The process of policy creation can be a painful one at times. Depending on the relative complexity of the subject area, the creation process can involve multiple representatives from multiple departments. Keeping all of those people on track and guiding a draft policy through numerous edits and iterations can be a logistical challenge, as each representative seeks to offer his or her critical input into the creation of yet another different version of that work-in-progress policy.
When the last version receives final approval, everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief and the dozens of curt emails and tense voicemails can now be forgotten until the next project. Now the administrative tasks take over, and the process of distribution can begin. However, if your company treats the distribution and collection of formal attestations as nothing more than a formality to close the loop on the process, you may be lacking the evidence for true comprehension that a formal audit may look for.
Acknowledgment of receipt is not the same as confirmation of comprehension. Checking a box on an email may generate a list that confirms that every employee received a copy of the new or revised policy, but that action alone does not confirm that those employees understand the rule or process changes that the implementation of that policy may require.
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Moving Beyond ‘Making Do’
If your company has been ‘making do’ with a manual system based on internal templates and emails, contemplating additional steps in the policy creation process such as brief questionnaires or pre- and post-training questionnaires, may seem like a huge stretch, but without such tools, can you really prove that your people fully understand the implications of that new policy?
There’s no doubt that more detailed attestations will add extra work to any manual system: more reminder emails and tense voicemails to chase down the last few respondents. That collective sigh of relief will definitely take a little longer to reach. If that extra workload is likely to stretch the capacity of your manual system beyond it’s breaking point, it may be time to consider automating the process and leveraging templates that can build those questionnaires into the attestation response rather than simply attaching another document to yet another email.
Our comprehensive employee training software and policy attestation solutions can help you to upgrade your policy workflow to manage more detailed attestation options with ease. Operating on one secureSharePoint or Office 365 policy portal using templates built on industry best practices, you can manage every element of policy workflow from creation to ongoing management and revision.
The opportunity to move your manual systems to the next level is closer than you may think. To learn more about our software now available on SharePoint On-Premise, SharePoint Online via Office 365, and as a Software-as-a-Service, schedule a demo now.
ConvergePoint, the leading Compliance solution provider on Microsoft SharePoint, boasts five full-featured software products for the complete life-cycle management of your Policies & Procedures,Contracts, Conflict of Interest Disclosures, Incident Tracking and Employee Training. Extend your existing Microsoft Office 365 or on-site SharePoint instance, or rely on ConvergePoint’s secure cloud platform so you can access the power of ConvergePoint whether or not you have SharePoint. With workflow builders, version control, audit trails, keyword search, custom data fields, realtime dashboards, reporting, and more, ConvergePoint provides industry best practices and U.S. based support.
