. --- ## Good To Know: Graceful Fallback Retrieval is built so SOPs never simply “stop working.” If the meaning-based matching is momentarily unavailable, the company falls back to the older keyword-based selection and still attaches SOPs to the agent. So a caller will not hit a state where no SOPs are applied at all, at worst, matching is briefly less precise, then recovers on its own. This is not something the caller needs to act on. --- ## When To Escalate Escalate only after the first checks pass, that is, when the caller confirms: - the SOP is **published** (not a draft), and - it is in the **same company** they are running work in, and - they ran a task that is clearly relevant to the SOP’s subject, and - relevant SOPs are still not being applied across multiple fresh tasks At that point it is no longer a setup or expectations issue, and the case should be escalated with the company name, the SOP in question, and an example task where the relevant SOP was not applied. --- ## Related Docs - [Neotask Autonomous Companies Support](./neotask-support-autonomous-companies.md) - [Neotask Company Dashboard Tab Map](./neotask-support-company-dashboard-tab-map.md) - [Auto, SOP Authoring & Review](./auto-companies-sops-authoring.md) - [Auto, Smart SOP Retrieval](./auto-companies-sops-semantic-retrieval.md)